opening in the stack from top to bottom, by placing a large bundle of straw in the centre of the stack, when it commences, and in proportion as it rises, the straw is drawn upwards, leaving a hollow behind; which, if one or two openings are left in the side of the stack near the bottom, insures a complete circulation of air. Threshing machines for barley are furnished with what is called a hummeling machine, and, where this is wanting, it is customary to put the grain, accompanied with a portion of threshed straw, a second time through the machine. Where barley has been mown, the whole of the straw requires to be twice threshed, independently of the necessity of getting rid of the ears. The produce of barley, taking the average of England and the south of Scotland, Donaldson considers, might be rated at thirty-two bushels; but when Wales and the north of Scotland are included, where, owing to the imperfect modes of culture still practised, the crops are very indifferent, the general average will not probably exceed twentyeight bushels the acre. Middleton states it as varying in England from fifteen to seventy-five bushels per acre. The average produce of the county of Middlesex is about four quarters of corn and two loads of straw per acre.

5. BUCK WHEAT delights in a mellow sandy soil; but succeeds well in any dry loose healthy land, and moderately so in a free loamy stone brash. A stiff clay is its aversion, and it is entirely labor lost to sow it in wet poachy ground. The proper season for sowing is from the last week of May or the beginning of June. It has been sown, however, so early as the beginning of April, and so late as the 22nd of July, by way of experiment; but the latter was rather too great an extreme, and the former was in danger from frost. In an experiment, upon a small piece of ground, the grain of two different crops was brought to maturity in summer 1787. After spring feedings, a crop of turnip-rooted cabbage, or vetches, there will be sufficient time to sow the land with buck-wheat. In hot dry summers, a crop of vetches might even be mown for hay early enough to introduce a crop of this grain after it. It will grow on the poorest soil, and produce a crop in the course of three or four months. It was cultivated so early as Gerard's time, 1597, to be ploughed in as manure; but at present, from its inferior value as a grain, and its yielding very little haulm for fodder or mamure, it is seldom grown but by gentlemen in plantations, to encourage game. Arthur Young recommends farmers in general to try this crop. It has numerous excellencies, he says, perhaps as many to good farmers as any other grain or pulse in use. It is of an enriching nature, having the quality of preparing for wheat, or any other crop. One bushel sows an acre of land well, which is but a fourth of the expense of seed-barley. It should not be sown till the end of May. This is important; for it gives time in the spring to kill all the seed-weeds in the ground, and brings no disagreeable necessity from bad weather in March or April, to sow barley, &c., so late as to hazard the crop. It is as valuable as barley, and is the best of all crops for sowing grass seeds with, giving them the

same shelter as barley or oats without robbing. Buck-wheat is mown and harvested in the manner of barley. After it is mown, it must lie several days, till the stalks be withered, before it be housed. It is in no danger of the seeds falling, nor does it suffer much by wet. From its great succulency it is liable to heat, on which account it is better to put it in small stacks of five or six loads each, than in either a large one or a barn. The produce may be stated upon the average at between three and four quarters per acre; it would be considerably more did all the grains ripen together, but that never appears to be the case. Its use in this country is almost entirely for feeding poultry, pigeons, and swine. It may also be given to horses, which are said to thrive well on it; but the author of the New Farmer's Calendar, says, he thinks he has seen it produce a stupefying effect. We should add that it has been used in the distillery in England, and is a good deal used in that way, and as horse corn on the continent. Young says, a bushel goes farther than two bushels of oats, and, mixed with at least four times as much bran, will be full feed for any horse a week. Four bushels of the meal, put up at four hundred weight will fatten a hog of sixteen or twenty stone in three weeks, giving him afterwards three bushels of Indian corn or hog-pease, broken in a mill, with plenty of water. Eight bushels of buckwheat meat will go as far as twelve bushels of barley meal. The meal is made into thin cakes called crumpits in Italy, and even in some parts of England; and it is supposed to be nutritious, and not apt to turn acid upon the stomach.

6. BEANS.-The most proper soil for beans is a deep and moist clay. There has been introduced into Scotland a method of sowing beans with a drill-plough, and horse-hoeing the intervals; which, beside affording a good crop, is a dressing to the ground. In the common way, as this grain is early sown, the ground intended for it should be ploughed before winter, to give access to the frost and air-beneficial in all soils, and necessary in a clay soil. Take the first opportunity after January, when the ground is dry, to loosen the soil with the harrow, till a mould be brought upon it. Then sow the seed and cover it equally. Beans ought to be laid deep in the ground, not less than six inches. In clay soil, the common harrows are altogether insufficient. The soil which has rested long after ploughing is rendered compact and solid; the common harrows skim the surface the seed is not covered; and the first hearty shower of rain lays it above ground. If the ground ploughed before winter happen, by a superfluity of moisture, to cake, the first harrow going along the ridges, and crossing them, will loosen the surface, and give access to the air for drying. As soon as the ground is dry, sow without delay. If rain happen in the interim, wait till a dry day or two come. Carse clay, ploughed before winter, seldom fails to cake. Upon that account, a second ploughing is necessary before sowing; which ought to be performed with an ebb furrow, to keep the frost mould as near the surface as possible. To cover the seed with the plough is expressed by the phrase to sow unde

if infested with weeds, it ought to be also ploughed in October and November.

Pease laid a foot below the surface will vegetate; but the most approved depth is six inches in light soil, and four inches in clay soil; for which reason they ought to be sown under furrow when the ploughing is delayed till spring. Of all grains, beans excepted, they are the least in danger of being buried. Pease differ from beans in loving dry soil and a dry season. Horse-hoeing has little effect when the plants are new sprung; and, when they are advanced, their length prevents it. Fast growing at the same time is the cause of their carrying so little seed: the seed is buried among the leaves; and the sun cannot penetrate to make it grow and ripen. The only practicable remedy to obtain grain is thin sowing; but thick sowing produces more straw, and mellows the ground more. Half a boll for an English acre may be reckoned thin sowing; three firlots, thick sowing.

Notwithstanding what is said above, Mr. Hunter of Berwickshire, some years ago, began to sow all his pease in drills; and never failed to have great crops of pease, as well as of He sowed double rows at a foot interval, and two feet and a half between the double rows, which admit horse-hoeing. By that method he had also good crops of beans on light land.

straw.

Pease and beans mixed are often sown together, in order to catch different seasons. In a moist season, the beans make a good crop; in a dry season, the pease.

The growth of plants is commonly checked by drought in the month of July, but promoted by rain in August. In July grass is parched; in August it recovers verdure. Where pease are so far advanced in the dry season that the seeds begin to form, their growth is indeed checked, but the seed continues to fill. If only in the blossom at that season, their growth is checked a little; but they become vigorous again in August, and continue growing without filling till stopped by frost. Hence it is that cold seed, which is early sown, has the best chance to produce corn; hot seed, which is late sown, has the best chance to produce straw.

The following method is practised in Norfolk, for sowing pease upon a dry light soil, immediately opened from pasture. The ground is pared with a plough extremely thin, and every sod is laid exactly on its back. In every sod a double row of holes is made. A pea dropt in every hole lodges in the flayed ground immediately below the sod, thrusts its roots horizontally, and has sufficient moisture. The most common mode of sowing pease is broad-cast; but the advantages of the row culture in the case of a crop early committed to the soil must be obvious. The best farmers, therefore, sow pease in drills either after the plough, the seed being deposited commonly in every second or third furrow, or if the land is in a pulverised state by drawing drills with a machine or by ribbing. In Norfolk and Suffolk pease are generally dibbled on the back of the furrow, sometimes one and sometimes two rows on each; but dibbling in no manner ap

pears to us so well suited for a farmer's purpose as the drill. In Kent, where immense quantities of pease are grown both for gathering green and for selling ripe to the seedsmen, they are generally sown in rows from eighteen inches to three feet asunder, according to the kind, and well cultivated between.

The after culture is that of hoeing, either by hand or horse. Where the former method prevails, it is the general custom to have recourse to two hoeings; the first when the plants are about two or three inches in height, and again just before the period in which they come into blossom. In this way the vigorous vegetation of the young crop is secured, and a fresh supply o nourishment afforded for the setting of the pods and the filling of the pease. At the last of these operations the rows should be laid down, and the earth well placed up to them, the weeds being previously extirpated by hand labor. It has been stated that in some parts of Kent, where this sort of crop is much grown, it is the practice, when the distance of the rows is sufficiently great, to prevent the vegetation of weeds, and forward the growth of pea crops, by occasionally horse-hoeing, and the use of the brake-harrow, the mould being laid up to the roots of the plants at the last operation by fixing a piece of wood to the harrow. This should, however, only be laid up on one side, the pease being placed up to that which is most exposed to the sun. When pea crops become ripe they wither and turn brown in the haulm or straw, and the pods open. In this state they should be cut as soon as possible, in order that there may be the least loss sustained by their shedding. In early crops the haulm is hooked up into loose open heaps, which, as soon as they are perfectly dry, are removed from the ground and put into stacks for the purpose of being converted to the food of animals, on which they are said to thrive nearly as well as on hay. When intended for horses, the best method would seem to be that of having them cut into chaff and mixed with their other food.

Young says that forward white pease will be fit to cut early in July; if the crop is very great they must be hooked; but if small, or only middling, mowing will be sufficient. The stalks and leaves of pease being very succulent, they should be taken good care of in wet weather: the tufts, called wads or heaps, should be turned, or they will receive damage. White pease should always be perfectly dry before they are housed, or they will sell but indifferently, as the brightness and plumpness of the grain are considered at market more than with hog-pease. The straw also, if well harvested, is very good fodder for all sorts of cattle and for sheep; but if it receives much wet, or if the heaps are not turned, it can be used only to litter the farmyard with. It is the practice in some districts to remove the haulm as soon as it has been cut up by books constructed with sharp edges for the purpose, to every fifth ridge, or even into an adjoining grass field, in order that it may be the better cured for use as cattle food, and at the same time allow of the land being immediately prepared for the

succeeding crop. When wet weather happens, whilst the pease lie in wads, it occasions a considerable loss, many of them being shed in the field, and of those that remain a great part will be so considerably injured as to render the sample of little value. This inability in pease to resist a wet harvest, together with the great uncertainty throughout their growth, and the frequent inadequate return in proportion to the length of haulm, has discouraged many farmers from sowing so large a portion of this pulse as of other grain; though on light lands, which are in tolerable heart, the profit, in a good year, is far from inconsiderable.

The threshing of pease requires little labor. Where the haulm is wished to be preserved entire it is best done by hand; as the threshing machine is apt to reduce it to chaff. But where the fodder of pease is to be given immediately to horses on the spot, the breaking it is no disadvantage. The produce in ripened seeds is supposed by some to be from three and a half to four quarters the acre; others, as Donaldson, imagine the average of any two crops together not more than about twelve bushels; and that on the whole, if the value of the produce be merely attended to, it may be considered as a less profitable crop than most others. But, as a means of ameliorating and improving the soil at the same time, it is esteemed of great value. As to the produce in green pease, in the husk, the average of the early crops in Middlesex is supposed to be from about twenty-five to thirty sacks the acre, which, selling at from 8s. to 18s. the sack, afford about £18 the acre. The author of the Synopsis of Husbandry, however, states the produce about Dartford, at about forty sacks the acre, though, he says, fifty have sometimes been gathered from that of land. The produce of pease in space straw is very uncertain. In flour it is as three to two of the bulk in grain, and husked and split for soups as four to two. 1000 parts of pea flour afforded Sir H. Davy 574 parts of nutritive or soluble matter, viz. 501 of mucilage or vegetable animal matter, twenty-two of sugar, thirty-five of gluten, and sixteen of insoluble

extract.

SECT. II.—OF PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR ROOTS. Turnips delight in a gravelly soil, and can be raised to great perfection, and without the least hazard of miscarrying. At the same time there is no soil but will bear turnips, when well prepared. No agriculturist ever deserved better of a country than he who first cultivated turnips in the field. No plant is better fitted for the climate of Britain, no plant prospers better in the coldest part of it, and no plant contributes more to fertility. In a word, there has not for two centuries been introduced a more valuable improve

ment.

Of all roots, turnips require the finest mould; and, to that end, of all harrows frost is the best. To give access to frost, the land ought to be prepared by ribbing after harvest, as above directed in preparing land for barley. If the field be not subject to annuals, it may lie in that state till the end of May; otherwise the weeds must

he destroyed by a breaking about the middle of April, and again in May, if weeds arise. The first week of June plough the field with a shallow furrow. Lime it if requisite, and harrow the lime into the soil. Draw single furrows, with intervals of three feet, and lay dung in the furrows. Cover the dung sufficiently, by going round it with the plough, and forming the three feet spaces into ridges. The dung comes thus to lie below the crown of every ridge.

The season of sowing must be regulated by the time intended for feeding. When intended for feeding in November, December, January, and February, the seed ought to be sown from the 1st to the 20th of June. Where the feeding is intended to be carried on to March, April, and May, the seed must not be sown till the end of July. Turnips sown earlier than above directed flower that very summer, and run fast to seed; which renders them unfit for food. If sown much later, there is no food but from the leaves. Though by a drill plough the seed may be sown of any thickness, the safest way is to sow thick. Thin sowing is liable to many accidents, which are far from being counterbalanced by the expense that is saved in thinning. Thick sowing can bear the ravages of the black fly, and leave a sufficient crop behind. It is a protection against drought, gives the plants a rapid progress, and establishes them in the ground before it is necessary to thin them.

The sowing turnips broad-cast is universal in England, and common, though a barbarous practice, in Scotland. The eminent advantages of turnips is, that, besides a profitable crop, they make a most complete fallow; and the latter cannot be obtained but by horse-hoeing. Upon that account, the sowing turnips in rows at three feet distance is recommended. Wider rows answer no profitable end; straiter rows afford not room for a horse to walk in. When the turnips are about four inches high, annual weeds will appear. Go round every interval with the slightest furrow possible, two inches from each row, moving the earth from the rows towards the middle of the interval. A thin plate of iron must be fixed on the left side of the plough, to the turnips. Let women weed the rows with prevent the earth from falling back and burying their fingers; which is better and cheaper than with the hand hoe, which is also apt to disturb the roots of the turnips that are to stand, and to leave them open to drought by removing the earth from them. The standing turnips are to be twelve inches from each other: a greater distance makes them swell too much; less affords them not sufficient room. A woman soon comes to be expert in weeding. The following hint may be necessary to a learner. To secure the turnip that is to stand, let her cover it with the left hand, and with the right pull up the turnip on both sides. After thus freeing the standing turnip, she may safely use both hands. Let the field remain in this state till the appearance of new annuals make a second ploughing necessary; which must be in the same furrow with the former, but deeper. As in this ploughing the iron plate is removed, part of the loose earth

will fall back on the roots of the plants: the rest will fill the middle of the interval, and bury every weed. When weeds begin again to appear, then is the time for a third ploughing in an opposite direction, which lays the earth to the roots of the plants. This ploughing may be about the middle of August; after which weeds rise very faintly. If they do rise, another ploughing will clear the ground of them. Weeds that at this time rise in the row, may be cleared with a hand-hoe, which can do little mischief among plants twelve inches from each other. But it may be done cheaper with the hand. And after the leaves of turnips in a row meet together, the hand is the only instrument that can be applied for weeding.

In swampy ground, the surface of which is best reduced by paring and burning, the seed may be sown in rows with intervals of a foot. To save time, a drill plough may be used that sows three or four rows at once. Hand-hoeing is proper for such ground; because the soil under the burnt stratum is commonly full of roots, which digest and rot better under ground than when brought to the surface by the plough. While these are digesting, the ashes will secure a good crop. In cultivating turnips, care should be taken to procure good, bright, nimble, and well dried seed, and of the best kinds. The Norfolk farmers generally raise the oval white, the large green topped, and the red or purple topped kinds, which from long experience they have found most profitable. The roots of the green topped will grow to a large size, and continue good much longer than others. The red or purple topped will also grow large, and continue good till February; but the roots become hard and stringy sooner than the former. The green topped, growing more above ground, is in more danger of injury from severe frosts than the red or purple, which are more than half covered by the soil; but it is the softest and sweetest, when grown large, of any kind. They are brought to table a foot in diameter, as good as garden turnips.

Turnips delight in a light soil, of sand and loam mixed. When the soil is rich and heavy, although the crop may be as weighty, they will be rank, and run to flower earlier in spring. Turnip seed will not do well without frequent changing. The Norfolk seed is sent to most parts of the kingdom, and even to Ireland, but after two years it degenerates; so that those who wish to have turnips in perfection should procure it fresh every year from Norwich, to prevent being imposed upon by seed of that name inferior in quality.

When the plants have got five leaves, they should be hoed, and set out at least six inches apart. A month afterward, or earlier if it be a wet season, a second hoeing should take place, and the plants be left at least fourteen inches from each other, especially if intended for feeding cattle; for, where the plants are left thicker, they will be proportionably smaller, unless the land is very rich indeed. Some of the best Norfolk farmers sow turnips in drills three feet asunder, and at a second hoeing leave them a foot apart. By these means the trouble and ex

pense of hoeing is much lessened, and the crop of equal weight as when sown in the common method. The intervals may easily be cleared of weeds by the horse-hoe. Great quantities of turnips are raised in Norfolk every year for feeding black cattle, which turn to great advantage. An acre of land contains 4840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet. If then every square foot contains one turnip, and they weigh only two pounds each, here will be a mass of excellent food of forty-six tons per acre, worth from four to five guineas and sometimes more.

Extraordinary crops of barley frequently succeed turnips, especially when fed off the land. In feeding them off, the cattle should not be suffered to run over too much of the ground at once; for in that case they will tread down and spoil twice as many as they eat. In Norfolk they are confined by hurdles to as much as is sufficient for them for one day. By this mode the crop is eaten clean, the soil is equally trodden, which if light is of much service, and equally manured by the cattle. A notion prevails, in many places, that mutton fattened with turnips is thereby rendered rank and ill tasted; but this is a vulgar error. The best mutton in Norfolk is all fed with turnips. Rank pastures, and marshy lands produce rank mutton. If the land be wet and spongy, the best method is to draw and carry off your turnips to some dry pasture; for the treading of the cattle will not only injure the crop, but render the land so stiff that you must be at an additional expense in ploughing. To preserve turnips for late spring seed, the best method, and which has been tried with success by some of the best English farmers, is to stalk them up in dry straw; a load of which is sufficient to preserve forty tons of turnips. The method is easy, and is as follows:— After drawing your turnips in February, cut off the tops and tap roots (which may be given to sheep), and let them lie a few days in the field. Then, on a layer of straw next the ground, place a layer of turnips two feet thick; then another layer of straw, and so on alternately, till you have brought the heap to a point. Care must be taken to turn up the edges of the layers of straw, to prevent the turnips from rolling out: cover the top well with long straw, and it will serve as a thatch for the whole. In this method, as the straw imbibes the moisture exhaled from the roots, all vegetation will be prevented, and the turnips will be nearly as good in May as when first drawn from the field. If straw be scarce, old haulm or stubble will answer the same purpose. But, to save this trouble and expense, farmers in all counties would find it their interest to adopt the method used by the Norfolk farmers, which is, to continue sowing turnips to the end of August; by which means their late crops remain good in the field till the end of April, and often till the middle of May. The advantages of having turnips good till the spring seed is ready, are so obvious and great, that many of the most intelligent farmers are now come into it, and find their account in so doing.

2. POTATOES.-The choice of soil is not of greater importance for any other plant than for potatoes. This plant in clay soil, or in rank