Part 13

[137] They do reach through all the Mould (as shall be proved by-and-by); and yet may leave sufficient Pasture behind; because it is impossible for them to come into Contact with all the Mould in One Year; no more than when Ten Horses are put into an Hundred Acres of good Pasture, their Mouths come into Contact with all the Grass to eat it in one Summer, though they will go all over it, as the Vine-roots go all over the Soil of a Vineyard without exhausting it all; because those Roots feed only such a bare competent Quantity of Plants, which do not overstock their Pasture.

The Superficies of the fibrous Roots of a proper Number of Wheat-plants bear a very small Proportion to the Superficies of the fine Parts of the pulverized Earth they feed on in these Intervals; for one cubical Foot of this Earth may, as is shewn in _p._ 29. have many thousand Feet of internal Superficies: But this is in proportion to the Degree of its Pulveration: and that Degree may be such as is sufficient to maintain a competent Number of Wheat-plants, without over-exhausting the vegetable Pasture, but not sufficient to maintain those, and a great Stock of Weeds besides, without over-exhausting it. And this was plainly seen in a Field of Wheat drilled on _Six-feet_ Ridges, when the South Ends of some of the Ridges, and the North Ends of others, had their Partitions Hand hoed, and cleansed of Weeds, early in the Spring, the opposite Ends remaining full of a small _Species_ of Weeds, called _Crow-needles_, which so exhausted the whole Intervals of the weedy Part of the Ridges, that the next Year the whole Field being drilled again with Wheat exactly in the Middle of the last Intervals, the following Crop very plainly distinguished how far each Ridge had its Partitions made clean of those small Weeds in the Spring, from the other End where the Weeds remained till full-grown; the Crop of the former was twice as good as that of the latter, even where both were cleansed of Weeds the next _Spring_. This Crop standing only upon that Part of the Mould, which was farthest from the Rows of the precedent Crop, proves that the Roots, both of the Wheat and Weeds, did enter all the Earth of the former Intervals.

It was also observable, that where the Partitions of Two of the Six-feet Ridges had been in the precedent Year cleansed of Weeds, and those of the adjoining Ridges on each Side of them not cleansed, the Row that was the next Year planted exactly in the Middle of the Interval between those two Ridges, was perceivably better than either of the Two Rows planted in the Intervals on the other Side of each of them: The Reason of which Difference must be, that the Middle of the Interval, that was between the Two cleansed Ridges, was fed on by the Wheat only, and by no Weeds; but the other Two Intervals were fed on by the Wheat on one Side, and by both the Wheat and Weeds on the other Side of each.

There were, in the same Field, several Ridges together, that had the Ends of their Rows of Wheat plowed out by the Hoe-plough, and their other Ends cleansed of Weeds: This was done on purpose, to see what Effect a Fallow would have on the next Crop, which was indeed extraordinary; for these fallowed Ends of the Ridges, being Horse-hoed in the Summer, as the other Ends were, and the Intervals of them made into Ridges, the following Year produced the largest Crop of all; this Crop was received in 1734.

These several different Managements performed in this Field, shewed by the different Success of the Crops in each Sort, what ought to be done, and which is the best Sort of Management.

This Field indeed is some of my best Land; and by all the Experiments I have seen on it, I do not find but that, by the best Management, never omitted in any Year, it might produce good annual Crops of Wheat always, without Assistance of Dung or Fallow; but it would be very difficult for me to get Hands to do this to the greatest Perfection, unless I were able constantly to attend them.

The whole pulverized Earth of the Interval being pretty equally fed on by the former Crop, ’tis no great Matter in what Part of it the following Crop is drill’d: I never drill it but on the Middle of the last Year’s Interval, because there is the Trench whereon the next Year’s Ridge is made with the greatest Conveniency: But there may be some Reason to suspect, that the Plants of the Rows exhaust more Nourishment from that Earth of the Intervals which is farthest from their Bodies, than from that which is nearest to them: Since their fibrous Roots, at the greatest Distance from the Rows, are most numerous, _&c._ by these the Plants, when they are at their greatest Bulk, are chiefly maintained.

It must be _noted_, that the above Experiments would not have been a full Proof, if Weeds had been suffered to grow in the Partitions of the Ends of those Ridges, in the Year wherein the Difference appeared. It may also be _noted_, that a Mixture and Variety of bad Husbandry are useful for a Discovery of the _Theory_ and _Practice_ of good Husbandry.

And I have plainly proved, that the Roots of Cone-wheat have reached Mould at Two Feet Distance, after passing through another Row at a Foot Distance from it, the Plants being then but Eighteen Inches high, and but half-grown.

Farmers do not grudge to bestow Three or Four Pounds in the Buying and Carriage of Dung for an Acre; but think themselves undone, if they afford an extraordinary Eighteen-penyworth of Earth to the wide Intervals of an Acre; not considering that Earth is not only the best, but also the cheapest Entertainment that can be given to Plants; for at Five Shillings and Six-pence Rent, the whole Earth belonging to each of our Rows costs only Six-pence, _i. e._ a Peny for a Foot broad, and Six hundred and Sixty Feet long; that being the Sixty-sixth Part of an Acre[138].

[138] But the Vulgar compute this Expence of a Foot Breadth of Ground, not only as of the Rent, as they ought, but as an Eleventh Part of their own usual Charges added to the Rent.

And there is Land enough in _England_ to be had, at the Rent of Five Shillings and Six-pence the Acre, that is very proper for Wheat in the Hoeing-Husbandry.

And if for constant annual Wheat-crops you make fewer than Eleven Rows on Four Perches Breadth, you will always increase the Expence of Hoeing; because then Two Furrows will not Hoe One of those Intervals, and you will also thereby lessen the Crops, but improve the Land more: And if you increase that Number of Rows, you will thereby increase every Expence; for there must be Two Furrows to hoe a narrow Interval, and an Increase of the Quantity of Seed, and the Labour in uncovering, weeding, and reaping; and also you will less improve the Land, and lessen the Crops after the First Year.

If the Intervals are narrower in deep Land, tho’ there might be Mould enough in them, yet there would not be Room to pulverize it.

If narrower in shallow Land, tho’ there were Room, yet there would not be Mould enough in them to be pulverized.

The Horse-hoe, well applied, doth supply the Use of Dung and Fallow; but it cannot supply the Use of Earth, tho’ it can infinitely increase the vegetable Pasture of it, by pulverizing it, where it is in a reasonable Quantity: Yet if the Intervals be so narrow, that near all the Earth of them goes to make the Partitions raised at the Top of the Ridges, there will be so little to be pulverized, that you must return to Fallowing, and to the Dung-cart, and to all the old exorbitant Charges[139].

[139] The Objections against these wide Intervals are only for saving a Penyworth or Two of Earth in each Row, or a few Groats-worth of it in an Acre; by saving of which Earth they may lose, in the present and succeeding Crops, more Pounds.

Eight Acres, Part of a Ground of Twenty Acres, drilled with Intervals of Three Feet and an half, brought a good Crop; but the Second Year, not being hoed, the Crop was poor; and the Third Crop made that Land so foul and turfy, that ’twas forced to lie for a Fallow, there being no way to bring it into Tilth without a Summer-plowing[140], when the rest of the same Piece, in wider Intervals, being constantly hoed, continued in good Tilth, and never failed to yield a good Crop, without missing one Year.

[140] This Narrowness of the Intervals, if the Damage of it be rightly computed, would amount to half the Inheritance of the Land; and was occasioned by the Wilfulness of my Bailiff, who, drilling it upon the Level, ordered the Horse to be guided half a Yard within the Mark, because he fansied the Intervals would be too wide, if he followed my Directions.

In another Field, there is now a Sixth Crop of Wheat, in wide Intervals, very promising, tho’ this Ground has had no sort of Dung to any of these Crops, or in several Years before them: The last Year’s Crop was the Fifth, and was the best of the Five, tho’ a Yard of the Row yielded but Eighteen Ounces and Three Quarters; and the Third Crop yielded Twenty Ounces Weight[141] of clean Wheat in the same Spot; but ’twas because the Spot where the Twenty grew, was then a little higher than the rest, which in Two Years became more equal; and the thin Land was more deficient in that Third Crop, than the thick Land exceeded the thin in the Fifth Crop.

[141] Wheat, before Harvest, standing in Rows with wide Intervals betwixt them, may not seem, to the Eye, to equal a Crop of half the Bigness dispersed all over the Land, when sown in the common Manner; and yet there is more Deceit in the Appearance of those different Crops, whilst they are young, and in Grass: We should therefore not judge of them then by our Imagination, but as we do of the Sun and Moon nigh the Horizon, _viz._ by our Reason.

Imagination often deceives us by Arguments false or precarious; but Reason leads us to Demonstration, by Weights and Measures: Yet this Prejudice will vanish at Harvest before weighing; for then all those wide Intervals that were bare, will be covered with large Ears interfering to hide them quite, and make a finer Appearance than a sown Crop. But ’tis observed, that the Cone-wheat makes the finest Shew, when you look on it length ways of the Rows, both at Harvest, and a considerable time before Harvest.

In the thick the Hoe-plough went deeper, and consequently raised more Pasture there; but then it went the shallower in the thin; and when the Land became of a more equal Depth the Fifth Year, the Plough and the Hoe-plough went deeper, all the Piece being taken together; for the Crop could be but in proportion to the different Pasture, allowing somewhat for the more or less Seasonableness of the Year.

The Soil, in this our Case, cannot be supplied in Substance, but from the Atmosphere. The Earth which the Rain brings can do it alone, if it fall in great Quantity; for by Water, ’tis plain, the Earth which nourished _Helmont_’s Tree was supplied; for the Tin-cover of the Box wherein it stood, prevented the Dews from entering.

Dews must add very much to the Land, thus continually tilled and hoed; for they are more heavily charged with terrestrial Matter than Rain is, which appears from their forcing a Descent through the Air, when ’tis strong enough to buoy up the Clouds from falling into Rain: And Dew, when kept in a Vessel long enough to putrefy, leaves a greater Quantity of black Matter at the Bottom of the Vessel, than Rain-water does in a Vessel of the same Bigness, filled with it till putrefied.

Dews at Land, I suppose, are first exhaled from Rivers, and moist Lands, and from the Expirations of Vegetables; most of the Dew which falls on it is exhaled from untilled Land; but most of that which falls on well tilled or well hoed Land, remains therein unexhaled; so that the untilled Ground helps, by that means, to enrich and augment the tilled: For if an Acre be tilled for Two Years together without sowing, it will become richer by that Tillage, than by lying unplowed Four Years, which may be easily proved by Experience[142].

[142] _Non igitur Fatigatione, quemadmodum plurimi crediderunt_, nec Senio, _sed nostra scilicet_ Inertia, _minus benigne nobis Arva respondent._ Colum. _lib._ xi. _cap._ 1.

But then, as to Rain, the Sea being larger than all the Land (and its Waters, by their Motion, becoming replete with terrestrial Matter), ’tis not unlikely, that more Vapour is raised from One Acre of Sea, than from One hundred Acres of Land.

Some have been so curious as to compute the Quantity of Rain, that falls yearly in some Places in _England_, by a Contrivance of a Vessel to receive it; and ’tis found, in one of the driest Places, far from the Sea, to be Fourteen Inches deep, in the Compass of a Year; in some Places much more; _viz._ at _Paris_, Nineteen Inches; in _Lancashire_, Mr. _Townley_ found, by a long-continued Series of Observations, that there falls above Forty Inches of Water in a Year’s time.

Could we as easily compute the true Quantity of Earth in Rain-water, as the Quantity of Water is computed, we might perhaps find it to answer the Quantity of Earth taken off from our hoed Soil annually by the Wheat.

But if Land sown with Wheat be not hoed, its Surface is soon incrustate; and then much of this Water, with its Contents, runs off, and returns to the Sea, without entering the Ground; and in Summer a great deal of what remains is exhaled by the Sun, and raised by the Wind, both in Summer and Winter.

Some there are who think it a fatal Objection, that the more an Interval is hoed, the more Weeds will grow in it; and that the Hoe can produce, or (as they say) breed in it as many Weeds in one Summer, as would have come thereon in Ten Years by the old Husbandry. But by this Objection they only maintain, that the Hoe can destroy as many Weeds in One Summer, as the old Husbandry can in Ten Years.

And they might add, that since all Weeds that grow where the Hoe comes, are killed before they seed, and that few of those Which grow in the old Husbandry, are killed[143] before their Seed be ripe and shed; these Objectors will be forced to allow, that our Husbandry will lessen a Stock of Weeds more in one Summer, than theirs can do to the World’s End; unless they believe the equivocal Generation of Weeds, than which Opinion nothing can be more absurd.

[143] Weeds cannot be killed before they grow, but will lie dormant, as they do in our Partitions, and in their sown Land; and while Seeds are in the Ground, they are always ready to grow at the first Opportunity, and will certainly break out at one time or other; so that preventing their coming, is only like healing up a Wound before it be cured.

Some object against my Method of[144] weighing a Yard, or a Perch in Length of a Row, saying, this does not determine the Produce of a whole Field.

[144] I did not weigh this Yard, as different from the other Yards round about it, for I had much Difficulty to determine which Row I should chuse it in; when I was going to cut in one Row, it still seemed that another was better, and I question whether I did chuse the best at last.

_Note_, Whereas I often mention the Wheat of this Field to be without Dung or Fallow, it must be understood of that Part of the Field wherein my _Weighings_ and other Trials were made: because there was a small Part once fallowed Eight or Nine Years ago, and a little Dung laid on another Part about the last _Michaelmas_, after the Crop of Oats was taken off. But this being a Year in which Dung is observed to have little or no Effect on _sown_ Wheat (my Dung being weak and laid thin), ’tis the same here; for those Rows which are in the dunged Part, can hardly be distinguished from the rest of the Rows which had not been dunged: And yet the Ends of the Rows which were cleansed of Weeds, are very distinguishable by the Colour of the Wheat, though some are the Third, and some the Fourth Crop since the Difference was made; and the _whole_ Rows managed alike every Year, from that time to this; so that _here_ Un-exhaustion is more effectual than Dung. This is certain, that neither Dung nor Fallow hath been near the Part wherein my Experiments were made.

I answer, that they judge right, if the Produce of the whole Field be not of equal Goodness; but if it be not, it must be because one Part of the Field is richer, or differently managed from the other Part: For the same Causes that produce Twenty Ounces of clean Wheat upon one Yard, must produce the same Quantity upon every Yard, of a Million of Acres.

When the Crop of half a Field is spoiled by Sheep, not hoed at all, or improperly, it would be ridiculous to compute the whole Field together for an Experiment: We might indeed weigh the poorest, to prove the Difference of the one from the other, to try (as they sometimes seem to do) how poor a Crop we can raise; but my Design was, to try how good a Crop I could raise with a Tenth Part of the common Expence.

And I have often weighed the Produce of the same Quantity of Ground[145], of all Sorts of sown Wheat, both the best and the worst; but never have found any of the sown equal to the best of my drilled. Indeed we have none of the richest Land[146] in our Country within my Reach, that being not above One Mile.

[145] I allow Two square Yards of their Crops to One Yard in Length of my Treble Row.

[146] I am sorry that this Farm, whereon I have practised Horse-hoeing, being situate on an Hill, that consists of Chalk on one Side, and Heath ground on the other, has been usually noted for the poorest and shallowest Soil in the Neighbourhood.

As a Yard in Length of my treble Row of the Third successive Crop of Wheat, without Dung or Fallow, produced Twenty Ounces of Wheat; which, allowing Six Feet to the Ridge, is about Six Quarters[147] to an Acre; and, allowing Seven Inches to each Partition, and Two Inches on each Outside, is in all Eighteen Inches of Ground to each treble Row, and but just One-fourth Part of the Ridge. Now, if, in the old Husbandry, the Crop was as good all over the Ground, as it was in these Eighteen Inches of the treble Row, they must have Twenty-four Quarters to an Acre; but let them dung whilst they can, they will scarce raise Twenty-four Gallons of Wheat the Third Year, on an Acre of Land of equal Goodness; and let them leave out their Dung, and add no more Tillage in lieu of it, and I believe they will not expect Three Quarters to an Acre, in all the Three Years put together.

[147] Eight Bushels make a Quarter.

The mean Price of Wheat, betwixt Dear and Cheap, is reckoned Five Shillings a Bushel[148]; and therefore an Acre that would produce every Year, without any Expence, Eight Bushels, would be thought an extraordinary profitable Acre; but yet a drilled Acre, that produces Sixteen Bushels of Wheat, with the Expence of Ten or Fifteen Shillings, is above a Third Part more profitable.

[148] ’Tis commonly said, that a Farmer cannot thrive, who for want of Money is obliged to sell his Wheat under Five Shillings a Bushel; but if he will sell it dear, he must keep it when ’tis cheap; And his Way of keeping it is in the Straw, using his best Contrivances to preserve it from the Mice.

The most secure Way of keeping a great Quantity of Wheat, that ever I heard of, is by drying it. When I lived in _Oxfordshire_, one of my nearest Neighbours was very expert in this, having practised it for great Part of his Life: When Wheat was under Three Shillings a Bushel, he bought in the Markets as much of the middle Sort of Wheat as his Money would reach to purchase: He has often told me, that his Method was to dry it upon an Hair-cloth, in a Malt-kiln, with no other Fuel than clean Wheat-Straw; never suffering it to have any stronger Heat than that of the Sun. The longest time he ever let it remain in this Heat was Twelve Hours, and the shortest time about Four Hours; the damper the Wheat was, and the longer intended to be kept, the more Drying it requires: But how to distinguish nicely the Degrees of Dampness, and the Number of Hours proper for its Continuance upon the Kiln, he said was an Art impossible to be learned by any other Means than by Practice. About Three or Four and Twenty Years ago, Wheat being at Twelve Shillings a Bushel, he had in his Granaries, as I was informed, Five thousand Quarters of dried Wheat; none of which cost him above Three Shillings a Bushel.

This dried Wheat was esteemed by the _London_ Bakers to work better than any new Wheat that the Markets afforded. His Speculation, which put him upon this Project, was, that ’twas only the superfluous Moisture of the Grain that caused its Corruption, and made it liable to be eaten by the Wevil; and that when this Moisture was dried out, it might be kept sweet and good for many Years; and that the Effect of all Heat of the same Degree was the same, whether of the Straw, or of the Sun.

As a Proof, he would shew, that every Grain of his Wheat would grow after being kept Seven Years.

He was a most sincere honest Yeoman, who from a small Substance he began with, left behind him about Forty thousand Pounds; the greatest Part whereof was acquired by this Drying Method.