Part 23

But what in the Vineyards proves this Thesis most fully is, That where they constantly till the low Vines with the Plough, which is almost the same with the Hoe-plough, the Stems are planted about Four Feet asunder, chequerwise; so that they plow them Four ways. When any of these Plants happen to die, new ones are immediately planted in their room, and exactly in the Points or Angles where the other have rotted; else, if planted out of those Angles, they would stand in the Way of the Plough: These young Vines, I say, so planted in the very Graves, as it were, of their Predecessors, grow, thrive, and prosper well, the Soil being thus constantly tilled: And if a Plum-tree, or any other Plant, had such Tillage, it might as well succeed one of its own Species, as those Vines do.

’Tis observed, that White-thorns will not prosper, set in the Gaps of a White thorn Hedge: But I have seen the Banks of such Gaps dug and thrown down one Summer, and made up again, and White-thorns there replanted the following Winter, with good Success.

But note, That the annual plowing the Vines is more beneficial than the one Summer Tillage of the Banks, the Vines having it repeated to them yearly.

I have, by Experience and Observation, found it to be a Rule, That long Tap-rooted Plants, as Clover and St. Foin, will not succeed immediately after those of their own or any other Species of long Tap-roots, so well as after horizontal-rooted Plants; but, on the contrary, horizontal will succeed those Tap-roots as well or better than they will succeed horizontal.

I confess, this Observation did, for a great while, cheat me into the common Belief, That different Species of Plants feed on different Food; till I was delivered from that Error, by taking Notice, that those Tap-roots would thrive exceedingly well after Turneps, which have also pretty long Tap-roots, though Turneps never thrive well immediately after Clover[210], or St. Foin: I found the true Cause of this Exception to that Rule to be chiefly the different Tillage[211].

[210] But when Clover has been fed by Cattle, the Ground being good, and well tilled, Turneps may thrive immediately after Clover: Therefore this is an Exception to the general Rule.

[211] Very mellow rich Land is so full of vegetable Food, that ’tis an Exception to most Rules; and therefore I speak not of that.

Land must be well tilled for Turneps, which also are commonly hoed; they stand scarce ever above Three-quarters of a Year, and are then fed on the Ground; and then the succeeding Crop of Corn has, by that means, the Benefit of twice as much Tillage from the Hoe, as otherwise would be given to it; and the Broad Clover, or St. Foin, sown with the Corn (if the Corn be not so big as to kill it), will enjoy, in its Turn, a Proportion of the extraordinary Tillage, and of the Dung of Cattle, which feed the Turneps, and thrive accordingly: But Broad Clover and St. Foin, being perennial Plants, stand on the Ground so long, that it lies several Years untilled; so that Turneps, sown immediately after these, do fail, for want of their due Tillage, for which there is not sufficient time, by plowing often enough; because, by the common Ploughs, it requires Two or Three Years to make it fine enough for Turneps, or for a Repetition of Clover, or St. Foin, in strong or swerdy Land.

Another Reason why any Crop succeeds well after Turneps (and besides their being spent on the Ground where they grow) is their cold Constitution, by which they are maintained with less Food than another Plant of the same Bulk.

The _Parenchyma_, or fleshy Part of a Turnep, consisting of a watry Substance, which cools the Vessels, whereby the Sap’s Motion is very slow, in proportion to the very low Degree of Heat it has, and sends off its Recrements in the same Proportion likewise; and therefore requires the less of the terrene Nourishment to supply those Recrements.

This is seen, when a Bushel of Turneps, mixed with a Quantity of Wheaten Flour, is made into Bread, and well baked: This Bushel of Turneps gives but few Ounces Increase in Weight, more than the same Quantity of Wheaten Flour made into Bread, and baked without any Turneps. This shews there is in a Turnep very little Earth (which is the most permanent Substance of a Plant); the Oven discharges in Vapour near all but the largest Vessels: Its earthly Substance being so small, is a Proof ’tis maintained by a small Quantity of Earth: and, upon that Account also, of less Damage to the next Crop than another Plant would be, which required more of the solid Nourishment to constitute its firmer Body, as a Charlock does; for when a Charlock comes up, contiguous to, and at the same time with a Turnep, it does so rob the Turnep, that it attains not to be of the Weight of Five Ounces; when a single Turnep, having no more Scope of Ground, and, in all respects (but the Vicinity of the Charlock), equal, weighs Five Pounds, yet that Charlock does not weigh One Pound.

And where Three Turneps coming up, and growing thus contiguous, will weigh Four Pounds; a Charlock joined with Two or Three Turneps, all together, will be less than one Pound, upon no less Space of Ground.

This Observation cannot be made, except where Turneps are drilled in Rows; and there ’tis easy to demonstrate, that a Charlock, during the time of its short Life, draws much more Earth than a Turnep of equal Bulk, from an equal Quantity of Ground[212].

[212] ’Tis certain that Turneps, when they stand for Seed, suck and impoverish the Ground exceedingly: For though they are of a cold Constitution, and consequently consume less Food than Plants of an hotter Constitution, and of the same Bulk; yet these Seed-turneps being of so vast a Bulk, as sometimes Eighty Quarters of their Roots grow on an Acre, and their Stalks have been measured Seven Feet high, and their Roots having continued at near their full Bigness for about Ten Months together, and then carried off, they drain the Land more than a Crop of other Vegetables of a less Bulk, and an hotter Constitution, and which live a less time; or than Wheat, which, though it lives as long, is very small, except in the Four last Months.

The true Cause why Clover and St. Foin do not succeed so well after their own respective Species, or that of each other, as Corn, _&c._ can, is, that they take great Part of their Nourishment from below the Plough’s Reach, so as that under Earth cannot be tilled deep enough, but the upper Part may be tilled deep enough for the horizontal Roots of Corn, _&c._ towards which, the Rotting of the Clover and St. Foin Roots, when cut off by the Plough, do not a little contribute[213]; And there’s no doubt but that, if the under Earth could be as well tilled for the Tap-roots, as the upper Earth is for the horizontal, the Tap-roots would succeed one another as well as the horizontal would succeed them, or those of their own Species, or as the Tap-roots do the horizontal.

[213] That the Rotting of vegetable Roots in the Ground doth ferment therein, and improve it for horizontal-rooted Plants, I am convinced by an Accident; _viz._ My Man had plowed off the Earth close to the Rows in a Field of extraordinary large Turneps designed for Seed. This Earth was neglected to be thrown back to the Rows, until a severe Frost in the Winter came, and killed the Turneps; upon which, in the Spring, the Field was sown with Barley upon the Level, with only _once_ plowing, and that cross-ways of the Rows. The Turneps had stood so wide asunder, that the Spot whereon each had rotted, appeared like the Spot whereon an Horse had urined in till’d Ground, and was of a deeper Colour, and much higher, than the Barley that grew round those Spots; and yet none of it was poor. As the Roots of Clover, and St. Foin, are very much less; yet the greater Number rotting in plowed Ground must be of great Use to a following Crop of Corn.

I will here relate Two Examples of this in St. Foin: The one is, That a Field of Twenty-five Acres drilled with St. Foin, except Three Acres in the Middle of it, which was, at the same time, sown with Hop-Clover; after Eight Years the whole Field was plowed up by a Tenant, and sown with Corn: The St. Foin had been mowed yearly, as the Hop-Clover was not mowed at all, but fed by Horses teddered (or staked) thereon the First and Second Years; and after that had nothing on it but poor natural Grass.

The whole Field was managed alike, when plowed up; but the Three Acres produced visibly worse Crops of Corn than the rest all round it, which had produced St. Foin.

The other Example or Instance was, Where an Acre, Part of a Field, was, by a Fancy, drilled with St. Foin in single Rows, about Thirty-three Inches asunder, but was never hoed: After Seven Years it was plowed up with the rest of the Field cross the Rows, and sown with Oats upon the Back Three Months after plowing. These Rows were as visible in the Oats, as if the St. Foin had been still remaining there: The Oats in the Rows where the St. Foin had been, looked of a deep green flourishing Colour, at first coming up, and until they were about half a Foot high, and the Spaces between them looked yellowish; but afterwards the Difference of their Colour disappeared, all the Crop being very good. Upon this I imputed it to the Rotting of the Roots, which by their Singleness were very large; and when the different Colours disappeared, I suppose the Roots of all the Oats had reached to the Benefit of the rotted Roots, which might also be then spread farther into the Spaces; and I doubt not but that the Rotting of Broad Clover-roots has the same Effect as of St. Foin, for manuring of Land, especially when the Roots are large.

Some have objected against this Opinion, and say the Effect was rather to be imputed to the Rows of St. Foin shadowing the Earth under them, or else from their keeping the Earth under them free from Couch-grass, of which the Intervals were full: But I think it more probable, that the Couch-grass, having very long horizontal Roots, might draw Nourishment from the Earth under the Rows, and from the Intervals equally.

And as to the Shadow of the Rows, tho’, for the First and Second Years, the St. Foin Plants were very large; yet, being afterwards, for Five or Six Years, until plowed up, constantly fed by Cattle, and being more sweet, was eaten very low, whilst the Couch-grass remained intire in the Intervals, and shadowed them more than the Earth of the Rows was shadowed by the St. Foin: Besides, the rotten Turneps, which were freed from both these Objections, had the same Effect on the Barley, as the St. Foin had on the Oats.

The under Earth, in some time, is replenished by what the Rains leave, when they sink through it; and then Tap-rooted Plants may be there nourished again, tho’ the upper Earth be drained by the Corn; so that no Change is so beneficial, as that betwixt Tap-rooted Plants, and those which have only horizontal ones. The former are provided for by Rains, though not so speedily as the latter are by Tillage and Hoeing.

Pastures require no Change of Herbs; because they have annually the same Supply of Food from the Dunging of Cattle that feed on them, and from the Benefit of the Atmosphere.

Meadows hold out without Change of Species of Grass, tho’ a Crop be carried off every Year; the Richness of that Soil, with the Help of the Atmosphere, Dung of Cattle in feeding the After-Crop, or else Flooding, from the overflowing of some River, some, or all of which, supply the Place of the Plough to a Meadow.

Woods also hold out beyond Memory or Tradition, without changing Sorts of Trees; and this by the Leaves, and perhaps old Wood, rotting on the Soil annually, which operate as a Manure; because, as has been said, Earth which has once passed any Vessels, is so changed, that, for a long time after, it does not retain its Homogeneity[214] so much as to mix with pure Earth, without fermenting; and by the Descent of the Atmosphere, the Trees shadowing the Soil, to prevent the Re-ascent of what that brings down; all this, resembling Tillage, continually divides the Soil, and renews the Food equal to the Consumption of it made by the Wood.

[214] Not that the Particles of Earth are strictly homogeneous, but that they are much less heterogeneous, before they are altered by Vessels, than afterwards.

And the last Argument I shall attempt to bring for Confirmation of all I have advanced, is that which proves both the Truth and Use of the rest; _viz._ That when any Sort of Vegetable, by the due Degrees of Heat and Moisture it requires, is agreeable to a Soil, it may, by the new Horse-hoeing Husbandry, be continued without ever changing the Species.

CHAP. XV.

_Of Change of_ INDIVIDUALS.

Seeds, in their natural Climate, do not degenerate, unless Culture has improved them; and then, upon Omission of that Culture, they return to their first natural State.

As the Benefit of changing of Species of Seeds is from Difference of Tillage, so the Benefit of changing Individuals of the same Species appears to be from those Causes which are, generally, themselves, the Effects of different Climates, such as Heat and Moisture, which may also vary very much in the same Latitude and Neighbourhood; as the same Mountain in the Country of the _Mogul_ (related by Mr. _Evelyn_, from Monsieur _Bernier_), on the South Side produces _Indian_ Plants, and on the North Side _European_ Plants, from different Exposures; and some Land, retaining Water longer, is colder; some, suffering it to pass down quicker, and by the Nature and Figure of its Parts, causes such a Refraction and Reflexion of the Sun’s Rays, which give a great Warmth, as in Sand, and gravelly Grounds, that are well situate, and have an under Stratum of some Sort of hollow Matter, next under the Staple[215], or upper Stratum, wherein the Plough is exercised.

[215] This hollow Matter lets the Water pass down the sooner from the Surface, whereby the Staple or the Ground becomes the drier, and consequently warmer.

This beneficial Change of Individuals seems rather to be from the forementioned Causes, than from Change of Food; and these Causes shew their Efficacy, chiefly in the Generation or Fœtation of those Seeds; as Flax-seed brought from _Holland_, and sown here, will bring as fine Flax as there; but the very next Generation of it coarser, and so degenerating gradually, after Two or Three Descents, becomes no better than the common ordinary Sort; yet its Food is the same, when the Flax is fine, as when ’tis coarse.

And so it is, when Individuals of Wheat are changed: So Silk-worms, hatched and bred in _France_, of Eggs or Seed brought from _Italy_, will make as fine Silk as the _Italian_; but the Eggs of these laid in _France_ and their Issue, will make no better Silk than the _French_; though their Food be from Leaves of the same Mulberry-trees, when they make fine Silk and coarse: Therefore ’tis from the Climate, where the Eggs are impregnated, not where they have their Incubation or Food, when hatched, and fed to their Lives End, that this Difference happens.

Common Barley, sown once in the burning Sand at _Patney_ in _Wiltshire_, will, for many Years after, if sown on indifferent warm Ground, be ripe Two or Three Weeks sooner than any other[216], which has never been impregnate at _Patney_: But if sown a Degree farther North, on cold clayey Land, will, in Two or Three Years, lose this Quality, and become as late ripe as any other.

[216] Barley is far from being improved by becoming rath-ripe; for it loses more good Qualities than it gets by being sown at _Patney_: ’Tis so tender, that if it be sown early, the Frost is apt to kill it; or if it be sown late in _May_, on the same Day, and in the same Soil, with the same Sort of Barley that is not rath-ripe, it will be much thinner bodied than the late-ripe; and besides, if it happens to have any Check by Cold or Drought, it never recovers it as the other doth, at what time soever it is sown. It is now, I am informed, gone out of Fashion, and very few Farmers have sown it of late Years. I know a little Parish, that, I believe, formerly lost about Two hundred Pounds _per Ann._ by sowing rath-ripe Barley: But long and dear Experience hath now convinced them of their Error, and obliged them totally to disuse it.

Indeed _Patney_ is far from improving the Species of Barley, except we think it improved by becoming more weak and tender, and shorter-lived; which last-mentioned Quality fits it for such Countries, where the Summers are too short for other Barley to ripen.

The Grains or Seeds of Vegetables are their Eggs; and the individual Plants, immediately proceeding from them, have not only the Virtues they received in Embryo (or rather _in plantulis_), but the Diseases also; for when smutty Wheat is sown, unless the Year prove very favourable, the Crop will be smutty; which is an evident Token of _mala stamina_.

The smutty Grains will not grow; for they turn to a black Powder: But when some of these are in a Crop, then, to be sure, many of the rest are infected; and the Disease will shew itself in the next Generation, or Descent of it, if the Year wherein ’tis planted prove a wet one.

Weeds, and their Seed, in the Fields where they grow naturally, for Time immemorial, come to as great Perfection as ever, without Change of Soil.

These Weeds, with Acorns, and other Masts, Crabs, Sloes, Hips, and Haws, are thought to have been, originally, the only natural Product of our Climate: Therefore other Plants being Exotics, many of them, as to their Individuals, require Culture and Change of Soil, without which they are liable more or less to degenerate.

But to say, that the Soil can cause Wheat to degenerate into Rye, or convert, Rye into Wheat, is what reflects upon the Credit of _Laurembergius_: ’Tis as easy to believe, that an Horse, by feeding in a certain Pasture, will degenerate into a Bull, and in other Pasture revert to an Horse again; these are scarce of more different Species than Wheat and Rye are: If the different Soil of _Wittemberg_ and _Thuringia_ change one Species, they may the other.

CHAP. XVI.

_Of_ RIDGES.

The Method of plowing Land up into Ridges is a particular Sort of Tillage; the chief Use of which is, the Alteration it makes in the Degrees of Heat and Moisture, being two of the grand Requisites of Vegetation; for very different Degrees of these are necessary to different Species of Vegetables.

Those Vegetables commonly sown in our Fields, require a middle Degree of both, not being able to live on the Sides of perpendicular Walls in hot Countries, nor under Water in cold ones, neither are they amphibious, but must have a Surface of Earth not cover’d, nor much soak’d with Water, which deprives them of their necessary Degree of Heat, and causes them to languish. The Symptoms of their Disease are a pale or yellow Colour in their Leaves, and a Cessation of Growth, and Death ensues as sure as from a Dropsy.

The only Remedy to prevent this Disease in Plants is, to lay such wet Land up into Ridges, that the Water may run off into the Furrows, and be convey’d by Ditches or Drains into some River.

The more a Soil is fill’d with Water, the less Heat it will have.

The Two Sorts of Land most liable to be overglutted with Water, are Hills, whereof the _Upper Stratum_ (or Staple) is Mould lying upon a _Second Stratum_ of Clay;

And generally all strong deep Land.

Hills are made wet and spewy by the Rain-water which falls thereon, and soaks into them as into other Land; but being stopp’d by the Clay lying next the Surface or Staple, cannot enter the Clay; and for want of Entrance, spreads itself upon it; and as Water naturally tends downwards, it is by the incumbent Mould partly stopp’d in its Descent from the upper towards the lower Side of an Hill; and being follow’d and press’d on by more Water from above, is forced to rise up into the Mould lying upon it, which it fills as a Cistern does a Fountain (or _Jet d’Eau_). The Land of such an Hill is not the less wet or spewy for being laid up in Ridges, if they be made from the higher to the lower Part of the Field; for the Force of the Water’s Weight continued will raise it so, as to cause it to issue out at the very Tops of those Ridges; the Earth becomes a sort of Pap or Batter, and being like a Quagmire, in going over it, the Feet of Men and Cattle sink in till they come to the Clay.

There are two Methods of draining such a wet Hill: The one is to dig many Trenches, cross the Hill horizontally[217], and either fill them up with Stones loose or archwise, through which the Water, when it soaks into the Trenches, may run off at one or both Ends of them into some Ditch, which is lower, and carries it away; then they cover the Trenches with Mould, and plow over them as in dry level Ground.

[217] For if they are made with the Descent, and not across it, then they will be parallel to the Rills of Water, that run upon the Surface of the Clay under the Staple (or upper _Stratum_ of Mould), and would be no more effectual for draining the Hill, than the digging of one River parallel to another, without joining it in any Part, would be effectual for draining the other River of its Water.

This Method has been found effectual for a time, but not of long Continuance; for the Trenches are apt to be stopp’d up, and then the Springs break out again as before: Besides, this is a very chargeable Work, and in many Places the Expence of it may almost equal the Purchase of the Land.

Therefore ’tis a better Method to plow the Ridges cross the Hill almost horizontally, that their parting Furrows, lying open, may each serve as a Drain to the Ridge next below it; for when the Plough has made the Bottom of these horizontal Furrows a few Inches deeper than the Surface of the Clay, the Water will run to their Ends very securely, without rising into the Mould, provided no Part of the Furrows be lower than their Ends.