OF SCOTLAND.

355

plough moves onward, exactly parallel to the line of draught.By this device, while the plough is feiring the crown of oneridge, the marker traces_the line upon which the next ridgeis to be feired.

Circumstances may Tender it proper or necessary to changethe direction of the ridges in one part of the field, perhapsm several parts, to facilitate the discharge of surface water,by taking the advantage of natural hollows. In this case,the directing ploughman draws an oblique feiring, eitherperfectly straight or waving, according to circumstances, atthe place where the alteration of direction is considered to benecessary. At this oblique feiring, all the ridges of the ori-ginal direction terminate; and from it a new series com-mences j which is measured off and feired exactly in themanner already described, as if commencing a new field fromthat place. The new oblique feiring is either made the crownof a ridge or a water-furrow, according as the judgment ofthe husbandman directs. Those ridges which terminate ob-liquely upon the oblique feiring are called butts-

Where other circumstances admit of it, the best directionfor the ridges is north and south, that the grain on bothsides may enjoy equal advantage from the influence of thesun; but this must often be regulated by the slope of thefield, or the direction of the fences. Any particular breadthof ridge that may be desired, is regulated by the length ofthe poles used in feiring, and requires no particular direc-tions.

§ ” -Of ’toafer-furrorus —If there are any hollows, or wetplaces, from which the surface water cannot readily drain offby the ordinary water-furrows between the ridges, an obliqueor a winding furrow, according to circumstances, is drawnacross the finished ridges, in the most convenient directionfor carrying off the water, which is called a gww-furroi® inthe technical language of Scotch husbandry. Lastly, all theintersections of the furrows are carefully opened up into each