OP SCOTLAND.

375

SECT. IX.

OF HORSE-HOEING.

r he utility of this operation in the cultivation of all drilledcrops, more especially of turnips, ruta-baga, potatoes, andbeans, for destroying annual weeds in the intervals betweenthe rows or drills, is too obvious to require any formal illus-tration ; more especially as this process will require to be par-ticularly noticed, when giving a detailed account of the seve-ral crops to which horse-hoeing is chiefly applicable. It maybe sufficient to mention in this place, that the horse-hoe cutsover all the weeds which grow in the intervals of drilled cropsa little below the surface, leaving only those that grow amongthe crop in the rows, and a little way on each side, to be af-terwards extirpated by the hand-hoers and weeders. Thehorse-hoe, therefore, produces a considerable saving to thehusbandman, both in point of time and in expence of handlabour. An acre of drilled turnips may be horse-hoed fortwo shillings or less, and afterwards hand-hoed for three orfour shillings; whereas an acre, not previously horse-hoed,could hardly be effectually hand-hoed for less than eight orten shillings.

ture, the farmer is satisfied of its possessing qualities suitable to his soil, situa-tion and climate. Mr Hunter has cultivated his wheat for thirty years on onefarm, and nobody will say it has degenerated. Experience, therefore, could a-lone justify him in making a change to any extent. Could the farmers of Scot-land be assured of obtaining the particular species or variety of wheat theywould wish to cultivate, they would find their account in ordering seed annuallyfrom Kent or Essex ; as the produce from the wheat of the South, when of an ght sort, and unmixed, is admitted to be greater and finer than from the samesort raised in Scotland , all o^her circumstances being equal.