OF SCOTLAND.

413

PART II.

OF FALLOWING.

SECT. I.

ADVANTAGES OF FALLOW.

It is a singular circumstance in the history of British agri-culture, that the ancient husbandry of England rested entire-ly on a constant and frequent recurrence of fallow, (probablyderived from the time when the Romans occupied South Bri-tain) ; while in the ancient husbandry of Scotland fallow was sototally unknown, that the first field in which that process wasexperimentally tried in East Lothian is still pointed out tostrangers. In the ancient husbandry of Scotland , the cultivatedland consisted of two unequal divisions, the smaller denominat-ed infield, and the larger outfield. To the former the wholemuck of the farm was applied, and it was kept under perpetualtillage. The latter never received any manure, except fromfolding, generally by cattle ; and after carrying as many suc-cessive crops of corn as would pay for seed and labour, it waspermitted to grow up into a mixed assemblage of weeds andnatural grasses, named lea in which state, by being pastur-ed for seven or more years, it was said to gather heart for be-ing subjected to a similar repetition of grain crops.

The fallow process consists in frequently turning over thesoil by means of the plough, chiefly during the summermonths, so that it may be reduced or pulverised, to that extenta s to allow the harrows to tear out the vivacious roots ofweeds, which are carefully to be removed or burned; and also,