Band 
Vol. I.
Seite
445
JPEG-Download
 

I

OF SCOTLAND.

445

circumstances, likewise, connected with their cultivation, willbe afterwards detailed in the following subdivisions of thischapter.

§ 1. Upon all the varieties of soil which have been enume-rated in the foregoing sections, potatoes are cultivated yearlyin every farm, for the supply of the family and servants ofthe farmer; and these necessarily fall into some portion orother of the several rotations which have been already men-tioned. Some farmers grow potatoes on a part of their fal-low land, or on the turnip break ; while others prefer a por-tion of the land which has been broken up from ley, or ofthat which is devoted to pulse in any of the foregoing rota-tions. There is good reason for preferring this latter mode,because it is necessary to plant potatoes too early in the sea-son for being able to clean the land effectually from weedsby the short previous fallow ; and because, (especially in tur-nip soils), potatoes, which grow up among the ensuing crop,often prove a troublesome weed,

§ 2. Spring tares are likewise grown by most farmers everyyear, to be cut for soiling their horses in the interval betweenthe two cuttings of the clover crop. These accordingly oc-cupy a portion of one or other of the breaks in the rotationor course of crops adapted for every farm, and are generallysown on a part of that division of the farm which is devotedto pulse, in any of the rotations already enumerated; orwhen pulse crops do not enter into the rotation, they aresown on a part of the land broken up for oats after ley.

§ 3. A small quantity of jlax is frequently grown on mostfarms where the soil is adapted for its cultivation, partly forthe use of the farmer’s family, and partly as constituting oneof the customary stipulations with the hinds or marriedploughmen in part of their wages. This is grown on anyconvenient corner of the farm ; but always so as to be follow-ed by turnips or fallow before the land returns to grass. Not-withstanding the excessive rise in the price of imported flaxof late years, its cultivation has very materially diminished in