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SECT. I.
OF WHEAT.
1 ins is assuredly the most profitable grain, when judicious-ly and industriously cultivated, being now so much in de-mand, that the soil of Britain is scarcely able, at least underits present management, to supply the quantity wanted for thefood of the people, whilst its superior price to other grains,renders it an object of great importance to the individual cul-tivator and to the nation. In this section, it is proposed togive a detailed account of wheat husbandry, and to explainthe several steps to be taken in its cultivation with more mi-nuteness, than may be necessary with regard to other grains.
§ 1. Soils best adapted for Wheats and their preparation .—The soils best adapted for wheat, the preparation for thatcrop, and the rotations in which wheat forms a prominentobject, with its station in the course of crops, have been al-ready detailed in the chapter on arable land. Wheat, in thesystem of good managers, follows naked fallow, or is raisedafter turnips, beans, or potatoes; and sometimes, but of latevery rarely, is taken after a crop of clover to which oneploughing is usually given, or which has been rag fallowed.This last is a hasty reduction of the soil to good tilth by two,three, or more ploughings and harrowings after a crop ofred clover alone, or clover and rye-grass, cut green for soil-ing or made into hay; but more than one ploughing is sel-dom practised by good husbandmen, except when the grasscrop fails.
The richer descriptions of clays and strong loams arc cer-tainly best adapted for the production of wheat; yet everyspecies of clay and loam may be made to produce excellent