452
ON THE ARABLE LAND
ticular, the state of the weather, and of the soil, must guidethe judgment ol the farmer. On good dry gravelly loams, inheart after a clover crop and well prepared, wheat has beenknown to succeed best in blast Lothian, when sown in No-vember.
After drilled beans, whenever the season will admit ofploughing and harrowing, wheat may be sown from the mid-tile or end of September to the middle of November, afterwhich the sowing of wheat ought not to be hazarded till thespring quarter returns. One of the greatest obstructions tothe cultivation of wheat after beans is, the lateness, and con-sequent precariousness of the seed time, often greatly pro-tracted by the length of time requisite ior winning the beans,so as to remove them to the rick-yard; by which, in late sea-sons, and on wet soils, the land cannot be laboured in anyreasonable time for the succeeding wheat crop. To obviatethis difficulty, an intelligent farmer, Mr Mitchell, is ac-customed to remove his beans, immediately after they arecut, either to a grass or stubble field that is not to beploughed before winter *. This is an admirable expedientfor securing the proper season for sowing wheat, and the on-ly objection is, the cxpcnce of twice carting the bean crop,which may sometimes obstruct the other harvest operations.But in soils which are in a fit condition, as to their nature,state of fertility, and cleanness for bearing a good crop ofwheat, the superior profitableness of that crop to any other>vhich can be substituted, gives sufficient inducement to in-cur a Jittle additional expence and trouble on that account.
After turnips, when the crop is consumed or led olli andthe ground can be properly ploughed, wheat may be sownfrom any time betwixt the first of February and the middleof March, and it is customary to plough and sow the land in