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Vol. I.
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538
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538

ON THE ARABLE LAND

ed beans are cultivated ; though there can be no doubt butthat much foulness is occasioned, by want of attention to thepurity of grass seeds. As no good husbandman will use hayseeds for his own farm, if his crops arc foul, by a parity ofreasoning, every one ought to be equally cautious in regardto purchased seed.

Universally, the various seeds of the artificial grasses arecarefully mixed on the barn or granary floor, by repeated andindustrious turning, and in the proportions intended for use.They are sown by hand, from a sheet fixed across the shoul-ders, and usually by what are called three casts to each ordi-nary ridge of land of fifteen or eighteen feet in breadth. Theequability with which grass seeds are distributed to the soil, isa strong test of a good sower - ; as from bad or careless sow-ing, the soil is irregularly stocked in curved wales, too thickof plants with bare intervals; but unfortunately the evils aris-ing from bad sowing, are not discoverable, until too late forbeing remedied.

The time of sowing has been already adverted to, as regulat-ed by the seed time of the grain crops along with which theyare sown 5 and may be any time in March, April, or May,according to these circumstances. When sown among drill-ed grain, which requires to be hand-hoed, the seed processmust be postponed till after the grain crop is hand-hoed; orimmediately before the crop is hand-hoed, in which case thatoperation assists to cover in the grass seeds; after which theland may be neatly harrowed. This harrowing may eitherbe given by the common harrows, by a very light harrowwith numerous small teeth, or by a bush harrow. Some hus-bandmen are afraid of the operation of the harrow on thisoccasion, lest the young plants of the grain crop may be tornup by the roots; but it sufficiently appears from experience,that all the apparent injury from the harrow teeth is amplycompensated by the subsequent growth of the corn, and theabundant tillering of the plants which afterwards takes place.Accordingly, it is no uncommon practice, to harrow a grain