566

ON THE AltABLE LAND

the trouble to perforin this operation for himself. But theseed per acre is so cheap, as hardly to be worth the necessarypains and attention, except to those who do it for sale to someextent; or as a decent source of profit to villagers, or profess-ed seedsmen. One acre of ground may produce to the valueof fifty pounds; but any considerable extension of the culturewould soon greatly overstock the market. Farmers, however,who raise their own seed, besides saving the price, have thisadditional advantage, that they are always sure to obtaingood sorts.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE.

Fig. 1. Is a section of the drills, as first formed, and having thedung spread out in the hollow drills.

Fig. 2. Represents these drills, as split open, to cover the dung ;what was formerly the hollow drills being converted, by this oper-ation, into the ridgelets, and vice versa.

Fig. 3. Gives an idea of the figure of the drills, or ridgelets,after having been seeded by the drill-machine.

Fig. 4. Is a representation of the appearance of the field, afterthe earth has been gathered into the intervals between the turnipdrills, as formerly practised, but which is now in a horse-hoedstate.

Fig. 5. Shews the situation of the drills, on finishing off thefield in the older method, by splitting open the gathered ridgeletsof Fig. 4.; but which practice is not now generally followed, forreasons already assigned in the body of this section.

Fig. 6. (lives an idea of the situation of a field of drilled tur-nips when finished off; the furrows or hollow drills not being open-ed out, for the reasons already assigned ; and the turnips are re-presented as having their shows or tops removed, for the use ofyoung stock, previously to the feeding stock of sheep being laidon.

Fig. 7. Contains a plan, upon a smaller scale than the prece-ding sections, of a turnip field in regular drills, in which these arelaid off obliquely to the usual direction of the ridges, to facilitatethe more equable distribution of the dung covered up in the drills,when the field is afterwards ploughed for a crop of grain.