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F A L
F ALLOW, land ploughed, but not sown, beingleft to rest after the years of tillage.
If the farmer finds that one summer’s fallow does not■entirely answer the purpose of dividing and looseningthe earth, it is his interest to continue, it with another.M. Tull confirms this, by instancing a' poor man, whomnecessity compelled to take this method, because he couldnot get seed for his ground after he had tilled it the firstyear. The consequence was, that his crop was worthMore than the value of the land it grew on. Mr. Max-well too mentions another, who, from a like necessity,followed the same course upon almost his whole farm,had such a crop as enabled him to pay many debts, and,°y continuing the fame practice, came in a few yearsto be in a condition to purchase the farm.
When the husbandman intends to break up any piece°f Lnd, the first thing necessary is carefully and judici-ously t0 examine the surface of the ground, and its depth." the surface be covered with a thick, strong, fibroustOks, and the mould underneath sufficiently deep, his. E, and indeed the only right method of proceeding,i? exc el!emly well directed by the marquis of Turbilly.7? ut if* on the contrary, the upper mould should betallow, or so thin turfed as not to be fit for burning,2 must observe whether his foil be of a strong, or ofa hght quality. Under the former of these are includede P hard clays, of what colour soever ; all stiffa g earths, and such as, after being exposed to the
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u n, or frost, grow hard and stony ; with such as chop°nd cleave upon their surface in the heat of summer : andnder the latter are ranked (the repetition may be ex-<jUiable here for the sake of perspicuity) all sandy,, moul-jUuig, gravelly, mellow soils; all loose and open earth,0 what nature soever ; all such as are not sticky, butI ' soon dry after rain; and, instead of lying in greatUtn F >s after ploughing, are easily apt to dissolve, andfumble into mould, not being subject to bind by the
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a,S in summer, or frost in winter.
st'ff’t • U * ,0n ^^mination, the soil is found to be of the; Is( - k-'nd, particular care must be taken to turn downnruce in the latter end of autumn, that what fibrousin it may be the more effectually rotted
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a g 3 inst the summer ploughing, and that the earth may uemouldered, or mellowed,- by the winter’s frost and rains.
hen ploughed land is intended to be fallowed, it*Uould likewise betae seed timeespecially ifmellow it.
In the spring, the farmer should take the earliest op-P°ttnnity that his spring crops may atdrnit of, to give his
ploughed in the autumn, as soon aspermits, and laid as rough as may be,it be a stiff soil, that the winter’s frost may
fallows a second ploughing across the former; afterwhich the ground should be well harrowed, not only tobreak the clods, but to pull up such roots as are not yetrotted, that they may be gathered into heaps and burnt.It is essentially necessary that this, and all the follow-ing ploughings and harrowings be performed in dryweather ; because, as the purpose here is thoroughlyto loosen the mould, special care should be taken toavoid every thing which might counter-act that intention.The farmer cannot wish for a greater benefit to hishusbandry, than moderate showers after each sallow,to bring the feeds of every weed to vegetate, in orderthat, being turned down by several ploughings, theymay be the more effectually destroyed.
It seems needless to mention when the future plough-ings should be given, because the farmer should takeevery opportunity of repeating both them and the har-rowings, in full confidence that he cannot over-do it,especially in strong soils ; in which he may also be equallycertain, that he cannot err in ploughing too deep : forit is of great consequence, not only that the roots havea sufficient depth of mould to penetrate in, but also thatthe cold clay be removed to as great a distance as possi-ble from the surface; because by its retaining the water,the roots of plants are chilled and killed, especially inthe winter, when they reach such stagnating wet., Ifany manure is applied to. alter the quality of the soil,it cannot be laid on too early in the summer, that theploughings may the more effectually mix it with theearth; but if only compost be used for enriching, thesoil, it need not be spread till just before the last plough-
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f Authors give directions for ploughing land into manydifferent forms, mostly arising from the different naturesof soils, but too often from the particular long establishedcustom of countries, the reasonableness of which is notalways sufficiently considered.
Where there is a descent for water, all lands shouldbe laid fiat, because, in that way, the rains will undoubt-edly give a snore equal nourishment to the crop, th,anwhen they are raised in ridges. The practice of, layinglight foils into narrow ridges, for wheat, is certainlyowing to want of attention; and eve.r; in strong landploughed for winter fallowing and sowing, we are muchinclined to think.that the best way would, be, instead ofsingle bout?.,- or narrow ridges, to make. the ridges verybroad, and lay them up high: for if the ground is level,the water will lie in the parting thoroughs, and, bysoaking into the sides of the ridges, make it so poachy,as to render it very unfit to be worked, till late in thefpting, unless the season be very dry ; or, if there is muchF f descent,