_Of_ TILLAGE.
Tillage is breaking and dividing the Ground by Spade, Plough, Hoe, or
other Instruments, which divide by a Sort of Attrition (or Contusion)
as Dung does by Fermentation[22].
[22] _Neque enim aliud est Colere quam Resolvere, & Fermentare
Terram._ Columella.
And since the artificial Pasture of Plants is made and increas’d by
Pulveration, ’tis no Matter whether it be by the Ferment of _Dung_,
the Attrition of the _Plough_, the Contusion of the _Roller_, or
by any other Instrument or Means whatsoever, except by Fire, which
carries away all the Cement of that which is burnt.
By Dung we are limited to the Quantity of it we can procure, which in
most Places is too scanty: But by Tillage, we can inlarge our Field of
subterranean Pasture without Limitation, tho’ the external Surface of
it be confin’d within narrow Bounds: Tillage may extend the Earth’s
internal Superficies, in proportion to the Division of its Parts; and
as Division is infinite, so may that Superficies be.
Every Time the Earth is broken by any Sort of Tillage, or Division,
there must arise some new Superficies of the broken Parts, which never
has been open before. For when the Parts of Earth are once united and
incorporated together, ’tis morally impossible, that they, or any of
them, should be broken again, only in the same Places; for to do that,
such Parts must have again the same numerical Figures and Dimensions
they had before such Breaking, which even by an infinite Division could
never be likely to happen: As the Letters of a Distichon, cut out and
mixt, if they should be thrown up never so often, would never be likely
to fall into the same Order and Position with one another, so as to
recompose the same Distich.
Although the internal Superficies may have been drain’d by a preceding
Crop, and the next Plowing may move many of the before divided Parts,
without new-breaking them; yet such as are new-broken, have, at such
Places where they are so broken, a new Superficies, which never was,
or did exist before; because we cannot reasonably suppose, that any of
those Parts can have in all places (if in any Places) the same Figure
and Dimensions twice.
For as Matter is divisible _ad infinitum_, the Places or Lines whereat
’tis so divisible, must be, in relation to Number, infinite, that is to
say, without Number; and must have at every Division Superficies of
Parts of infinite Variety[23] in Figure and Dimensions.
[23] Their Variety is such, that ’tis next to impossible, any two
Pieces, or Clods, in a Thousand Acres of till’d Ground, should have
the same Figure, and equal Dimensions, or that any Piece should
exactly tally with any other, except with that from whence it was
broken off.
And because ’tis morally impossible, the same Figure and Dimensions
should happen twice to any one Part, we need not wonder, how the
Earth, every time of Tilling, should afford a new internal Superficies
(or artificial Pasture); and that the till’d Soil has in it an
inexhaustible Fund, which by a sufficient Division (being capable of an
infinite one) may be produc’d.
Tillage (as well as Dung) is beneficial to all Sorts of Land[24]. Light
Land, being naturally hollow, has larger Pores, which are the Cause of
its Lightness: This, when it is by any Means sufficiently divided,
the Parts being brought nearer together, becomes, for a time, Bulk for
Bulk, heavier; _i. e._ The same Quantity will be contain’d in less
Room, and so is made to partake of the Nature and Benefits of strong
Land, _viz._ to keep out too much Heat and Cold, and the like.
[24] ’Tis of late fully prov’d, by the Experience of many Farmers,
that two or three additional Plowings will supply the Place of Dung,
even in the old Husbandry, if they be perform’d at proper Seasons:
and the hiring Price of three Plowings, after Land has been thrice
plow’d before, is but Twelve Shillings, whereas a Dunging will cost
three Pounds: This was accidentally discovered in my Neighbourhood,
by the Practice of a poor Farmer, who, when he had prepared his Land
for Barley, and could not procure Seed to sow it, plow’d it on till
Wheat Seed-Time, and (by means of such additional Plowing) without
Dung, had so good a Crop of Wheat, that it was judg’d to be more than
the Inheritance of the Land it grew on.
The same Effect follows when they prepare Land for Turneps, since
they are come in Fashion, and sow them several Times upon several
Plowings, the Fly as often taking them off; they have from such
extraordinary Tillage a good Crop of Wheat, instead of the lost
Turneps, without the Help of Dung; hence double-plowing is now become
frequent in this Country.
The Reason why Land is enrich’d by lying long unplow’d, is that so
very few Vegetables are carried off it, very little being produc’d;
the Exhaustion is less than what is added by the Atmosphere, Cattle,
_&c._ But when ’tis plow’d, a vastly greater Quantity of Vegetables
is produc’d, and carried off, more than by the old Husbandry is
return’d to it.
But strong Land, being naturally less porous, is made for a Time
lighter (as well as richer) by a good Division; the Separation of its
Parts makes it more porous, and causes it to take up more Room than it
does in its natural State; and then it partakes of all the Benefits of
lighter Land.
When strong Land is plow’d, and not sufficiently, so that the Parts
remain gross, ’tis said to be rough, and it has not the Benefit of
Tillage; because most of the artificial Pores (or Interstices) are too
large; and then it partakes of the Inconveniences of the hollow Land
untill’d.
For when the light Land is plow’d but once, that is not sufficient
to diminish its natural Hollowness (or Pores;) and, for Want of more
Tillage, the Parts into which ’tis divided by that once (or perhaps
twice) Plowing, remain too large; and consequently the artificial Pores
are large also, and, in that respect, are like the ill-till’d strong
Land.
Light-land, having naturally less internal Superficies, seems to
require the more Tillage[25] or Dung to enrich it; as when the poor,
hollow, thin Downs have their upper Part (which is the best) burnt,
whereby all, (except a _Caput Mortuum_) is carried away; yet the Salts
of this spread upon that barren Part of the Staple, which is unburnt,
divide it into so very minute Particles, that their Pasture will
nourish two or three good Crops of Corn: But then the Plough, even with
a considerable Quantity of Dung, is never able afterwards to make a
Division equal to what those Salts have done; and therefore such burnt
Land remains barren.
[25] As for puffy Land, which naturally swells up, instead of
subsiding, tho’ its Hollowness is much abated by Tillage, yet it is
thought little better than barren Land, and unprofitable for Corn:
But what we usually call Light-land, is only comparatively so, in
Respect of that which is heavier and stronger. And this Sort of Light
land becomes much lighter by being ill-till’d; the unbroken Pieces
of Turf underneath undissolved, forming large Cavities, increase
its Hollowness, and consequently its Lightness: I have often known
this Sort of Land despis’d by its Owners, who fear’d to give it due
Tillage, which they thought would make it so light, that the Wind
would blow it away; but whenever such has been thoroughly till’d, it
never fail’d to become much stronger than before; and considering
that ’tis till’d with less Expence than very strong Land, it is,
for several Sorts of Corn, found to be more profitable than Land of
greater Strength and Richness, that is more difficult to be till’d.
And I am apt to think, that this Sort of Light-land acquires more
Cement, by having its _external_ Superficies often changed, and
exposed to the Dews, and other Benefits of the Atmosphere, as well as
by the Increase of (its _internal_ Superficies, which is the Surfaces
of all the divided Parts of Earth, or) the Pasture of Plants; the one
being augmented by the other; _i. e._, that into the more Parts the
Earth is broken, the more Cement will it attain, from the Sulphur,
which is brought by the Dews.
Artificial Pores cannot be too small, because Roots may the more
easily enter the Soil that has them, quite contrary to natural Pores;
for these may be, and generally are, too small, and too hard for the
Entrance of all weak Roots, and for the free Entrance of strong Roots.
Insufficient Tillage leaves strong Land with its natural Pores too
small, and its artificial ones too large. It leaves Light-land, with
its natural and artificial Pores both too large.
Pores that are too small in hard Ground, will not easily permit Roots
to enter them.
Pores that are too large in any Sort of Land, can be of little other
Use to Roots, but only to give them Passage to other Cavities more
proper for them; and if in any Place they lie open to the Air, they are
dry’d up, and spoil’d, before they reach them.
For fibrous Roots (which alone maintain the Plant; the other Roots
serve for receiving the Chyle from them, and convey it to the Stem) can
take in no Nourishment from any Cavity, unless they come into Contact
with[26], and press against, all the Superficies of that Cavity, which
includes them; for it dispenses the Food to their Lacteals by such
Pressure only: But a fibrous Root is not so press’d by the Superficies
of a Cavity whose Diameter is greater than that of the Root.
[26] Roots cannot have any Nourishment from Cavities of the Earth
that are too large to press against them, except what Water, when
’tis in great Quantity, brings to them, which is imbibed by the
gentle Pressure of the Water; but when the Water is gone, those large
Cavities being empty, the Pressure ceases; and this is the Reason,
that when Land has few other but such large Cavities, the Plants in
it always suffer more by dry Weather, than in Land which by Dung or
Tillage has more minute and fewer large Cavities.
There may be some Moisture on the Superficies of large Cavities; but
without Pressure the fibrous Roots cannot reach it; and very little
or no Pressure can be made to one Part of the Root’s Superficies,
unless the Whole that is included be pressed.
If it be objected that a Charlock-Plant, when pulled up, and thrown
upon the Ground, will grow thereon; this proves nothing against the
Necessity of Pressure, _&c._ for the Weight of that Plant presses
some of its Roots so closely against the Ground, that they send out
(unless the Weather be very dry) new Fibres into the Earth; and there
they are pressed in all their Superficies; without which Fibres the
Plant doth not grow.
The Surfaces of great Clods form Declivities on every Side of them, and
large Cavities, which are as Sinks to convey, what Rain and Dew bring,
too quickly downwards to below the plow’d Part.
The first and second Plowings with common Ploughs scarce deserve the
Name of Tillage; they rather serve to prepare the Land for Tillage.
The third, fourth, and every subsequent Plowing, may be of more
Benefit, and less Expence, than any of the preceding ones.
But the last Plowings will be more advantageously perform’d by Way of
Hoeing, as in the following Chapters will appear.
For the finer Land is made by Tillage, the richer will it become, and
the more Plants it will maintain.
It has been often observ’d, that when Part of a Ground has been better
till’d than the rest, and the whole Ground constantly manag’d alike
afterwards for six or seven Years successively; this Part that was but
once better till’d, always produc’d a better Crop than the rest, and
the Difference remain’d very visible every Harvest.
One Part being once made finer, the Dews did more enrich it; for they
penetrate within and beyond the Superficies, whereto the Roots are
able to enter: The fine Parts of the Earth are impregnate, throughout
their whole Substance, with some of the Riches carried in by the Dews,
and there reposited; until, by new Tillage, the Insides of those fine
Parts become Superficies; and as the Corn drains them, they are again
supply’d as before; but the rough large Parts cannot have that Benefit;
the Dews not penetrating to their Centres, they remain poorer.
I think nothing can be said more strongly to confirm the Truth of this,
than what is related by the Authors quoted by Mr. _Evelyn_[27], to this
Effect, _viz._
[27] In Pag. 17, 18, and 19, of his _Phil. Discourse of Earth_.
‘Take of the most barren Earth you can find, pulverize it well, and
expose it abroad for a Year, incessantly agitated[28]; it will become
so fertile as to receive an exotic Plant from the furthest _Indies_;
and to cause all Vegetables to prosper in the most exalted Degree, and
to bear their Fruit as kindly with us as in their natural Climates.’
[28] _i. e._ Stirr’d often.
This artificial Dust[29], he says, will entertain Plants which refuse
Dung, and other violent Applications; and that it has a more nutritive
Power than any artificial Dungs or Compost whatsoever: And further,
that by this Toil of pulverizing, “’tis found, that Soil may be so
strangely alter’d from its former Nature, as to render the harm and
most uncivil Clay[30] obsequious to the Husbandmen, and to bring forth
Roots and Plants, which otherwise require the lighted and hollowest
Mould[31].”
[29] Tho’ it may be impossible for the Plough to reduce the whole
Staple into so fine Powder, yet the more internal Superficies it
makes, the more Dust will be made by the Atmosphere in Proportion;
and great Clods perhaps are of no Use to Plants, but by that Dust
they let fall, being thence extricated by the insensible Ferment
of the nitrous Air; and the Surfaces of this artificial Dust must
receive such Operations from the Air, before the utmost Fertility be
obtain’d.
[30] But I take harsh uncivil Clay to be the least profitable of any
to keep in Tillage.
[31] To this Dust, _Namque hoc imitamur arando_ ought to be apply’d,
and not to _Putre Solum_, which itself needs Tillage, as well as
strong Land: But it seems the Antients did not observe the Difference
between natural Pores (or Hollowness) and artificial ones, tho’ it is
very great; as is shewn in Chap. of _Pasture of Plants_: ’Tis easier
indeed to imitate this artificial Dust in _hollow_ than in _strong_
Land.
’Tis to be suppos’d, that the _Indian_ Plants had their due Degrees of
Heat and Moisture given them; and I should not chuse to bestow this
Toil upon the poorest of Earth in a Field or Garden, tho’ that be the
most sure wherein to make the Experiment[32].
[32] This is the most proper Trial of the Effect of Pulveration by
_pounding_ and _grinding_; but Land may be so barren, that Plough or
Spade may not be sufficient to pulverize it to that Degree, which is
necessary to give it the same Fertility, that Pounding in a Mortar,
or grinding betwixt Marbles (as Colours are ground), can.
I never myself try’d this way of pounding or grinding, because
impracticable in the Fields.
But I have had the Experience of a Multitude of Instances, which
confirm it so far, that I am in no Doubt, that any Soil[33] (be it
rich or poor) can ever be made too fine by Tillage[34].
[33] Land that is too hollow and light, having no Cement to join its
Parts together, tho’ in Nature they are capable of infinite Division,
yet in Practice the Plough cannot divide them to any Purpose, unless
they were first join’d, but glides through without breaking them;
being more like to the primary Particles of Water against the Plough,
which are broken by no Force, than to Earth; it may be moved, but not
broken by Tillage, and therefore ought not to be reputed arable; nor
does it indeed deserve the Name of Land, but as the desart Sands of
_Lybia_, to distinguish it from Sea.
[34] According to some, this Rule is only general, and not universal;
for, say they, there’s a Sort of binding Gravel, that, when it is
made _fine_, will, by a sudden Dash of Rain, run together like a
Metal; and I have seen the same Accident in a particular Sort of
_white_ Land; but this very rarely happens to the latter: I never
knew it above once, and that was after Barley was sown on it; the
Hardness was only like a very thin Ice upon the Surface, which was
some Hindrance to the coming up of the Barley, until the Harrow’s
going over it once or twice broke that Ice or Crust, and then it came
up very well.
I never had any other Sort of Land liable to this Misfortune:
therefore can say nothing to the Gravel in that Case, nor how deep
the _Constipation_ may reach in it, nor what Remedy is most proper
to prevent the ill Consequence of it: But if there should be two
or three Exceptions out of _One thousand Seventy-nine Millions One
thousand and Sixty different Sorts of_ Earth (_see Mr. Evelyn’s
Terra_, p. 2), ’twill be no great Matter.
But I think these are no real Exceptions against any Degree of
_Pulverizing_; for it only shews, that some Sorts of Land, tho’ very
few, are subject by Accident to lose too soon their Pulveration: And
if the Fineness were no Benefit to that Land, such Loss of it would
be no Injury to it.
For ’tis without Dispute, that one cubical Foot of this minute Powder
may have more internal Superficies, than a thousand cubical Feet of the
same, or any other Earth till’d in the common Manner; and, I believe no
two arable Earths in the World do exceed one another in their natural
Richness Twenty Times; that is, one cubical Foot of the richest is not
able to produce an equal Quantity of Vegetables, _cæteris paribus_, to
Twenty cubical Feet of the poorest; therefore ’tis not strange, that
the poorest, when by pulverizing it has obtain’d One hundred Times the
internal Superficies of the rich untill’d Land, it should exceed it in
Fertility; or, if a Foot of the poorest was made to have Twenty Times
the Superficies of a Foot of such rich Land, the poorest might produce
an equal Quantity of Vegetables with the rich[35]. Besides, there is
another extraordinary Advantage, when a Soil has a larger internal
Superficies in a very little Compass; for then the Roots of Plants in
it are better supply’d with Nourishment, being nearer to them on all
Sides within Reach, than it can be when the Soil is less fine, as in
common Tillage; and the Roots in the one must extend much further than
in the other, to reach an equal Quantity of Nourishment: They must
range and fill perhaps above twenty Times more Space to collect the
same Quantity of Food.
[35] And very poor Land, well pulveriz’d, will produce better Corn
than very rich will do, without Manure or Tillage. The Experiment may
be made by paring off the Turf, and setting Corn in the whole Ground
that is very rich; and that will shew how much the natural Pasture
of the rich is inferior to the artificial Pasture of the poor Land;
but then the _poor_ must have this Proportion of Excess of internal
Superficies continued to it, during the whole Time of their Growth,
which cannot be done without frequently repeated Divisions of the
Soil by Hoeing or Manure; else it might require forty Times the
internal Superficies at the Time of Sowing, to keep twenty Times the
internal Superficies of the _rich_ till Harvest: For although the
rich is continually losing some of its artificial Pasture, as well as
the _poor_, yet by losing this equally, they still draw nearer and
nearer to the first Inequality of their natural Pasture.
But _poor_ Land, being lighter, has this Advantage, that it being
more _friable_ than the strong, requires less Labour to pulverize it;
and therefore the Expence of it is much less, than in proportion to
the Excess of Poorness of its internal Superficies.
But in this fine Soil, the most weak and tender Roots have free Passage
to the utmost of their Extent, and have also an easy, due, and equal
Pressure every-where, as in Water.
Hard Ground makes a too great Resistance, as Air makes a too little
Resistance, to the Superficies of Roots.
Farmers, just when they have brought their Land into a Condition fit to
be further till’d to much greater Advantage, leave off, supposing the
Soil to be fine enough, when, with the Help of Harrows, they can cover
the Seed; and afterwards with a Roller they break the Clods; to the
End that, if a Crop succeed, they may be able to mow it, without being
hinder’d by those Clods: By what I could ever find, this Instrument,
call’d a Roller, is seldom beneficial to good Husbands; it rather
untills the Land, and anticipates the subsiding of the Ground, which in
strong Land happens too soon of itself[36].
[36] This Injury the Roller does, is only when tis used to press
down the Earth after the Seed is sown; and is the greater, if Land
be moist; but the Rolling of it in dry Weather, when ’tis to be
immediately plow’d up again, is the most speedy Way to pulverize the
Soil; and the Harrow is then very useful in pulling up the Clods, to
the End that the Roller may the better come at them to crush them.
But more to blame are they, who neglect to give their Land due Plowing,
trusting to the Harrow to make it fine; and when they have thrown in
their Seed, go over it twenty Times with the Harrows[37] till the
Horses have trodden it almost as hard as a Highway, which in moist
Weather spoils the Crop; but on the contrary, the very Horses, when the
Earth is moist, ought all to tread in the Furrows only, as in plowing
with a Hoe-Plough they always do, when they use it instead of a common
Plough.
[37] _Nam veteres Romani dixerunt male subactum Agrum, qui satis
Frugibus occandus sit._
_Sed ut compluribus Iterationibus sic resolvatur vervactum
in Pulverem, ut nullam vel exiguam desideret Occationem, cum
seminaverimus. Col._ Lib. 2. Cap. 4.