_Of_ HOEING.
Hoeing is the breaking or dividing the Soil by Tillage, whilst the Corn
or other Plants are growing thereon.
It differs from common Tillage (which is always perform’d before the
Corn or Plants are sown or planted) in the Times of performing it; ’tis
much more beneficial; and ’tis perform’d by different Instruments.
Land that is before Sowing tilled never so much (tho’ the more ’tis
till’d the more it will produce) will have some Weeds, and they will
come in along with the Crop for a Share of the Benefit of the Tillage,
greater or less, according to their Number, and what Species they are
of.
But what is most to be regarded is, that as soon as the Ploughman has
done his Work of plowing and harrowing, the Soil begins to undo it,
inclining towards, and endeavouring to regain, its natural specific
Gravity; the broken Parts by little and little coalesce, unite, and
lose some of their Surfaces; many of their Pores and Interstices close
up during the Seed’s Incubation and Hatching in the Ground; and, as
the Plants grow up, they require an Increase of Food proportionable
to their increasing Bulk; but on the contrary, instead thereof, that
internal Superficies, which is their artificial Pasture, gradually
decreases.
The Earth is so unjust to Plants, her own Off-spring, as to shut up
her Stores in proportion to their Wants; that is, to give them less
Nourishment when they have need of more: Therefore Man, for whose Use
they are chiefly design’d, ought to bring in his reasonable Aid for
their Relief, and force open her Magazines with the Hoe, which will
thence procure them at all times Provisions in Abundance, and also free
them from Intruders; I mean, their spurious Kindred, the Weeds, that
robb’d them of their too scanty Allowance.
There’s no Doubt, but that one third Part of the Nourishment raised by
Dung and Tillage, given to Plants or Corn at many proper Seasons, and
apportion’d to the different Times of their Exigencies, will be of more
Benefit to a Crop, than the Whole apply’d, as it commonly is, only at
the time of Sowing. This old Method is almost as unreasonable as if
Treble the full Stock of Leaves, necessary to maintain Silk-worms till
they had finished their Spinning, should be given them before they are
hatched, and no more afterwards.
Next to Hoeing, and something like it, is Transplanting, but much
inferior; both because it requires a so much greater Number of Hands,
that by no Contrivance can it ever become general, nor does it succeed,
if often repeated; but Hoeing will maintain any Plant in the greatest
Vigour ’tis capable of, even unto the utmost Period of Age. Besides,
there is Danger in removing a whole Plant, and Loss of Time before the
Plant can take Root again, all the former Roots being broken off at
the Ends in taking up (for ’tis impossible to do it without), and so
must wait until by the Strength and Virtue of its own Sap (which by a
continual Perspiration is daily enfeebled) new Roots are form’d, which,
unless the Earth continue moist[38], are so long in forming, that they
not only find a more difficult Reception into the closing Pores; but
many Times the Plant languishes and dies of an Atrophy, being starv’d
in the midst of Plenty; but whilst this is thus decaying, the hoed
Plant obtains a more flourishing State than ever, without removing from
the same Soil that produc’d it.
[38] But when the Earth doth continue moist, many transplanted
Vegetables thrive better than the same Species planted in Seeds,
because the former, striking Root sooner, have a greater Advantage
of the fresh-pulverized Mould, which loses some of its artificial
Pasture before the Seeds have Roots to reach it. The same Advantage
also have Seeds by soaking till ready to sprout before they are
planted. To both these the Moisture of the Earth is necessary.
’Tis observ’d that some Plants are the worse for Transplanting[39].
_Fenochia_ removed is never so good and tender as that which is not, it
receives such a Check in Transplanting in its Infancy; which, like the
Rickets, leaves Knots that indurate the Parts of the Fennel, and spoil
it from being a Dainty.
[39] As most long Tap-rooted Plants are; for I have often try’d the
Transplanting of Plants, of _St. Foin_ and _Luserne_; and could never
find, that any ever came near to the Perfection that those will do
which are not removed, being equally single.
Tap-rooted Grasses and Turneps are always injured by Transplanting;
their long Root once broken off never arrives at the Depth it would
have arriv’d unbroken; as for this Reason they cut off the Tap-root
of an Apple-tree, to prevent its running downward, by which it would
have too much Moisture.
Hoeing has most of the Benefits without any Inconveniences of
Transplanting; because it removes the Roots by little and little,
and at different Times; some of the Roots remaining undisturb’d,
always supply the moved Roots with Moisture, and the whole Plant with
Nourishment sufficient to keep it from fainting, until the moved Roots
can enjoy the Benefit of their new Pasture, which is very soon.
Another extraordinary Benefit of the new Hoeing[40] Husbandry is, that
it keeps Plants moist in dry Weather, and this upon a double Account.
[40] Hoeing may be divided into Deep, which is our Horse-hoeing,
and Shallow, which is the English Hand-hoeing; and also the Shallow
Horse-hoeing, used in some Places betwixt Rows, where the Intervals
are very narrow, as sixteen or eighteen Inches; this is but an
Imitation of the Hand-hoe, or a _Succadaneum_ to it; and can neither
supply the Use of Dung, nor of Fallow, and may be properly called
Scratch-hoeing.
First, as they are better nourished by Hoeing, they require less
Moisture, as appears by Dr. _Woodward_’s Experiment, that those
Plants which receive the greatest Increase, having most terrestrial
Nourishment, carry off the least Water in Proportion to their Augment:
So Barley or Oats, being sown on a Part of a Ground very well divided
by Dung and Tillage, will come up and grow vigorously without Rain,
when the same Grains, sown at the same Time, on the other Part, not
thus enriched, will scarce come up; or, if they do, will not thrive
till Rain comes.
Secondly, The Hoe, I mean the Horse-hoe (the other goes not deep
enough), procures Moisture to the Roots from the Dews, which fall
most in dry Weather; and those Dews (by what Mr. _Thomas Henshaw_ has
observ’d) seem to be the richest Present the Atmosphere gives to the
Earth; having, when putrefy’d in a Vessel, a black Sediment like Mud at
the Bottom. This seems to cause the darkish Colour to the upper Part of
the Ground. And the Sulphur, which is found in the Sediment of the Dew,
may be the chief Ingredient of the Cement of the Earth; Sulphur being
very glutinous, as Nitre is dissolvent. Dew has both these.
These enter in proportion to the Fineness and Freshness of the Soil,
and to the Quantity that is so made fine and fresh by the Hoe. How
this comes to pass, and the Reason of it, are shewn in the Chapter of
Tillage.
To demonstrate that Dews moisten the Land when fine, dig a Hole in the
hard dry Ground, in the driest Weather, as deep as the Plough ought
to reach: Beat the Earth very fine, and fill the Hole therewith; and,
after a few Nights Dews, you’ll find this fine Earth become moist at
the Bottom, and the hard Ground all round will continue dry.
Till a Field in Lands; make one Land very fine by frequent deep
Plowings; and let another be rough by insufficient Tillage,
alternately; then plow the whole Field cross-ways in the driest
Weather, which has continued long; and you will perceive, by the Colour
of the Earth, that every fine Land will be turn’d up moist; but every
rough Land will be dry as Powder, from Top to Bottom.
Altho’ hard Ground, when thoroughly soak’d with Rain, will continue wet
longer than fine till’d Land adjoining to it; yet this Water serves
rather to chill, than nourish the Plants standing therein, and to keep
out the other Benefits of the Atmosphere, leaving the Ground still
harder when ’tis thence exhaled; and being at last once become dry,
it can admit no more Moisture, unless from a long-continued Deluge
of Rain, which seldom falls till Winter, which is not the Season for
Vegetation.
As fine hoed Ground is not so long soaked by Rain, so the Dews never
suffer it to become perfectly dry: This appears by the Plants, which
flourish and grow fat in this, whilst those in the hard Ground are
starved, except such of them, which stand near enough to the hoed[41]
Earth, for the Roots to borrow Moisture and Nourishment from it.
[41] As when Wheat is drill’d late in very poor Land, so that in the
Spring the young Plants look all very yellow; let your Hoe-plough,
making a crooked Line, like an Indenture, on one Side of a strait Row
of this poor Wheat in the Spring, turn a Furrow from it; and in a
short time you will see all those yellow Plants, that are contiguous
to this Furrow, change their yellow Colour to a deep Green; whilst
those Plants of the same Row, which stand farthest off from this
indented Furrow, change not their Colour till afterwards; and all the
Plants change or retain their Colour sooner or later gradually, as
they stand nearer to, or farther from it; and the other Rows, which
have no Furrow near them, continue their yellow, after all this Row
is become green and flourishing: But this Experiment is best to be
made in poor sandy Ground, when the Mould is friable; else perhaps
the different Colour may not appear until the Furrow be turn’d back
to the Row, having lain some time to be somewhat pulveriz’d (or
impregnated) by the Weather, _&c._
This Experiment I often made on Wheat drill’d on the Level before I
drill’d any on Ridges.
The plowing one Furrow in sandy or mellow Ground makes a Pulveration,
which is enjoy’d first by these Plants that are the nearest to it;
and also delivers them from the Weeds, which, though there may be
very few, yet there is a vast difference between their robbing the
Wheat of its Pasture in the Row, and the Wheat’s enjoying both that
and the whole Pasture of the Furrow also.
I never remember to have seen a Plant poor, that was contiguous to a
well-hoed Interval, unless overpower’d by a too great Multitude of
other Plants; and the same Exception must be made, if it were a Plant
that required more or less Heat or Moisture, than the Soil or Climate
afforded.
And I have been informed by some Persons, that they have often made
the like Observations; that, in the driest of Weather, good Hoeing[42]
procures Moisture to Roots; tho’ the Ignorant and Incurious fansy, it
lets in the Drought; and therefore are afraid to hoe their Plants at
such Times, when, unless they water them, they are spoil’d for Want of
it.
[42] When Land is become hard by lying too long unho’d, the Plough in
turning a deep Furrow from each Side of a single Row of young Plants
(suppose of Turneps) may crack the Earth quite through the Row, and
expose the Roots to the open Air and Sun in very dry Weather; but if
the Earth wherein the Plants stand be fine, there will be no Cracks
in it: ’Tis therefore the delaying the Hoeing too long that occasions
the Injury. But to hoe with Advantage against dry Weather, the Ground
must have been well tilled or hoed before, that the Hoe may go deep,
else the Dews, that fall in the Night, will be exhal’d back in the
Heat of the Day.
There is yet one more Benefit Hoeing gives to Plants, which by no Art
can possibly be given to Animals: For all that can be done in feeding
an Animal is, what has been here already said of Hoeing; that is, to
give it sufficient Food, Meat and Drink, at the times it has occasion
for them; if you give an Animal any more, ’tis to no manner of Purpose,
unless you could give it more Mouths, which is impossible; but in
hoeing a Plant the additional Nourishment thereby given, enables it
to send out innumerable additional Fibres and Roots, as in one of the
Glasses with a Mint in it, is seen; which fully demonstrates, that a
Plant increaseth its Mouths, in some Proportion to the Increase of Food
given to it: So that Hoeing, by the new Pasture it raises, furnishes
both Food and Mouths to Plants; and ’tis for Want of Hoeing, that so
few are brought to their Growth and Perfection[43].
[43] A Ground was drill’d with Ray-grass and Barley, in Rows at Five
Inches Distance from each other; it produced a pretty good Crop of
Ray-grass the second Year as is usual; there was adjoining to it a
Ground of Turneps, that were in Rows, with wide Intervals Horse-ho’d;
they stood for Seed; and amongst them there was, in Room of a Turnep,
a single Plant of Ray-grass, which, being hoed as the Turneps were,
had (in every one’s Opinion that saw it) acquired a Bulk at least
equal to a Thousand Plants of the same Species in the other Ground;
tho’ that vast Plant had no other Advantage above the other, except
its Singleness, and the deep Hoeing.
I have seen a Chickweed, by the same means, as much increas’d beyond
its common Size; and a Plant of Mustard-seed, whose collateral
Branches were much bigger than ever I saw a whole Plant of that Sort;
it was higher than I could reach its Top, and indeed more like a Tree
than an Herb; many other sorts of Plants have I seen thus increased
beyond what I had ever observ’d before, but none so much as those.
In what Manner the Sarrition of the Antients was performed in their
Corn, is not very clear: This seems to have been their Method; _viz._
When the Plants were some time come up, they harrowed the Ground,
and pull’d out the Weeds by Hand. The Process of this appears in
_Columella_, where he directs the Planting of _Medica_ to be but a
Sort of Harrowing or Raking amongst the young Plants, that the Weeds
might come out the more easily: _Ligneis Rastris statim jacta Semina
obruantur_. _Post Sationem Ligneis Rastris Jarriendus, & identidem
runcandus est Ager, ne alterius generis Herba invalidam Medicam
perimat._
They harrowed and hoed _Rastris_; so that their _Occatio_ and
_Sarritio_ were performed with much the same Sort of Instrument, and
differed chiefly in the Time: The first was at Seed-time, to cover the
Seed, or level the Ground; the other was to move the Ground after the
Plants were up.
One Sort of their Sarrition was, _Segetes permota Terra debere adobrui,
ut fruticare possint_. Another Sort was thus: _In Locis autem frigidis
sarriri nec adobrui, sed Plana Sarritione Terram permoveri_.
For the better Understanding of these two Sorts of Sarrition, we must
consider, that the Antients sowed their Corn under Furrow; that is,
when they had harrowed the Ground, to break the Clods, and make it
level, they sowed the Seed, and then plowed it in: This left the Ground
very uneven, and the Corn came up (as we see it does here in the same
Case) mostly in the lowest Places betwixt the Furrows, which always lay
higher: This appears by _Virgil_’s _Cum Sulcos æquant Sata_. Now, when
they used _Plana Sarritio_, they harrowed Length-ways of the Furrows,
which being somewhat harden’d, there could be little Earth thrown down
thence upon the young Corn.
But the other Sort of Sarrition, whereby the Corn is said _Adobrui_, to
be cover’d, seems to be perform’d by Harrowing cross the Furrows; which
must needs throw down much Earth from the Furrows, which necessarily
fell upon the Corn.
How this did contribute to make the Corn _fruticare_, is another
Question: I am in no doubt to say, it was not from covering any Part of
it (for I see that has a contrary Effect), but from moving much Ground,
which gave a new Pasture to the Roots: This appears by the Observation
of the extraordinary Frutication of Wheat ho’d without being cover’d;
and by the Injury it receives by not being uncover’d when any Earth
falls on the Rows.
The same Author saith, _Faba, & cætera Legumina, cum quatuor Digitis à
Terra extiterint, recte farrientur, excepto tamen Lupino, cujus Semini
contraria est Sarritio; quoniam unam Radicem habet, quæ sive Ferro
succisa feu vulnerata est, totus Frutex emoritur_.
If they had ho’d it only betwixt Rows, there had been no Danger of
killing the Lupine, which is a Plant most proper for Hoeing. What he
says of the Lupine’s having no need of Sarrition, because it is able of
itself to kill Weeds, shews the Antients were ignorant of the chief Use
of Hoeing; _viz._ to raise new Nourishment by dividing the Earth, and
making a new Internal Superficies in it.
Sarrition scratched and broke so small a Part of the Earth’s Surface,
amongst the Corn and Weeds, without Distinction, or favouring one any
more than the other, that it was a Dispute, whether the Good it did
in facilitating the Runcation (or Hand-weeding) was greater, than
the Injury it did by bruising and tearing the Corn: And many of the
Antients chose rather to content themselves with the Use of Runcation
only, and totally to omit all Sarrition of their Corn.
But Hoeing is an Action very different from that of Sarrition, and is
every Way beneficial, no-way injurious to Corn, tho’ destructive to
Weeds. Therefore some modern Authors shew a profound Ignorance, in
translating _Sarritio_, Hoeing: They give an Idea very different from
the true one: For the Antients truly hoed their Vineyards, but not
their Corn; neither did they plant their Corn in Rows, without which
they could not give it the Vineyard-hoeing; Their Sarculation was
used but amongst small Quantities of sown Corn, and is yet in Use for
Flax; for I have seen the _Sarculum_ (which is a Sort of a very narrow
Hoe) used amongst the Plants of Flax standing irregularly: But this
Operation is too tedious and too chargeable, to be apply’d to great
Quantities of irregular Corn.
If they ho’d their Crops sown at Random, one would think they should
have made mad Work of it; since they were not at the Pains to plant in
Rows, and hoe betwixt them with their Bidens; being the Instrument with
which they tilled many of their Vineyards, and enters as deep as the
Plough, and is much better than the _English_ Hoe, which indeed seems,
at the first Invention of it, to be designed rather to scrape Chimneys,
than to till the Ground.
The highest and lowest Vineyards are ho’d by the Plough; first the high
Vineyards, where the Vines grow (almost like Ivy) upon great Trees,
such as Elms, Maples, Cherry-trees, _&c._ These are constantly kept
in Tillage, and produce good Crops of Corn, besides what the Trees do
yield; and also these great and constant Products of the Vines are
owing to this Sort of Hoe-tillage; because neither in Meadow or Pasture
Grounds can Vines be made to prosper; tho’ the Land be much richer, and
yet have a less Quantity of Grass taken off it, than the Arable has
Corn carried from that.
The Vines of low Vineyards[44], ho’d by the Plough, have their Heads
just above the Ground, standing all in a most regular Order, and are
constantly plowed in the proper Season: These have no other Assistance,
but by Hoeing; because their Head and Roots are so near together, that
Dung would spoil the Taste of the Wine they produce, in hot Countries.
[44] From these I took my Vineyard Scheme, observing that indifferent
Land produces an annual Crop of Grapes and Wood without Dung; and
though there is annually carried off from an Acre of Vineyard, as
much in Substance as is carried off in the Crop of an Acre of Corn
produced on Land of equal Goodness; and yet the Vineyard Soil is
never impoverished, unless the hoeing Culture be denied it: But a few
annual Crops of Wheat, without Dung in the common Management, will
impoverish and emaciate the Soil.
The Vine indeed has the Advantage of being a large perennial Plant,
and of receiving some Part of its Nourishment below the Staple; but
it has also Disadvantages: The Soil of the Vineyard never can have
a true Summer Fallow, tho’ it has much Summer Hoeing; for the Vines
live in it, and all over it all the Year: neither can that Soil have
Benefit from Dung, because though by increasing the Pulveration,
it increases the Crop, yet it spoils the Taste of the Wine; the
Exhaustion of that Soil is therefore supply’d by no artificial Help
but Hoeing: And by all the Experience I have had of it, the same
Cause will have the same Effect upon a Soil for the Production of
Corn, and other Vegetables, as well as upon the Vineyard.
All Vineyards must be ho’d one Way or other[45], or else they will
produce nothing of Value; but Corn-Fields without Hoeing do produce
something, tho’ nothing in Comparison to what they would do with it.
[45] Vines, that cannot be ho’d by the Ploughs, are ho’d by the
Bidens.
Mr. _Evelyn_ says, that when the Soil, wherein Fruit-Trees are planted,
is constantly kept in Tillage, they grow up to be an Orchard in half
the Time they would do, if the Soil were not till’d; and this keeping
an Orchard-Soil in Arable, is Horse-hoeing it.
In some Places in _Berkshire_ they have used, for a long time to
Hand-hoe most Sorts of Corn, with very great Success; and I may say
this, that I myself never knew, or heard, that ever any Crop of Corn
was properly so ho’d, but what very well answer’d the Expence, even of
this Hand-work; but be this never so profitable, there are not a Number
of Hands to use it in great Quantities; which possibly was one Reason
the Antients were not able to introduce it into their Corn-Fields to
any Purpose; tho’ they should not have been ignorant of the Effect of
it, from what they saw it do in their Vineyards and Gardens.
In the next Place I shall give some general Directions, which by
Experience I have found necessary to be known, in order to the Practice
of this Hoeing-Husbandry.