I. ’Tis necessary to know how deep we may plant our Seed, without
Danger of burying it; for so ’tis said to be, when laid at a Depth
below what ’tis able to come up at.
Different Sorts of Seeds come up at different Depths; some at six
Inches, or more; some at not more than half an Inch: The Way to know
for certain the Depth any Sort will come up at is, to make Gauges in
this Manner: Saw off 12 Sticks of about 3 Inches Diameter: Bore a Hole
in the End of each Stick, and drive into it a taper Peg; let the first
Peg be half an Inch long, the next an Inch, and so on; every Peg to be
half an Inch longer than the former, till the last Peg be six Inches
long; then in that sort of Ground where you intend to plant, make a
Row of Twenty Holes with the half-Inch Gauge; put therein Twenty good
Seeds; cover them up, and stick the Gauge at the End of that Row; then
do the like with all the other Eleven Gauges: This will determine the
Depth, at which the most Seeds will come up[46].
[46] In the common way of Sowing tis hard to know the proper Depth,
because some Seeds lying deep, and others shallow, it is not easy
to discover the Depth of those that are buried: But I have found in
drilling of black Oats, that when the Drill-Plough was set a little
deeper for Trial, very few came up: Therefore ’tis proper for the
Driller to use the Gauges for all Sorts of Seeds; for, if he drills
them too deep, he may lose his Crop; or, if too shallow, in dry
Weather, he may injure it, especially in Summer Seeds; but for those
planted against Winter, there is the most Damage by planting too deep.
When the Depth is known, wherein the Seed is sure to come up, we may
easily discover, whether the Seed be good or not, by observing how many
will fail: For in some Sorts of Seeds the Goodness cannot be known by
the Eye; and there has been often great Loss by bad Seed, as well as by
burying good Seed; both which Misfortunes might be prevented by this
little Trouble; besides ’tis not convenient to plant some sorts of Seed
at the utmost Depth they will come up at; for it may be so deep, as
that the Wet may rot or chill the first Root, as in Wheat in moist Land.
The Nature of the Land, the Manner how it is laid, either flat, or in
Ridges, and the Season of Planting, with the Experience of the Planter,
acquired by such Trials, must determine the proper Depths for different
Sorts of Seeds.
II. The proper Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre, is much
less than must be sown in the common Way; not because Hoeing will not
maintain as many Plants as the other; for, on the contrary, Experience
shews it will, _cæteris paribus_, maintain more; but the Difference is
upon many other Accounts: As that ’tis impossible to sow it so even by
Hand, as the Drill will do; for let the Hand spread it never so exactly
(which is difficult to do some Seeds, especially in windy Weather), yet
the Unevenness of the Ground will alter the Situation of the Seed; the
greatest Part rebounding into the Holes, and lowest Places; or else
the Harrows, in Covering, draw it down thither; and tho’ these low
Places may have Ten Times too much, the high Places may have little
or none of it: This Inequality lessens, in Effect, the Quantity of
the Seed; because Fifty Seeds, in Room of One, will not produce so
much as One will do; and where they are too thick, they cannot be well
nourished, their Roots not spreading to near their natural Extent, for
Want of Hoeing to open the Earth. Some Seed is buried (by which is
meant the laying them so deep, that they are never able to come up, as
_Columella_ cautions, _Ut absque ulla Resurrectionis Spe sepeliantur_):
Some lies naked above the Ground; which, with more uncovered by the
first Rain, feeds the Birds and Vermin.
Farmers know not the Depth that is enough to bury their Seed, neither
do they make much Difference in the Quantity they sow on a rough, or a
fine Acre; tho’ the same that is too little for the one, is too much
for the other; ’tis all mere Chance-work, and they put their whole
Trust in good Ground, and much Dung, to cover their Errors.
The greatest Quantity of Seed I ever heard of to be usually sown, is in
_Wiltshire_, where I am informed by the Owners themselves, that on some
Sorts of Land they sow Eight Bushels of Barley to an Acre; so that if
it produce four Quarters to an Acre, there are but four Grains for one
that is sown, and is a very poor Increase, tho’ a good Crop; this is on
Land plowed once, and then double-dung’d, the Seed only harrow’d into
the stale and hard Ground[47]; ’tis like not two Bushels of the eight
will enter it to grow; and I have heard, that in a dry Summer an Acre
of this scarce produces four Bushels at Harvest.
[47] Stale Ground is that which has lain some considerable time
after Plowing, before it is sown, contrary to that which is sown
immediately after plow’d; for this last is generally not so hard as
the former.
But, in Drilling, Seed lies all the same just Depth, none deeper, nor
shallower, than the rest; here’s no Danger of the Accidents of burying,
or being uncover’d, and therefore no Allowance must be made for them;
but Allowance must be made for other Accidents, where the Sort of Seed
is liable to them; such as Grub, Fly, Worm, Frost, _&c._
Next, when a Man unexperienced in this Method has proved the Goodness
of his Seed, and Depth to plant at it, he ought to calculate what
Number of Seeds a Bushel, or other Measure or Weight, contains: For one
Bushel or one Pound of small Seed, may contain double the Number of
Seeds, of a Bushel, or a Pound, of large Seed of the same Species.
This Calculation is made by weighing an Ounce, and counting the Number
of Seeds therein; then weighing a Bushel of it, and multiplying the
Number of Seeds of the Ounce, by the Number of Ounces of the Bushel’s
Weight; the Product will shew the Number of Seeds of a Bushel near
enough: Then, by the Rule of Three, apportion them to the Square Feet
of an Acre; or else it may be done, by divideing the Seeds of the
Bushel by the Square Feet of an Acre; the Quotient will give the Number
of Seeds for every Foot: Also consider how near you intend to plant the
Rows, and whether Single, Double, Treble, or Quadruple; for the more
Rows, the more Seed will be required[48].
[48] The narrow Spaces (suppose seven Inches) betwixt Double, Treble,
or Quadruple Rows, the Double having One, the Treble Two, and the
Quadruple Three of them, are called _Partitions_.
The wide Space (suppose of near five Feet) betwixt any Two of these
Double, Treble, or Quadruple Rows, is call’d an _Interval_.
Examine what is the Produce of one middle-siz’d Plant of the Annual,
but the Produce of the best and largest of the perennial Sort; because
that by Hoeing will be brought to its utmost Perfection: Proportion the
Seed of both to the reasonable Product; and, when ’tis worth while,
adjust the Plants to their competent Number with the Hand-hoe, after
they are up; and plant Perennials generally in single Rows: Lastly,
Plant some Rows of the Annual thicker than others, which will soon give
you Experience (better than any other Rule) to know the exact Quantity
of Seed to drill.
III. The Distances of the Rows are one of the most material Points,
wherein we shall find many apparent Objections against the Truth; of
which, tho’ full Experience be the most infallible Proof, yet the
World is by false Notions so prejudiced against wide Spaces between
Rows, that unless these common (and I wish I could say, only vulgar)
Objections be first answer’d, perhaps no-body will venture so far out
of the old Road, as is necessary to gain the Experience; without it be
such as have seen it.
I formerly was at much Pains, and at some Charge, in improving my
Drills, for planting the Rows at very near Distances; and had brought
them to such Perfection, that One Horse would draw a Drill with Eleven
Shares, making the Rows at three Inches and half Distance from one
another; and at the same Time sow in them Three very different Sorts of
Seeds, which did not mix; and these too, at different Depths; as the
Barley-Rows were seven Inches asunder, the Barley lay four Inches deep;
a little more than three Inches above that, in the same Chanels, was
Clover; betwixt every Two of these Rows was a Row of St. Foin, cover’d
half an Inch deep.
I had a good Crop of Barley the first Year; the next Year, Two Crops
of Broad-Clover, where that was sown; and where Hop-Clover was sown,
a mix’d Crop of That and St. Foin, and every Year afterwards a Crop
of St. Foin; but I am since, by Experience, so fully convinced of the
Folly of these, or any other such mix’d Crops, and more especially
of narrow Spaces, that I have demolish’d these Instruments (in their
full Perfection) as a vain Curiosity, the Drift and Use of them being
contrary to the true Principles and Practice of Horse-Hoeing.
Altho’ I am satisfied, that every one, who shall have seen as much of
it as I have, will be of my Mind in this Matter; yet I am aware, that
what I am going to advance, will seem shocking to them, before they
have made Trials.
I lay it down as a Rule (to myself) that every Row of Vegetables, to be
Horse-ho’d, ought to have an empty Space or Interval of thirty Inches
on one Side of it[49] at least, and of near five Feet in all Sorts of
Corn.
[49] _Note_, We call it one Row, tho’ it be a Double, Treble, or
Quadruple Row; because when they unite in the Spring, they seem to be
all single; even the Quadruple then is but as one single Row.
Observe, that as wide Intervals are necessary for perfect
Horse-hoeing, so the largest Vegetables have generally the greatest
Benefit by them; tho’ small Plants may have considerable Benefit from
much narrower Intervals than Five Feet.
The Intervals may be somewhat narrower for constant annual Crops
of Barley, than of Wheat; because Barley does not shut out the
Hoe-Plough so soon, nor require so much Room for Hoeing, nor so much
Earth in the Intervals, it being a lesser Plant, and growing but
about a Third-part of the Time on the Ground; but he that drills
Barley, must resolve to reap it, and bind it up in Sheaves; for if
he mows it, or does not bind it, a great Part will be lost among the
Earth in the Intervals: But ’tis now found, that in a wet Harvest
the best Way is not to bind up drill’d Barley or Oats; but instead
thereof, to make up the Grips into little Heaps by Hands, laying the
Ears upon one another inwards, and the Stubble-ones outwards; so that
with a Fork that hath Two Fingers, and a Thumb, ’tis very easy to
pitch such Heaps up the Waggons without scattering, or wasting any of
the Corn.
’Tis also seen, that when the Reapers take Care to set their Grips
with the But-ends in the Bottoms of the Intervals, and the Ears
properly on the Stubble, they will so stand up from the Ground, as to
escape much better from sprouting, than mow’d Corn.
In Hand-hoeing there is always less Seed, fewer Plants, and a greater
Crop, _cæteris paribus_, than in the common Sowing: Yet there, the Rows
must be much nearer together, than in Horse-hoeing; because as the Hand
moves many times less Earth than the Horse, the Roots will be sent out
in like Proportion; and if the Spaces or Intervals, where the Hand-hoe
only scratches a little of the upper Surface of them, should be wide,
they would be so hard and stale underneath, that the Roots of perennial
Plants would be long in running thro’ them; and the Roots of many
annual Plants would never be able to do it.
An Instance which shews something of the Difference between Hand-hoeing
and Deep-hoeing is, That a certain poor Man is observ’d to have his
Cabbages vastly bigger than any-body’s else, tho’ their Ground be
richer, and better dung’d: His Neighbours were amaz’d at it, till the
Secret at length came out, and was only this: As other People ho’d
their Cabbages with a Hand-hoe, he instead thereof dug his with a
Spade: And nothing can more nearly equal[50] the Use of the Horse-hoe
than the Spade does.
[50] The Hoe-plough exceeds the Spade in this Respect, that it
removes more of the Roots, and cuts off fewer; which is an Advantage
when we till near to the Bodies of Plants that are grown large.
And when the Plants have never so much _Pabulum_ near them, their
fibrous Roots cannot reach it all, before the Earth naturally excludes
them from it; for, to reach it all, they must fill all the Pores[51],
which is impossible: So far otherwise it is, that we shall find it
probable, that they can only reach the least Part of it, unless the
Roots could remove themselves from Place to Place, to leave such
Pores as they had exhausted, and apply themselves to such as were
unexhausted; but they not being endow’d with Parts necessary for local
Motion (as Animals are), the Hoe-Plough suplies their Want of Feet;
and both conveys them to their Food, and their Food to them, as well
as provides it for them; for by transplanting the Roots, it gives them
Change of the Pasture, which it increases by the very Act of changing
them from one Situation to another, if the Intervals be wide enough for
this Hoeing Operation to be properly perform’d.
[51] The Roots of a Mint, set a whole Summer in a Glass, kept
constantly replenished with Water, will, in Appearance, fill the
whole Cavity of the Glass; but by compressing the Roots, or by
observing how much Water the Glass will hold when the Roots are in
it, we are convinc’d, that they do not fill a Fourth-part of its
Cavity; tho’ they are not stopp’d by Water, as they are by Earth.
The Objections most likely to prepossess Peoples Minds, and prevent
their making Trials of this Husbandry, are these:
First, they will be apt to think, that these wide, naked Spaces, not
being cover’d by the Plants, will not be sufficient to make a good Crop.
For Answer, we must consider, that tho’ Corn, standing irregular and
_sparsim_, may seem to cover the Ground better than when it stands
regular in Rows; this Appearance[52] is a mere _Deceptio visus_; for
Stalks are never so thick on any Part of the Ground as where many come
out of one Plant, or as when they stand in a Row; and a ho’d Plant of
Corn will have Twenty or Thirty Stalks[53], in the same Quantity of
Ground where an unho’d Plant, being equally single, will have only
Two or Three Stalks. These tillered ho’d Stalks, if they were planted
_sparsim_ all over the Interval, it might seem well cover’d, and
perhaps thicker than the sown Crop commonly is; so that tho’ these
ho’d Rows seem to contain a less Crop, they may contain, in reality, a
greater Crop than the sown, that seems to exceed it; and ’tis only the
different Placing that makes one seem greater, and the other less, than
it really is; and this is only when both Crops are young.
[52] For the Eye to make a Companion betwixt a sown Crop and such
a ho’d Crop, it ought, when ’tis half grown, to look on the ho’d
Crop across the Rows; because in the other it does so, in Effect,
which way soever it looks; but whatever Appearance the ho’d Crop of
Vegetables (of as large a Species as Wheat) makes when young, it
surely, if well managed, appears more beautiful at Harvest than a
sown Crop.
[53] I have counted Fifty large Ears on one single ho’d Plant of
Barley.
The next Objection is, That the Space or Interval not being _planted_,
much of the Benefit of that Ground will be lost; and therefore the Crop
must be less than if it were planted all over.
I answer, It might be so, if not Horse-ho’d; but if well Horse-ho’d,
the Roots can run through the Intervals; and, having more Nourishment,
make a greater Crop.
The too great Number of Plants, plac’d all over the Ground in common
sowing, have, whilst it is open, an Opportunity of _wasting_, when they
are very young, that Stock of Provision, for Want of which the greatest
Part of them are afterwards starv’d; for their irregular Standing
prevents their being relieved with fresh Supplies from the Hoe: Hence
it is, that the old Method exhausting the Earth to no Purpose, produces
a less Crop; and yet leaves less _Pabulum_ behind for a succeeding one,
contrary to the Hoeing-Husbandry, wherein Plants are manag’d in all
Respects by a quite different Oeconomy.
In a large Ground of Wheat it was prov’d, that the widest ho’d
Intervals brought the greatest Crop of all: Dung without Hoeing did not
equal Hoeing without Dung. And what was most remarkable, amongst Twelve
Differences of wider and narrower Spaces, more and less ho’d, dung’d
and undung’d, the Hand-sow’d was considerably the worst of all; tho’
all the Winter and Beginning of the Spring, that made infinitely the
most promising Appearance; but at Harvest yielded but about One-fifth
Part of Wheat of that which was most hoed; there was some of the most
hoed, which yielded Eighteen Ounces of clean Wheat in a Yard in Length
of a double Row, the Intervals being thirty Inches, and the Partition
Six Inches[54].
[54] The same Harvest, a Yard in Length of a double Row of Barley,
having Six Inches Partition, produc’d Eight hundred and Eighty Ears
in a Garden; but the Grains happened to be eaten by Poultry before
’twas ripe, so that their Produce of Grains could not be known: One
like Yard of a ho’d Row of Wheat, in an undung’d Field, produc’d Four
hundred Ears of Lammas-Wheat.
A Third Objection like the two former is, that so small a Part of the
Ground, as that whereon the Row stands, cannot contain Plants or Stalks
sufficient for a full Crop.
This some Authors endeavour to support by Arguments taken from the
perpendicular Growth of Vegetables, and the Room they require to stand
on; both which having answer’d elsewhere, I need not say much of them
here; only I may add, that if Plants could be brought to as great
Perfection, and so to stand as thick all over the Land, as they do in
the ho’d Rows, there might be produced, at once, many of the greatest
Crops of Corn that ever grew.
But since Plants thrive, and make their Produce, in Proportion to the
Nourishment they have within the Ground, not to the Room they have
to stand upon it, one very narrow Row may contain more Plants than a
wide Interval can nourish, and bring to their full Perfection, by all
the Art that can be used; and ’tis impossible a Crop should be lost
for want of room to stand above the Ground, tho’ it were less than a
Tenth-part of the Surface[55].
[55] Mr. _Houghton_ calculates, that a Crop of Wheat of Thirty
Quarters to an Acre, each Ear has two Inches and a Half of Surface;
by which ’tis evident, that there would be Room for many such
prodigious Crops to stand on.
And a Quick-hedge, standing between two Arable Grounds, one Foot
broad at Bottom, and Eighteen Feet in Length, will, at fourteen Years
Growth, produce more of the same Sort of Wood, than eighteen Feet
square of a Coppice will produce in the same Time, the Soil of both
being of equal Goodness.
This seems to be the same Case with our ho’d Rows; the Coppice, if
it were to be cut in the first Years, would yield perhaps ten Times
as much Wood, as the Hedge; but many of the Shoots of the Coppice
constantly die every Year, for Want of sufficient Nourishment, until
the Coppice is fit to be cut; and then its Product is much less than
that of the Hedge, whose Pasture has not been over-stock’d to such
a Degree as the Coppice-Pasture has been; and therefore brings its
Crop of Wood to greater Perfection than the Coppice-Wood, which has
Eighteen Times the Surface of Ground to stand on; The Hedge has the
Benefit of Hoeing, as oft as the Land on either Side of it is till’d;
but the Coppice, like the sown Corn, wants that Benefit.
In wide Intervals there is another Advantage of Hoeing, I mean
Horse-hoeing (the other being more like Scratching and Scraping than
Hoeing): There is room for many Hoeings[56], which must not come very
near the Bodies of some annual Plants, except whilst they are young;
but in narrow Intervals, this cannot be avoided at every Hoeing:
’Tis true, that in the last Hoeings, even in the middle of a large
Interval, many of the Roots may be broken off by the Hoe-plough, at
some considerable Distance from the Bodies; but yet this is no Damage,
for they send out a greater Number of Roots than before; as in Chap. I.
appears.
[56] Many Hoeings; but if it should be asked how many, we may take
_Columella_’s Rule in hoeing the Vines, _viz._ _Numerus autem
vertendi Soli (bidentibus) definiendus non est, cum quanto crebrior
fit, plus prodesse fossionem conveniat. Sed impersarum Ratio modum
postulat_. Lib. 4. Cap. 5.
Neither is it altogether the Number of Hoeings that determines the
Degrees of Pulveration: For, Once well done, is Twice done; and the
oftener the better, if the Expence be not excessive.
Poor Land, be it never so light, should have the most Hoeings;
because Plants, receiving but very little Nourishment from the
natural Pasture of such Land, require the more artificial Pasture to
subsist on.
In wide Intervals, those Roots are broken off only where they are
small; for tho’ they are capable of running out to more than the Length
of the external Parts of a Plant; yet ’tis not necessary they should
always do so; if they can have sufficient Food nearer to the Bodies[57]
of the Plants.
[57] All the Mould is never so near to the Bodies of Plants, as ’tis
when the Row stands on a high Six-feet Ridge, when the middle of the
Interval is left bare of Earth, at the last Hoeing; for then all the
Mould may be but about a Foot, or a Foot and half, distant from the
Body of each Plant of a Treble Row.
And these new, young, multiply’d Roots are fuller of Lacteal Mouths
than the older ones; which makes it no Wonder, that Plants should
thrive faster by having some of their Roots broken off by the Hoe; for
as Roots do not enter every Pore of the Earth, but miss great Part
of the Pasture, which is left unexhausted, so when new Roots strike
out from the broken Parts of the old, they meet with that Pasture,
which their Predecessors miss’d, besides that new Pasture which the
Hoe raises for them; and those Roots which the Hoe pulls out without
breaking, and covers again, are turn’d into a fresh Pasture; some
broken, and some unbroken: All together invigorate the Plants.
Besides, the Plants of sown Corn, being treble in Number to those of
the drill’d, and of equal Strength and Bulk, whilst they are very
young, must exhaust the Earth whilst it is open, thrice as much as the
drill’d Plants do; and before the sown Plants grow large, the Pores
of the Earth are shut against them, and against the Benefit of the
Atmosphere; but for the drill’d, the Hoe gives constant Admission to
that Benefit; and if the Hoe procures them (by dividing the Earth) Four
Times the Pasture of the sown during their Lives, and the Roots devour
but one half of that, then tho’ the ho’d Crop should be double to the
sown, yet it might leave twice as much _Pabulum_ for a succeeding Crop.
’Tis impossible to bring these Calculations to Mathematical Rules;
but this is certain in Practice, that a sown Crop, succeeding a large
undung’d ho’d Crop, is much better than a sown Crop, that succeeds a
small dung’d sown Crop. And I have the Experience of poor, worn out
Heath-ground, that, having produc’d Four successive good ho’d Crops of
Potatoes (the last still best), is become tolerable good Ground.
In a very poor Field were planted Potatoes, and, in the very worst Part
of it, several Lands had them in Squares a Yard asunder; these were
plowed four ways at different times: Some other Lands adjoining to
them, of the very same Ground, were very well dung’d and till’d; but
the Potatoes came irregularly, in some Places thicker, and in others
thinner: These were not ho’d, and yet, at first coming up, looked
blacker and stronger than those in Squares not dung’d, either that
Year, or ever, that I know of; yet these Lands brought a good Crop of
the largest Potatoes, and very few small ones amongst them; but in the
dung’d Lands, for Want of Hoeing, the Potatoes were not worth the
taking up; which proves, that in those Plants that are planted so as to
leave Spaces wide enough for Repetitions of Hoeing, that Instrument can
raise more Nourishment to them, than a good Coat of Dung with common
Tillage.
Another Thing I have more particularly observ’d, _viz._ That the more
successive Crops are planted in wide Intervals, and often ho’d, the
better the Ground does maintain them; the last Crop is still the best,
without Dung, or changing the Sort of Plant; and this is visible in
Parts of the same Field, where some Part has a first, some other Part
a second, the rest a third Crop growing all together at the same time;
which seems to prove, that as the Earth is made by this Operation to
dispense or distribute her Wealth to Plants, in Proportion to the
Increase of her inner Superficies (which is the Pasture of Plants);
so the Atmosphere, by the Riches in Rain and Dews, does annually
reimburse her in Proportion to the same Superficies, with an Overplus
for Interest: But if that Superficies be not increased to a competent
Degree, and, by frequent Repetitions of Hoeing, kept increasing (which
never happens in common Husbandry) this Advantage is lost; and, without
often repeated Stercoration, every Year’s Crop grows worse; and it
has been made evident by Trials, which admit of no Dispute, that
Hoeing, without Dung or Fallow, can make such Plants as stand in wide
Intervals, more vigorous in the same Ground, than both common Dunging
and Fallowing can do without Hoeing.
This Sort of Hoeing has in Truth every Year the Effect of a
Summer-fallow; tho’ it yearly produce a good Crop.
This is one Reason of the different Effects Plants have upon the Soil;
some are said to enrich it, others to burn it, _i. e._ to impoverish
it; but I think it may be observed, that all those Plants, which are
usually ho’d, are reckoned among the Enrichers; and tho’ it be certain
that some Species of Plants are, by the Heat of their Constitution,
greater Devourers than those of another Species of equal Bulk; yet
there is Reason to believe, that were the most cormorant Plant of
them all to be commonly ho’d, it would gain[58] the Reputation of an
Enricher or Improver of the Soil; except it should be such, as might
occasion Trouble, by filling it full of its shatter’d Seeds, which
might do the Injury of Weeds to the next Crop; and except such Plants,
which have a vast Bulk to be maintained a long Time, as Turnep-Seed[59].
[58] But this must be intended of the deep Horse-hoeing; for Turneps
that stand for Seed, are such Devourers, and feed so long on the
Soil, that tho’ they are Hand-ho’d, such a shallow Operation doth not
supply the usual Thickness of those Plants with Pasture sufficient
to raise their Stems to half their natural Bulk; and they leave so
little of that Pasture behind them, that the Soil is observ’d to be
extremely impoverished for a Year or two, and sometimes three Years
after them; but ’tis otherwise with my Horse-ho’d Turnep-Seed; for
I never fail’d of a good Crop of Barley after it, sown on the Level
in the following Spring, tho’ no Dung hath been used on the Land
where the Turnep-Seed grew for many Years. And also my Barley Crops
thus sown after two successive Crops of Turnep-Seed without a Fallow
between them, are as good as those sown after a single Crop of it.
For I have several Times made these Turnep-Seed Crops annual, that
is, to have Two Crops of it in Two Years, which would in the old Way
require three Years, because this Crop stands about a Year on the
Ground, and is not ripe till Midsummer, which is too late to get
that Land into a Tilth proper to plant another Seed Crop on it the
same Summer; neither can the Soil be able to bear such another Crop
immediately after being so much exhausted, and unplowed for a whole
Year, except it be extraordinary rich, or much dunged: However, Two
Crops of Turnep-Seed immediately succeeding one another, is what I
never knew, or heard of, except my own that were Horse-ho’d; and of
these the second Crop was as good as the first; their Stalks grew
much higher than they usually do in the common Way; and tho’ the
Number of Plants was much less, their Produce was so valuable, that
the _Vicar’s Agent_ declared, he made Twenty Shillings _per_ Acre of
his Tythe of a whole Field which he tythed in Kind. The Expence of
these Crops was judg’d to be answered by the Fuel of the thresh’d
Stalks. It must be noted, that the extraordinary Value of these Crops
arose, not from a greater Quantity of Seed than some common Crops;
but from their Quality, Experience having brought this Seed into
great Esteem, on account of its being perfectly clean, and produced
by large Turneps of a good Sort, and of a proper Shape; for those
that are not well cultivated are very apt to degenerate, and then
their Seed will produce Turneps of a small Size, and of a long rapy
ill Shape.
[59] Turneps run to Seed, not till the second Summer.
The wider the Intervals are, the more Earth may be divided; for the Row
takes up the same Room with a wide, or a narrow Interval; and therefore
with the wide, the unho’d Part bears a less Proportion to the ho’d Part
than in the narrow.
And ’tis no Purpose to hoe, where there is not Earth to be ho’d, or
Room to hoe it in.
There are many Ways of Hoeing with the Hoe-Plough; but there is not
Room to turn Two deep clean Furrows in an Interval that is narrower
than Four Feet Eight Inches; for if it want much of this Breadth, one,
at least, of these Furrows, will reach, and fall upon the next Row,
which will be very injurious to the Plants; except of grown St. Foin,
and such other Plants, that can bear to have the Earth pull’d off them
by Harrows.
Thus much of Hoeing in general may suffice: And different Sorts of
Plants requiring different Management; that may more properly be
described in the Chapter, where particular Vegetables are treated of.
It may not be amiss to add, that all Sorts of Land are not equally
proper for Hoeing: I take it, that a dry friable Soil is the best.
Intractable wet Clays, and such Hills as are too steep for Cattle to
draw a Plough up and down them, are the most improper[60].
[60] For by hoeing cross the Hill, the Furrow turn’d against the
Declivity cannot be thrown up near enough to the Row above it; and
the Furrow that is turn’d downwards will bury the Row below it.
That ’tis not so beneficial to hoe in Common-fields, is not in Respect
of the Soil, but to the old Principles, which have bound the Owners
to unreasonable Customs of changing the Species of Corn, and make it
necessary to fallow every Second, Third, or Fourth Year at farthest.