II. _’Tis better protected against cold Winds; because the Ridges are
a Shelter to one another._
III. _If the Surface be much exhausted, by too frequent Sowing, the
Ridges may be made just where the Furrows were, and then the Surface
will be intirely changed._
[223] To the Three we may add a Fourth Reason, _viz._ the raising the
Thickness of the Staple in the Ridges, keeping the Surface drier in
wet Weather, and moister at the Bottom of the Staple in dry Weather.
And I have seen Barley that was drilled on my raised little Ridges
flourish in a dry Summer on the Brow of my chalky Hill, and on my
lowest Land in wet Weather, when the Barley hand-sown contiguous to
it on each Side those Ridges, sown on the Level the same Day that the
Ridges were drilled, have looked yellow and sickly; and yet it is not
wet Land.