Horse-hoeing husbandry

Texts printed in italics have been transcribed between _underscores_; texta between ~tildes~ and =equal signs= represent spaced and bold face text respectively. Small capitals h...

What put me upon this Method was an Observation of two Lands (or Ridges) drill’d with _Turneps_ in Rows, a Foot asunder, and very even in them; the Ground, at both Ends, and one...

_Nitre_ is useful to divide and prepare the Food, and may be said to nourish Vegetables in much the same Manner as my Knife nourishes me, by cutting and dividing my Meat: But wh...

[16] The extraordinary Increase of St. Foin, Clover, and natural Grass, when their Roots reach into pulveriz’d Earth, exceeding the Increase of all those other Plants of the sam...

[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 unp...

[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,...

’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...

[62] If we consider the Crops they utterly destroy, and those they extremely diminish; and that very few Crops escape without receiving Injury from them; it may be a Question, w...

[80] The Distance need not to be regular; for when a Turnep has Six Inches of Room on one Side, and Eighteen Inches on the other Side, ’tis almost as well as if there was one Fo...

As soon as conveniently you can, after the Crop of Wheat is carried off (if the Trench in the Middle of each wide Interval be left deep enough by the last Hoeing), go as near as...

I cannot prescribe precisely the most proper Width of all Intervals; because they should be different in different Circumstances. In deep rich Land they may be a little narrower...

Thus the hoed Crops, if well managed, consisting of fewer and stronger Plants than the sown Crops of equal Produce, exhaust the Ground less; whereby, and by the much (I had almo...

For the Hand-hoeing they use Hoes of Four Inches Breadth, very thin, and well steeled: Their Thinness keeps them from wearing to a thick Edge, and prevents the Necessity of ofte...

To know what Changes are best to prevent Smuttiness of Wheat, we must consult the most Experienced; and they tell us, that the strong Clay Land is best to be sent to for Seed-wh...

The most easy and sure Remedy, that I have yet found against the Injury of these Insects, is, to plant a Sort of Wheat that is least liable to be hurt by them; _viz._ The _White...

[175] Horizontal-rooted Plants suffer no greater Injury by their Pasture’s being over-stock’d than Cattle do; because their Pasture lying near the Surface of the Ground, they ha...

The other Use then of this Seed is for Provender; and it has been affirmed by some, who have made Trials of it, that Three Bushels of good _St. Foin_ Seed given to Horses, will...

But so far it is right, that large[193] St. Foin draws the greatest Part of its Nourishment from below the Reach of the Plough; and what Part it does receive from the Staple is...

I believe Plants are more altered as to their Growth, by being cultivated or not, than by Change of Climates differing in very many Degrees of Latitude. I say, in their Growth,...

Here then he says plainly, That each Plant receives the terrestrial Matter in gross, both suitable and unsuitable to its Nature, retains the suitable Particles for its Augment,...

I can scarce think, that a large Plant takes in larger Particles than a small one, for its Nourishment: If it did, I can’t believe, that the Thyme could have starv’d the Apricot...

Hills are made wet and spewy by the Rain-water which falls thereon, and soaks into them as into other Land; but being stopp’d by the Clay lying next the Surface or Staple, canno...

The Profit or Loss arising from Land, is not to be computed, only from the Value of the Crop it produces; but from its Value, after all Expences of Seed, Tillage, _&c._ are dedu...

[240] If indifferent Land be well pulverized by the Plough for one whole Year, it will produce a good Crop: But then, if, instead of being sown, it be kept pulverized on for ano...

By what means Ploughs and Tillage itself came at first to be invented is uncertain; therefore we are at Liberty to guess: And it seems most probable, that it was, like most othe...

_Resp._ It has been used with very great Success for these several Years last past, but never like to be common, unless it be described in a more geometrical Manner, than any Pl...

It is necessary also, that when you plow very shallow, the Fin of the Share be broad enough to cut off the Fourth Piece or Furrow; else that, lying fast, will be apt to raise up...

The longer it is, the thicker it must be, to have the same Stiffness; but the broader it is, the thinner it must be of the same Length; so that it is hard to determine its Thick...

_Fig._ 10. shews the Outside of One Half of the Brass Seed-box. A A A shew the Thickness of the projecting Base of the hollow Cylinder, which is made the thicker, to the end tha...

But as for the Brass Spindle of the Turnep-drill, we can have but one Set of Notches in it[267]: And therefore, tho’ we can increase the Proportion of Seed by enlarging the Notc...

The fore Funnel C has its upper Edges Two Inches high above the Surface of the Plank. It is Five Inches Square at Top; its Four opposite Sides being Planes equally inclin’d to e...

The Piece marked _Fig._ 19. is the Opposite of the former, and to be placed in the same manner, and as it is seen marked G in _Fig._ 15. observing always, that the Part of it, w...

When we drill hilly Ground, both up and down, we cover the hinder Parts of all the Trunks, from their Tops, to within Two or Three Inches of the Ground, to prevent the Seed’s fa...

_Fig._ 14. shews the Carriage laid open. A is its back Side lying down. B is its fore Side standing up. C is the square End of the left (false) Spindle, whereon a Wheel is to be...

When we hoe betwixt Rows, where the Plants are very high, as those of Turnep-seed, which are much higher than the Horses, to turn a new Furrow up to the Row, when there is a Tre...

I had formerly a Drill-Plough for drilling across very high round Ridges for Hand-hoeing, where Horse-hoeing is impracticable: It had no Limbers; but it had little Ground-wrists...

_Earth_, the Price of a Foot of it, and of a Row 124, 125 Particles of Earth much more heterogeneous after passing Vessels, 237 _Effluvia_ of Animal Bodies noxious, 32 _Equivoca...