Part 10

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 you can to the Stubble with a common Plough, and turn Two large Furrows into the Middle of the Intervals, which will[102] make a Ridge over the Place where the Trench was: But if the Trench be not deep enough, go first in the Middle of it with one Furrow; which with Two more taken from the Ridges, will be three Furrows in each Interval; continue this Plowing as long as the dry Weather lasteth; and then finish, by turning the Partitions (whereon the last Wheat grew) up to the new Ridges, which is usually done at Two great Furrows. You may plow these last Furrows, which complete the Ridges, in wet Weather.

[102] ’Tis the Depth and Fineness of this Ridge that the Success of our Crop depends on; the Plants having nothing else to maintain them during the First Six Months; and if, for want of Sustenance, they are weak in the Spring, ’twill be more difficult to make them recover their Strength afterwards so fully as to bring them to their due Perfection. But Ploughmen have found a Trick to disappoint us in this fundamental Part of our Husbandry, if they are not narrowly watched: They do it in the following Manner; _viz._ They contrive to leave the Trench very shallow; and then, in turning the Two First Furrows of the Ridge, they hold the Plough towards the Left, which raises up the Fin of the Share, and leaves so much of the Earth whereon the Rows are to stand whole and unplowed, that after once Harrowing there doth not remain above Two or Three Inches in Depth of fine Earth underneath the Rows when drilled, instead of Ten or Twelve Inches.

On a Time, when my Diseases permitted me to go into the Wheat-field, where my Ploughs were at Work, I discovered this Trick, and ventured to ask my chief Ploughman his Reason for doing this in my Absence, contrary to my Direction. He magisterially answer’d, according to his own Theory, which Servants judge ought to be follow’d before that of him they call Master, saying, That as the Roots of Wheat never reached more than Two or Three Inches deep, there was no need that the fine Mould should be any deeper. But those shallow Ridges, which were indeed too many, producing a Crop very much inferior to the contiguous deep Ridges, shewed, at my Cost, the Mistake of my cunning Ploughman.

’Tis true, that People who examine Wheat-roots when dead, are apt to fall into this mistake; for then they are shrivell’d up, and so rotten, that they break off very near to the Stalk in pulling up; but if they are examined in their Vigour at Summer with Care, in a friable Soil, they may be seen to descend as deep as the fine pulveriz’d Mould reacheth, though that should be a Foot in Thickness.

I took up a Wheat-ear in Harvest that had lain on the Grass in wet Weather, where the Wind could not come to dry it, which had sent out white Roots like the Teeth of a Comb, some of them Three Inches long: None having reached the Ground, they could not be nourished from any thing but the Grains, which remained fast to the Ear, and had not as yet sent out any Blade. ’Tis unreasonable to imagine, that such a single Root as one of these, when in the Earth, from whence it must maintain a pretty large Plant all or most Part of the Winter, should descend no farther than when it was itself maintained from the Flour of the Grain only.

To make a Six-feet Ridge very high, will sometimes require more Furrows; as when the Middle of the Intervals are open very wide and deep, then Six Furrows to the whole Ridge may be necessary, and they not little ones; and the Season makes a Difference, as well as the Size of the Furrows; for when the fine Mould is very dry (which is best), it will much of it run to the Left-hand before the Plough, and also more will run back again to the Left after the Plough is gone past it.

But when such Ridges have been made for Wheat, and the Season continues long too dry for planting it, and the Stubble not thrown up, we then plow one deep Furrow on the Middle of each Ridge, and then plow the whole Ridge at Four Furrows more, which will raise it very high. This Way of replowing the Ridges moves all the Earth of them, and yet is done at Five Furrows.

The Furrows, necessary for raising up the Ridges, must be more, or fewer, in regard to the Bigness of them; because Six small Furrows may be less than Four great ones. ’Tis not best to plow the Stubble up to the Ridges, until just before Planting (especially in the early Plowing); because that will hinder the Re-plowing of the First Furrows, which, if the Season continues dry, may be necessary: Sometimes we do this by opening One Furrow in the Middle of the Ridge, sometimes Two, and afterwards raise up the Ridges again; and when they are become moist enough at Top (the old Partitions being plow’d up to them), we harrow them once[103] (and that only Lengthways); and then drill them.

[103] But if once be not sufficient to level the Tops of the Ridges fit for the Drill to pass thereon, as it always will, unless the Two hard Furrows lie so high, that all the Three Shares of the Drill cannot reach to make their Channels, in this Case you must harrow again until they can all reach deep enough. Also in some Sort of Land, that when drilled late, and very moist, will stick to the Shares like Pitch or Bird-lime, whereby the Channels are in Part left open by the Drill-harrow, it must be harrowed after ’tis drilled, because ’tis necessary in such Land to take off the common Drill-harrow, in order for a Man to follow the Drill with a Paddle, or else a forked Stick, with which he frees the Sheats of the adhering Dirt; this Harrow being gone, much of the Seed will lie uncovered, and then must be covered with common Harrows; unless a Drill-harrow, which was not in Use when my Plates were made, be placed instead of that taken off: This, with its two Iron _Tines_, will cover the Seed in this Case much better than common Harrows, and will be no Hindrance to cleansing of the Sheats, the Legs by which this Harrow is drawn, being remote from them, placed at near the End of the Plank; and _note_, that the most proper Drill for this Purpose is one that has only Two Shares, standing a Foot or fourteen Inches asunder: This Harrow serves for taking up the Drill to turn it.

There is a Necessity of plowing the old Partitions up to the new Ridges to support their other Earth from falling down by the Harrowing and Drilling, which would else make them level.

Our Ridges, after the First Time of Plowing, excel common Ridges of the same Height; because these, tho’ as deep in Mould at the Tops, have little of it till’d at the last Plowing; but ours, being made upon the open Trenches, consist of new-till’d pulveriz’d Mould, from Top to Bottom.

’Tis a general Rule, that all Sorts of Grain and Seeds prosper best, sown when the Ground is so dry, as to be broken into the most Parts by the Plough. The Reason why Wheat is an Exception to that Rule is, because it must endure the Rigours of Winter, which ’tis the better able to do, by the Earth’s being press’d or trodden harder, and closer to it[104], as it is when moved wet.

[104] ’Tis for that Reason, that Farmers drive their Sheep over very light Land, as soon as ’tis sown with Wheat, to tread the (Top or) Surface of it hard: and then the Cold of the Winter cannot so easily penetrate, to kill the Roots of the tender Plants.

If Wheat were as hardy as Rye, and its Roots as patient of Cold, it might, no doubt, be sown in as dry a Season as Rye is, and prosper the better for it, as Rye doth. This will appear, if Wheat and Rye be both sown in the same dry Season, after the Winter is over.

But as Wheat requires to have the Earth lie harder on and about it, in the Winter; so it also requires more Dung (or somewhat else) to dissolve the Earth about its Roots, after the cold Winter is past, than Rye doth, whose Roots never were so much confined.

’Tis another general Rule, that all Sorts of Vegetables thrive best, when sown on fresh till’d Ground, immediately after ’tis plow’d.

Wheat is an Exception to this Rule also; for ’tis better to plow the Ground dry, and let it lie till the Weather moistens it (tho’ it be several Weeks), and then drill the Wheat: The Harrows and the Drill will move a sufficient Part of the Ground, which will stick together for Defence of the small Roots, during the Winter, the rest of the Mould, lying open, and divided underneath until Spring, to nourish them.

There is a Sort of binding Sand, that requires not only to be plow’d dry, but sow’d dry also; or else the Wheat will dwindle in the Spring, and fail of being a tolerable Crop.

But what I mean by dry Plowing is, not that the Land should always be so void of Moisture, as that the Dust should fly; but it must not be so wet, as to stick together[105]. Neither should we drill when the Earth is wet as Pap; it suffices that it be moist, but moister in light Land than in strong Land, when we drill.

[105] But the drier ’tis plow’d the better.

If the Two Furrows, whereon the treble Row is to stand, be plow’d wet, the Earth of the Partitions may grow so hard by the Spring, that the Roots cannot run freely therein, unless there be Dung to ferment and keep it open.

So we see, that a steep Bank, made of wet Earth, will lie fast for several Years, when another, made of the same Earth dry, will moulder, and run down very soon; because its Parts have not the Cohesion that holds the other together, it continues open, and more porous, and crumbles continually down.

I have seen Trials of this Difference betwixt plowing Dry, and plowing Wet, for planting of Wheat, both in the Old Way, and in the Drilling Way, but most in the latter; and never saw an Instance where the Dry-Plowing did not outdo the Wet; if the Wheat was not planted thereon before the Earth was become moist enough at Top.

And strong Land, plow’d wet in _November_, will be harder in the Spring, than if plow’d dry in _August_; tho’ it would then have Three Months longer to lie.

After Rain, when the Top of the Ground is of a fit Moisture for Drilling, harrow it with Two light Harrows, drawn by a Horse going in the Furrow betwixt Two Ridges[106]; once will be enough, the Furrow being just broken to level, or rather smooth it for the Drill.

[106] Once Harrowing is generally enough, but not always.

If the Veerings[107] whereon the next Crop is to stand, be plow’d dry, we may drill at any Time during the common and usual Wheat-seed time, that is proper for the sort of Wheat to be drill’d, and the sort of Land, whether that be early or late, we may drill earlier, but not later than the sowing Farmers. But I have had good Crops of Wheat drill’d at all Times betwixt Harvest and the Beginning of _November_.

[107] The Word veering is, I believe, taken from the Seamen, and signifies to turn: It is the Ploughman’s Term for turning Two Furrows toward each other, as they must do to begin a Ridge: and therefore they call the Top of a Ridge a Veering; they call the Two Furrows that are turn’d from each other at the Bottom, between Two Ridges, a Henting, _i. e._ an Ending: because it makes an End of plowing Ridges.

Our Intervals wholly consist of Veerings or Hentings; when Two Furrows are turn’d from the Rows, they make a Veering; when turn’d towards the Rows, they are a Henting, which is the deep wide Trench in the Middle of an Interval.

For the Benefit of the middle Rows, ’tis better not to drill Wheat on strong Land before the usual Season; because the later ’tis planted, the more open the Partitions will be for the Roots of those Rows to run through them in the Spring: and yet, if the Earth of the Partitions be plow’d very wet, tho’ late, they may be harder at the Spring, than those which are plow’d early and dry.

There is a Sort of Wheat call’d by some[108] _Smyrna Wheat_: It has a prodigious large Ear, with many less (or collateral) Ears, coming all round the Bottom of this Ear; as it is the largest of all Sorts of Wheat, so it will dispense with the Nourishment of a Garden, without being over-fed, and requires more Nourishment than the common Husbandry will afford it; for there its Ears grow not much bigger than those of common Wheat: This I believe to be, for that Reason, the very best Sort for the Hoeing Husbandry; next to this I esteem the White-cone Wheat, then the Grey-cone. I have had very good Crops from other Sorts; but look upon these to be the best.

[108] ’Tis said to grow mostly in some Islands of the _Archipelago_, and some Author describes it _Triticum spica multiplici_: There is another Sort of Wheat that has many little Ears coming out of Two Sides of the main Ear, but this is very late ripe, and doth not succeed well here, nor is it liked by them who have sown it; yet I have had some Ears of it by chance among my drill’d Wheat, which have been larger than those of any common Sort. I have not as yet been able to procure any of the _Smyrna Wheat_, which I look on as a great Misfortune; but I had some of it above Forty Years ago.

When Wheat is planted early, less Seed is required than when late; because less of it will die in the Winter than of that planted late, and it has more Time to tiller[109].

[109] To _tiller_ is to branch out into many Stalks, and is the Country Word, that signifies the same with _fruticare_.

Poor Land should have more Seed than rich Land, because a less Number of the Plants will survive the Winter on poor Land.

The least Quantity of Seed may suffice for rich Land that is planted early; for thereon very few Plants will die; and the Hoe will cause a small Number of Plants to send out a vast Number of Stalks, which will have large Ears; and in these, more than in the Number of Plants, consists the Goodness of a Crop[110].

[110] A too great Number of Plants do neither tiller, nor produce so large Ears, nor make half so good a Crop, as a bare competent Number of Plants will.

Another thing must be consider’d, in order to find the just Proportion of Seed to plant; and that is, that some Wheat has its Grains twice as big as other Wheat of the same Sort; and then a Bushel[111] will contain but half the Number of Grains; and one Bushel of Small-grain’d Wheat will plant as much Ground as Two Bushels of the Large-grain’d; for, in Truth, ’tis not the Measure of the Seed, but the Number of the Grains, to which respect ought to be had in apportioning the Quantity of it to the Land.

[111] Our Bushel contains Seventy Pounds of the best Wheat.

Some have thought, that a large Grain of Wheat would produce a larger Plant than a small Grain; but I have full Experience to the contrary. The small Grain, indeed, sends up its first single Blade in Proportion to its own Bulk, but afterwards becomes as large a Plant, as the largest Grain can produce[112], _cæteris paribus_.

[112] Farmers in general know this, and choose the thinnest, smallest-grained Wheat for Seed; and therefore prefer that which is blighted and lodged, and that which grows on new-broken Ground, and is not fit for Bread; not only because this thin Wheat has more Grains in a Bushel; but also because such Seed is least liable to produce a smutty Crop, and yet brings Grains as large as any.

I myself have had as full Proofs of this as can possibly be made in both Respects.

’Twas from such small Seed that my drill’d _Lammas_ Wheat produced the Ears of that monstrous Length described in this Chapter. I never saw the like, except in that one Year; and the Grains were large also.

And as full Proofs have I seen of thin Seed-wheat escaping the Smut, when plump large grain’d Seed of the same Sort have been smutty.

Six Gallons of middle-siz’d Seed we most commonly drill on an Acre; yet, on rich Land planted early, Four Gallons may suffice; because then the Wheat will have Roots at the Top of the Ground before Winter, and tiller very much, without Danger of the Worms, and other Accidents, that late-planted Wheat is liable to.

If it is drill’d too thick, ’twill be in Danger of falling; if too thin, it may happen to tiller so late in the Spring, that some of the Ears may be blighted; yet a little thicker or thinner does not matter.

As to the Depth, we may plant from half an Inch, to three Inches deep; if planted too deep, there is more Danger of its being eaten off by Worms, betwixt the Grain and the Blade[113]; for as that Thread is the Thread of Life during the Winter (if not planted early), so the longer the Thread is, the more Danger will there be of the Worms[114].

[113] A Wheat plant, that is not planted early, sends out no Root above the Grain before the Spring; and is nourish’d all the Winter by a single Thread, proceeding from the Grain up to the Surface of the Ground.

[114] Because the Worms can more easily find a Thread, that extends by its Length to five or six Inches Depth, than one which reaches but One Inch; and besides, the Worms in Winter do not inhabit very near the Surface of the Ground; and therefore also miss the short Threads, and meet with the long ones.

’Tis a necessary Caution to beware of the Rooks[115], just as the Wheat begins to peep; for before you can perceive it to be coming up, they will find it, and dig it up to eat the Grain; therefore you must keep them off for a Week or Ten Days; and in that time the Blade will become green, and the Grain so much exhausted of its Flour, that the Rooks think it not worth while to dig after it.

[115] ’Tis true, that Wheat which is planted early enough for its Grain to be unfit for the Rooks, before the Corn that is left on the Ground at Harvest is either all eaten by them, or by Swine, or else grow’d, plowed in, or otherwise spoiled, is in no Danger: but as this sometimes happens soon after Harvest, the Time of which is uncertain, a timely Care is necessary.

Many are the Contrivances to fright the Rooks; _viz._ To dig an Hole in the Ground, and stick Feathers therein; to tear a Rook to Pieces, and lay them on divers Parts of the Field: This is sometimes effectual; but Kites or other Vermin soon carry away those Pieces. Hanging up of dead Rooks is of little Use; for the living will dig up the Wheat under the dead ones. A Gun is also of great Use for the Purpose; but unless the Field in Time of Danger be constantly attended, the Rooks will at one Time or other of the Day do their Work, and you may attend often, and yet to no Purpose; for they will do great Damage in your Absence.

The only Remedy that I have found infallible is a Keeper (a Boy may serve very well) to attend from Morning until Night; when he sees Rooks either flying over the Field, or alighted in it, he halloos, and throws up his Hat, or a dead Rook, into the Air: upon which they immediately go off; and ’tis seldom that any one will alight there: They, finding there is no Rest for them, seek other Places for their Prey, wherein they can feed more undisturbed.

This was the Expedient I made use of for preserving my present Crop: It succeeded so well, that in Sixscore Acres, I believe there is not Two-pence Damage done by the Rooks; but I had two Boys (one at Four-pence, and the other at Three-pence a Day) to attend them; because my Wheat is on Two Sides of my Farm; the whole Expence was about Twenty Shillings. The Damage I received by Rooks the last Year in a Field of Seventeen Acres, was more than would have, in this manner, preserved my whole Crops for Twenty Years running. I wish I could as easily defend my Wheat against Sheep, which are to me a more pernicious Vermin than the Rooks.

But the Rooks do not molest Wheat that is planted before or a little after St. _Michael_; for then there remains Corn enough in the Fields, which is left at Harvest above-ground, that Rooks prefer always before Corn which must cost them the Labour of digging to find it.

_Of Partitions._

I have now intirely left out the middle Row for Wheat, and keep only to the double Row, for the following Reasons.

It makes the cleansing from Weeds more difficult, than when there is only a double Row.

The Hand-hoe cannot give near so much Nourishment (_i. e._ pulverize so much Earth) in Two Seven-inch Partitions, as it can in One Ten-inch Partition.

There is Four Inches less Earth to be pulveriz’d by the Horse-hoe from the Surface of a Ridge that has Two Seven-inch Partitions, than from a Ridge that hath One Ten-inch Partition.

The Ridge must be almost twice as deep in Mould for the treble as for the double Row, or else the middle Row will be very weak and poor; and then, according to the Principles, the whole Ridge will be more exhausted, than by an equal Product produced by strong Plants.

As the Ridges may be much lower that have only the one Partition, so the Intervals may be narrower, and yet have as much Earth in them to be pulveriz’d, as in wide ones that are betwixt treble Rows; because the Four Inches that are in the two Partitions more than in the single Partition, being on the Top of the Ridge, may have more Mould under them than Eight Inches on the Side of a Ridge; and the Four Inches, being in the Partitions, lose the Benefit of Horse-hoeing.

Instead of using the middle Row as an Alloy, ’tis better to plant such Sorts of Wheat as do not require any Alloy to the double Row; and these are the _White-cone_, and above all other Sorts the right _Smyrna_.

The _White-cone_ Wheat must not be reaped so green as the _Lammas_ Wheat may; for if it is not full-ripe, it will be difficult to thresh it clean out of the Straw.

It happened once that my _White-cone_ being planted early, and being very high, the Blade and Stalk were kill’d in the Winter; and yet it grew high again in the Spring, and had then the same Fortune a Second time; it lay on the Ridges like Straw, but sprung out anew from the Root, and made a very good Crop at Harvest: Therefore, if the like Accident should happen, the Owner needs not be frighted at it.

One thing that made Six-feet Ridges seem at first necessary, was the great Breadth of the Two Partitions (which were Eight Inches apiece), which, together with the Earth left on each Side of the treble Row not well cleansed by Hand-work, made Two large whole Furrows, at the first Plowing for the next Crop, that could not be broken by Harrows: These Two strong Furrows, being turned to the Two Furrows that are in the middle of a narrow Interval, for making a new Ridge, would cover almost all the pulveriz’d Earth, not leaving room betwixt the Two whole Furrows for the Drill to go in. But now the single Partition, and the Earth left by the Hoe-Plough, on the Outsides of the double Row, making Two narrow Furrows, and the one Partition being cleansed, and deeper Hand-ho’d than those of the treble Row were, or could be, are easily broken by the Harrows; for, besides their Narrowness, they have no Roots to hold their Mould together, except the Wheat-roots, which, being small and dead, have not Strength enough to hold it; and therefore that Necessity of such broad Ridges now ceases along with the treble Row.

When the Two narrow fragile Furrows are harrowed, and mixed with the pulveriz’d Earth of the Intervals, the Roots of the Wheat will reach it; and it is no Matter whether the Crop be drill’d after Two Plowings, in which Case the Row will stand on the very same Place whereon the Row stood the precedent Year, or whether it be drill’d after One or Three Plowings; and then the Rows will stand on the Middle of the last Year’s Intervals.