Part 9

[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 Foot on each Side: tho’ then it would be equally distant from the Two Turneps betwixt which it stood.

Turneps that were so thick as to touch one another when half-grown, by means of well Hoeing their wide Intervals, have afterwards grown to a good Bigness, and by thrusting against one another became oval, instead of round.

’Tis beneficial to hoe Turneps (especially the first Time) alternately; _viz._ to hoe every other Interval, and throw the Earth back again before we hoe the other Intervals; for by this Means the Turneps are kept from being[81] stinted: ’Tis better to have Nourishment given them moderately at twice, than to have it all once, and be twice as long before a Repetition[82].

[81] Because this alternate Hoeing doth not at all endanger the Roots by being dried by the Sun; for whilst one half of the Roots have Moisture, ’tis sufficient; the other Half will be supplied from those; so that they will soon take hold of the Earth again after being moved by the Hoe.

[82] Sometimes, when Turneps are planted late, this alternate Hoeing suffices without any Repetition; but when they are planted early, ’twill be necessary to hoe them again; especially if Weeds appear.

Tho’ the Earth on each Side the Row be left as narrow as possible[83]; yet ’tis very profitable to hoe that little with a _Bidens_[84], called here a Prong-hoe[85]; for this will be sure to let out all the Roots into the Intervals; even such as run very nearly parallel to the Rows.

[83] I do not think that we can go nearer to the Plants with the Hoe-plough, than within Three Inches of their Bodies.

[84] We ought not to use the _Bidens_ for this Purpose, before the perpendicular Roots are as big as one’s little Finger.

[85] Some of these Prong-hoes have Three Teeth, and are reckoned better as a _Tridens_ than a _Bidens_; but this is only in mellow Ground.

This alternate Way of Hoeing Plants that grow in single Rows, is of such vast Advantage, that four of these, which are but equal to Two of the _whole_ Hoeings in Labour, are near equal to four _whole_ Hoeings in Benefit; for when one Side is well nourished, the other Side cannot be starv’d[86].

[86] But yet sometimes the Weeds, or other Circumstances, may make it proper to give them a _whole_ Hoeing at first.

Besides, where a great Quantity of Turneps are to be ho’d, the last ho’d may be stinted, before the first are finish’d by _whole_ Hoeings.

In this alternate Hoeing, the Hoe-plough may go deeper[87] and nearer to the Row, without Danger of thrusting it down on the Left Side, whilst the Plants are very small; because the Earth on the other Side of the Row always bears against it for its Support: But in the _whole_ Hoeing, there is an open Furrow left the first Time on both Sides of the Row, and there is Danger of throwing it into one Furrow in plowing the other; or, if the Row is not thrown down, it may be too much dry’d in hot Weather, by the Two Furrows lying too long open: Yet, when the Turneps are large before Hoeing, we need not fear either of these Dangers in giving them a _whole_ Hoeing; as I have found by Experience, even when there has been left on each Side of the Row only about Three Inches Breadth of Earth; tho’ it is not best to suffer it to lie long open[88].

[87] This deep Plowing so near to the Row is very beneficial at first; but afterwards, when the Plants are grown large, and have sent their Roots far into the Intervals, it would almost totally disroot them; and they, being Annuals, might not live long enough for a new Stock of Roots to extend so far as is necessary to bring the Turneps to their full Bigness.

_Note_, At the last Hoeing we generally leave a broad, deep Trench in the middle of each Interval.

[88] But, if the Weather prove wet, we always suffer those Furrows to lie open, until the Earth be dry enough to be turn’d back again to the Row, without smearing or flicking together; unless such Weather continue so long that the Weeds begin to come up, and then we throw back the Furrows to stifle the Weeds, before they grow large, tho’ the Earth be wet.

Dry Weather does not injure Turneps when Horse-ho’d, as it does sown Turneps; the Hand-hoe does not go deep enough to keep the Earth moist, and secure the Plants against the Drought; and that is the best Season for Horse-hoeing, which always can keep the Roots moist[89].

[89] But if some Sorts of Earth have lain so long unmoved as to become very hard before the first Hoeing, the Hoe, going very rear to the Rows on each Side, may cause such hard Earth whereon the Rows stand, to crack and open enough to let in the Drought (_i. e._ the Sun and Air) to the Roots in very dry Weather. In this Case ’tis best to _Horse-hoe_ alternately, as is directed in _Page_ 86.

Dung and Tillage together will attain the necessary Degree of Pulveration, in less time than Plowing can do alone: Therefore Dung is more useful for Turneps, because they have commonly less time to grow than other Plants.

Turneps of Nineteen Pounds Weight I have several Times heard of, and of Sixteen Pounds Weight often known; and Twelve Pounds may be reckon’d the middle Size of great Turneps: And I can see no Reason, why every Turnep should not arrive to the full Bigness of its Species, if it did not want Part of its due Nourishment.

The greatest Inconvenience, which has been observ’d in the Turnep-husbandry, is, when they are fed off late in the Spring (which is in many Places the greatest Use of them), there is not time to bring the Land in Tilth for Barley; the Loss of which Crop is sometimes more than the Gain of the Turneps: This is intirely remedied by the drilling Method; for, by that, the Land may be almost as well till’d before the Turneps are eaten, or taken off, as it can afterwards.

If Turneps be sown in _June_, or the Beginning of _July_, the most experienced Turnep-Farmers will have no more than Thirty to a square Perch left in Hand-hoeing; and find that when more are left, the Crop will be less; but, in drilling the Rows at Six Feet Intervals, there may be Sixty to a Perch; and the Horse-hoe, by breaking so much more Earth than the Hand-hoe does, can nourish Sixty drill’d, as well as Thirty are by the sowing Method, which has been made appear upon Trial; but, I think, about Forty or Forty-five better than Sixty on a Perch; and the Number of Plants should always be proportion’d to the natural and artificial Pasture which is to maintain them; and sixty Turneps on a square Perch, at Five Pounds each (which is but a Third of the Weight of the large Size of Sheep-Turneps), make a Crop of above Eighty Quarters to an Acre[90].

[90] I have had Turneps upon poor undung’d Land, that weigh’d Fourteen Founds a-piece; but these were only such as had more Room than the rest. I have seen a whole Waggon-load of drill’d Turneps spread on the Ground, wherein I believe one could not have found one that weighed so little as six Pounds; or if the Rows had been searched before they had been pull’d up, they would have weighed Seven or Eight Pounds apiece one with another; we weighed some of them that were Thirteen, some Fourteen Pounds each, and yet they stood pretty thick: There might be, as I guess, about Fifty on a square Perch; but this Crop was on sandy Land, not poor; and was dung’d the Third or Fourth Year before; and had every Year a ho’d Crop of Potatoes, or Wheat, until the Year wherein the Turneps were planted.

When Turneps are planted late (especially upon poor Ground), they may be a greater Number than when planted early; because they will not have time enough of Heat to enjoy the full Benefit of Hoeing, which would otherwise cause them to grow larger.

The greatest Turnep-Improvement used by the Farmer, is for his Cattle in the Winter; one Acre of Turneps will then maintain more than Fifty of Meadow or Pasture-ground.

’Tis now so well known, that most Cattle will eat them, and how much they breed Milk, _&c._ that I need say nothing about it.

Sheep always refuse them at first, and, unless they have eaten them whilst they were Lambs, must be ready to starve before they will feed on them; tho’, when they have tasted them, they will be fatted by them; and I have seen Lambs of Three Weeks old scoop them prettily, when those of a Year old (which are called Tegs) have been ready to die with Hunger amongst them; and for Three or Four Days would not touch them, but at last eat them very well.

In some Places, the greatest Use of Turneps (except for fatting Oxen and Sheep) is for Ewes and Lambs in the Spring, when natural Grass is not grown on poor Ground; and if the artificial Grass be then fed by the common Manner, the Crop will be spoil’d, and it will yield the less Pasture all the Summer: I have known Farmers, for that Reason, oblig’d to keep their Ewes and Lambs upon Turneps (tho’ run up to Seed) even until the Middle of _April_.

There are now three Manners of spending Turneps with Sheep, amongst which I do not reckon the Way of putting a Flock of Sheep into a large Ground of Turneps without dividing it; for in that Case the Flock will destroy as many Turneps in a Fortnight, as should keep them well a whole Winter.

The First Manner now in Use is, to divide the Ground of Turneps by Hurdles, giving them leave to come upon no more at a Time than they can eat in one Day, and so advance the Hurdles farther into the Ground daily, until all be spent; but we must observe, that they never eat them clean this Way, but leave the Bottoms and Outsides of the Turneps they have scoop’d in the Ground. These Bottoms People pull up with Iron Crooks, made for that Purpose; but their Cavities being tainted with Urine, Dung, and Dirt from their Feet, tho’ the Sheep do eat some of the Pieces, they waste more, and many the Crooks leave behind in the Earth; and even what they do eat of this tainted Food, can’t nourish them so well as that which is fresh and cleanly.

The second Manner is, to move the Hurdles every Day, as in the First; but that the Sheep may not tread upon the Turneps, they pull them up first, and then advance the Hurdles as far daily as the Turneps are pull’d up, and no farther: By this Means there is not that Waste made as in the other Way; the Food is eaten fresh and clean; and the Turneps are pull’d up with less Labour than their Pieces can be[91].

[91] I have seen Three Labourers work every Day with their Crooks, to pull up these Pieces, which was done with much Difficulty, the Ground being trodden very hard by the Sheep; when one Person, in Two Hours time, would have pull’d up all the _whole_ Turneps daily, and the Sheep would have eaten them clean; but so many of those Pieces were dry’d and spoil’d, that, after the Land was sown with Barley, they appear’d very thick upon the Surface, and there could not be much less than half the Crop of Turneps wasted, notwithstanding the Contrivance of these Crooks.

The Third Manner is, to pull them up, and to carry them into some other Ground in a Cart, or Waggon, and there spread them every Day on a new Place, where the Sheep will eat them up clean, both Leaf and Root: This is done when there is Land not far off, which has more Need of Dung, than that where the Turneps grow, which perhaps is also too wet for Sheep in the Winter; and then the Turneps will, by the too great Moisture and Dirt of the Soil, spoil the Sheep, and in some Soils give them the Rot, yet such Ground will bring forth more and larger Turneps than dry Land; and when they are carry’d off, and eaten on plow’d Ground in dry Weather, and on Green-swerd in wet Weather, the Sheep will thrive much better; and that moist Soil, not being trodden by the Sheep, will be in much the better Order for a Crop of Corn. And generally the Expence of Hurdles, and removing them, being saved, will more than countervail the Labour of carrying off the Turneps.

These Three Ways of spending Turneps with Sheep are common to those drill’d, and to those sown in the random Manner; but they must always be carry’d off for Cows and Oxen; both which will be well fatted by them, and some Hay in the Winter: The Management of these is the Business of a Grazier.

CHAP. IX.

_Of_ WHEAT.

Tho’ all Sorts of Vegetables may have great Benefit from the Hoe, because it supplies them with Plenty of Food, at the Time of their greatest Need, yet they do not all equally require Hoeing; but the Plant that is to live the longest, should have the largest Stock of Sustenance provided for it: Generally Wheat lives, or ought to live, longer than other Sorts of Corn; for if it be not sown before Spring, its Grain will be thin, and have but little Flour in it, which is the only useful Part for making Bread. And when sown late in the Winter, ’tis in great Danger of Death from the Frost, whilst weak and tender, being maintained (as a _Fœtus_) by the umbilical Vessels, until the Warmth of the Sun enables it to send out sufficient Roots of its own to subsist on, without Help of the _Ovum_.

To prevent these Inconveniences, Wheat is usually sown in Autumn: Hence, having about thrice the Time to be maintain’d that Spring Corn hath, it requires a larger Supply of Nourishment, in proportion to that longer Time; not because the Wheat in its Infancy consumes the Stock of Food, during the Winter, proportionably to what it does afterwards; but because, during that long Interval betwixt Autumn and Spring Seed-times, most of the artificial Pasture is naturally lost, both in light and in strong Land.

For this very Reason is that extraordinary Pains of fallowing and dunging the Soil, necessary to Wheat; tho’, notwithstanding all that Labour and Expence, the Ground is generally grown so stale by the Spring, and so little of the Benefit of that chargeable Culture remains, that, if Part of the same Field be sown in the Beginning of _April_, upon fresh Plowing, without the Dung, or Year’s Fallow, it will be as great or a greater Crop, in all Respects, except the Flour, which fails only for want of Time to fill the Grain.

Poor light Land, by the common Husbandry, must be very well cultivated and manur’d, to maintain Wheat for a whole Year, which is the usual Time it grows thereon; and if it be sown late, the greatest Part of it will seldom survive the Winter, on such Land; and if it be sown very early on strong Land, tho’ rich, well till’d, and dung’d, the Crop will be worse than on the poor light Land sown early. So much do the long Winter’s Rains cause the Earth to subside, and the divided Parts to coalesce, and lock out the Roots from the Stock of Provision, which, tho’ it was laid in abundantly at Autumn, the Wheat has no great Occasion of until the Spring; and then the Soil is become too hard for the Roots to penetrate; and therefore must starve (like _Tantalus_) amidst Dainties, which may tempt the Roots, but cannot be attain’d by them.

But the new Method of Hoeing gives, to strong and to light Land, all the Advantages, and takes away all the Disadvantages, of both; as appears in the Chapters of _Tillage_ and _Hoeing_. By this Method the strong Land may be planted with Wheat as early as the light (if plow’d dry); and the Hoe-Plough can, if rightly apply’d, raise a Pasture to it[92], equal to that of Dung in both Sorts of Land.

[92] Because the Hoe may go in it all the Year, and the Soil being _infinitely divisible_, the Division which the Hoe may make whilst the Crop is growing, added to the common Tillage, may equal, or even exceed, a common Dressing with Dung, as I have often experienced.

About the Year 1701, when I had contrived my Drill for planting St. Foin, I made use of it also for Wheat. Drilling many Rows at once, which made the Work much more compendious, and perform’d it much better than Hands could do, making the Channels of a Foot Distance, drilling in the Seed, and covering it, did not in all amount to more than Six-pence _per_ Acre Expence, which was above ten Times over-paid by the Seed that was saved; for One Bushel to an Acre was the Quantity drill’d; there remain’d then no need of Hand-work, but for the Hoeing; and this did cost from Half a Crown to Four Shillings _per_ Acre. This way turn’d to a very good Account, and in considerable Quantities; it has brought as good a Crop of Wheat on Barley-stubble, as that sown the common Way on Summer-fallow; and when that sown the old Way, on the same Field, on Barley-stubble, intirely fail’d, tho’ there was no other Difference but the Drilling and Hoeing: It was also such an Improvement to the Land, that when, one Part of a strong whitish Ground, all of equal Goodness, and equally fallow’d and till’d, was dung’d and sown in the common Manner, and the other Part was thus drill’d and hand-ho’d without Dung, the ho’d Part was not only the best Crop, but the whole Piece being fallow’d the next Year, and sown all alike by a Tenant, the ho’d Part produc’d so much a better Crop of Wheat than the dung’d Part, that a Stranger would have believ’d by looking on it, that that Part had been dung’d which was not[93], and that Part not to have been dung’d which really was.

[93] If the Dung did pulverize as much as the Hoeing, the Cause must be from the different Exhaustion.

Scarce any Land is so unfit, and ill prepar’d, for Wheat, as that where the natural Grass[94] abounds. Most other sorts of Weeds may be dealt withal when they come among drill’d Wheat; but ’tis impossible to extract Grass from the Rows: Therefore let that be kill’d before the Wheat be planted.

[94] One Bunch of natural Grass, transplanted by the Plough into a treble Row of Wheat, will destroy almost a whole Yard of it.

The Six-feet Ridges being Eleven, on Sixty-six Feet, which is an Acre’s Breadth, ought to be made Lengthways of the Field, if there be no Impediment against it; as if it be an Hill of any considerable Steepness, then they must be made to run up and down, whether that be the Length or Breadth of the Piece; for if the Ridges should go cross such a Hill, they could not be well Horse-ho’d; because it would be very difficult to turn a Furrow upwards, close to the Row above it, or to turn a Furrow downwards, without burying the Row below it; and even when a Furrow is turn’d from the lower Row, enough of the Earth to bury that Row will be apt to run over on the Left-side of the Plough; unless it goes at such a Distance from the Row, as to give it no Benefit of Hoeing.

These Ridges should be made strait and equal: And to make them strait[95] all good Ploughmen know how; and they will, by setting up Marks to look at, plow in a Line like the Path of an Arrow: But to make the Ridges equal, ’tis necessary to mark out a Number of them, before you begin to plow, by short Sticks set up at each End of the Piece; and then if one Ridge happen to be a little too broad, the next may be made the narrower; for if the Plough comes not out exactly at the second Stick, the Two Ridges may be made equal by the next Plowing, or by the Drilling; but if many contiguous Ridges should be too wide, or too narrow, ’twill be difficult to bring them all to an Equality afterwards, without levelling the whole Piece, and laying out the Ridges all anew.

[95] But if the Piece be of such a crooked or serpentine Form, that the Ridges cannot well be plow’d strait the first Time, ’tis best to drill it upon the Level; and then the marking Wheels may direct for making the Row all parallel and equidistant; which will guide the Plough to make all the Ridges for the next and all the subsequent Crops, as equal.

The exact Height of Ridges, which is best, I cannot determine[96]: A different Soil may require a different Height, according to the Depth, Richness, and Pulveration of the Mould. As Wheat covets always to lie dry in the Winter, so there is no other way to keep it so dry as these Ridges; for when they are, after the first Hoeing, about Eighteen Inches broad[97], with a Ditch on each Side, of almost a Foot deep, the Rain-water runs off such narrow Ridges as fast it falls, and much sooner[98] than ’tis possible for it to do from broad Ridges.

[96] I find by measuring my Wheat Ridges in the Spring, that none of them are quite a Foot high; and some of them only Six Inches; but I know not how much they have subsided in the Winter; for they were certainly higher when first made.

[97] This is the Breadth the Ridges are generally left at, when the Furrows are hoed from them, and thrown into the Intervals.

[98] Water, when it runs off very soon, is beneficial, as is seen in water’d Meadows; but where it remains long on, or very near the Bodies of terrestrial Plants, it kills them, or at least is very injurious to them.

And the deeper the Soil, the more occasion there commonly is of this high Situation; because such Land is wetter for the most Part than shallow Land, where we cannot make the Furrows so deep, nor the Ridges so high[99], as in deep Land; for we must never plow below the Staple. I see the Wheat on these ho’d Ridges flourish, and grow vigorously, in wet Weather, when other Wheat looks yellow and sickly.

[99] If we should make our Ridges as high on a shallow Soil, as we may on a deep Soil, there would be a Deficiency of Mould in the Intervals of equal Breadth with those of a deep Soil.

The same wide Interval, which is ho’d betwixt Ridges the First time, with Two Furrows, must have had Four Furrows, to hoe it on the Level; or else the Furrow, that is turn’d from the Row, would rise up, and a great Part of it fall over to the Left-hand, and bury the Row; but when turn’d from a Ridge, it will all fall down to the Right-hand.

You must not leave the Tops of the Ridges quite so narrow and sharp for Drilling of Wheat, as you may for drilling Turneps; Wheat being in treble Rows, but Turneps generally in single Rows[100]. This is our Method of making Ridges for the First Crop of drill’d Wheat.

[100] A single Row taking up less of the Breadth, may be afforded to have more of the Ridge’s Depth; because it leaves the Interval wider.

But the Method of making Ridges for a succeeding Crop, after the former is harvested, is best perform’d as follows: In making Ridges for Wheat after Wheat, you must raise them to their full Height, before you plow the old Partitions, with their Stubble, up to them; for if you go about to make the Ridges higher afterwards, the Stubble will so mix with the Mould of their Tops, that it may not only be an Hindrance to the Drill, but also to the First Hoeing; because if the Hoe-plough goes so near to the Rows as it ought, it would be apt to tear out the Wheat-plants along with the Stubble.

In Reaping, we cut as near as we can to the Ground[101]; which is easily done, because the Stalks stand all close together at Bottom, contrary to those of sown Wheat.

[101] When Wheat is reap’d very low, the Stubble is no great Impediment; and I do this when I am forc’d to inlarge the Breadth of my Ridges, or to change their Bearing, as I do when I find it convenient for them to point Cross-ways of the Field instead of Length ways; as if one End of it be wetter than the other: For ’tis inconvenient, that one End of a Ridge should be in the wet Part, and the other in the dry; because, in that Case, we cannot hoe the dry End without hoeing the wet at the same time; and whilst we attend for the wet Part to become dry, it may happen, that the Season for hoeing the whole (if the Quantity be great) may be lost.

I find this Stubble, when ’tis only mixt with the Intervals, very beneficial to the Hoeing of my Wheat; but I know not whether it may be so in rich miry Land.