fuch extracts as may enable our Readers to form a judgment of his principles of culture, as calculated for the northern part of our inland. He draws the enfuing conclufions from the climate of Scotland:

As the different fituations of our lands require a general divifion of them into grafs and corn lands, fo likewife do the different climates. In Scotland, the climate, upon the whole, is rather wet than dry. Upon the weft coaft, however, it is much wetter than upon the east. The dryeft climate is not too dry for corn; but the wetteft is rather too wet; grafs therefore fhould prevail most in the weft of Scotland, and corn in the east.

When corn is introduced in a wet climate, the attention of the farmer fhould be placed chiefly on the winter grain. For in fuch a climate, it is fcarcely poffible to have land in a proper condition for being plowed for fpring-corn. Wheat and the kinds of grain proper to be fown on a winter-furrow, may be fuppofed to fucceed beft. Oats, fome kind of peafe, and the kind of barley commonly called Lincolnshire barley, do very well when fown on a winter-furrow. It must be observed however, thas when barley is fown in this manner, it ought to be on fallow. When land therefore in a wet climate, has conti nued for fome years in grafs, and it is proposed to break it up, the crops of corn introduced may properly be oats and wheat, or oats and winter-barley, with a fallow intervening in both cafes. If the foil is of fuch a kind, that the turf is fufficiently reduced in the first year by the harrows, then the crops may be oats, peafe and wheat. In every cafe, grafs feeds must be fown with the laft crop. It is neceffary to add that the farmer, who follows this fcheme, must be a dealer in labouring cattle, and, if convenient, muft alfo breed, which the quantity of grass upon his farm will enable him to do. The reafon of this is evident: he has work for his cattle only for a part of the year; and therefore if he does not deal in cattle, the expence of management must be very great; a thing that must be carefully guarded against, otherwife the beft fcheme will not fucceed,

In thefe general directions, it has been fupposed that the farmers have the lands of their farms lying contiguous and properly bounded, and, it may be added, inclofed likewife, where they are of fuch a value as to allow the expence. For where fields of different farms lye promifcuously, and the cattle of different farmers feed in the fame manner, no improvements can be carried on; no good cattle can be raised; and no advantage arife to the farmer for dealing in them. The first thing, therefore, that a gentleman ought to do, whofe lands are in this tuation, is to divide them properly, that fo his tenants may

have no occafion to depend upon one another, or their neighbours, and may have it in their power to manage their lands in the way that is judged moft proper. The manner of laying the lands of feveral farms promifcuoufly, was very properly adapted to the ancient police and fituation of this country; but the things which rendered this method neceffary are now entirely removed, and the prefent fituation of the country, and the ftate of agriculture require that they be divided in a manner very different.'

The following are fome of the Author's obfervations on ploughing:

Plowing, as was fhown in the firft part of this treatise, ferves to increase the food of plants, enlarge their pasture, deftroy weeds, and remove wetnefs. Now thefe advantages cannot be acquired in all their perfection, by any plowing that can be given betwixt harveft and feed-time, and therefore fallowing becomes necellary, in order to attain them.

By plowing, the food of plants is increased, a larger and more uneven furface is expofed to the influence of the air: but if the furface is wet, as it commonly is in the winter feason, little benefit of this kind can be expected. In proportion as foil is wet, it lofes its abforbent quality, and when glutted with water, it is deprived of it altogether.

By plowing, the pafture of plants is enlarged; but if land is plowed wet, it dries too faft when the dry feafon comes on, and thereby the pafture is made less than if it had not been plowed at all.

By plowing, weeds are deftroyed; but unless the weather is warm, the feeds of weeds do not vegetate; and unless it is dry and hot, their roots are not deftroyed.

By plowing wetnefs is removed; by it land is laid up in the moft proper ridges for this purpofe; but, in the winter, ridges cannot be altered, or even made flat, without danger. Thus it appears, that fallowing is of the greatest importance, and that, by it alone, the advantages of plowing can be fully obtained.

Fallowing, as fhall afterwards be fhown, was fo much practifed in the Roman husbandry, that feldom any feed was fown but upon fallow. It is a practice that now prevails in many parts of Scotland, and is found to be a very great improvement. In order to reap the greater benefit from it, it is neceffary that the farmer attend to the fituation of his land, enquire where the defects lye that prevent it from carrying good crops, and manage his fallow in such a manner as to remedy thofe defects. It will not be improper to give fome directions that may be of ufe in this respect,

• When

When land is poor and full of root-weeds, it ought to be plowed in the winter, or as foon in the fpring as it is in a proper condition, that fo it may have the benefit of the drought and of the North and Eaft winds, which are common at tha. feafon. It ought to be plowed in fuch a manner, as to expofe the largoft and the most uneven furface; becaufe thereby the drought has the eafier accefs to deftroy the roots, and the winds have the eafier accefs to impregnate the foil. The kind of plowing moft proper is, in very narrow ridges, and very broad and deep furrows: because the narrower that the ridges are, and the broader and deeper the furrows, the larger and more uneven is the furface made.

It should be plowed a fecond time early in the fummer, in the fame kind of ridges and furrows; but acrofs, if the fituation of the land allows. This renders the furface ftill more extenfive and uneven; and if in any places, by the former pl ing, the earth of the furrows have been turned over whole, y are broken by the cross-plowing, roots are better expofd, and the air has easier accefs,

It seems to have been the common practice among the Romans, to plow across at the fecond plowing of the fallow. Some, fays Columella, piant their vines in the form of a Quincunx, that the field, like fallow, may be plowed both along and acrofs.

He too, fays Virgil, greatly improves his lands, who, having first plowed along, plows the fecond time across.

The third plowing fhould reverse the first, turn the crowns into the furrows, and the furrows into the crowns. This is better than plowing at random, without any regard to the first made ridges; for thereby the foil buried in the first-made crowns, is more fully expofed by turning them into fur

Iows.

Sometimes this kind of land rifes in large clods, and continues in that fituation, though exposed for a confiderable time to the influence of the air. This makes an after-plowing very difficult and indeed, when a plowing is given to land in this fituation, it ferves, little other purpose than to turn over the clods. In this cafe, the heavy roller must be used immediately before plowing; which in fome measure reduces the foil, and renders the plowing more beneficial.

"If the fallow is to be dunged and fown with wheat, and if the furface is very rough, it will not be amifs to harrow, and even to roll it, before the dung is laid on, and the land gets the last plowing or feed-furrow. The rolling breaks the clods, and the harrowing takes out the roots that remain; and as the land is to be plowed immediately, the harrowing is no

difadvantage, even though all the roots fhould not have been deftroyed. I need fcarcely obferve, that this operation of harrowing or rolling, fhould be performed immediately after a shower, as thereby it becomes more effectual for the purposes for which it is defigned. Clods upon the furface, after, wheat is fown, do no harm; they rather do good, they afford a fhelter to the young plants during the winter, and their mouldering down in the fpring, as they always do after froft, affords a fresh fupply of nourishment: but clods upon the furface, before the feed-furrow is given, prevent the dung from being equally and regularly fpread, and render it dif ficult to plow with fuch exactnefs as the feed-furrow requires.'

If thefe obfervations are familiar, and convey no information to the intelligent farmer, it is perhaps as ufeful to acquaint the lefs informed husbandman with the reafons upon which the best eftablished methods are founded, that he may understand what he practifes, as to allure him to depart from old ufages by flattering eftimates.

We fall next give his general remarks on fowing.

There are two different ways of fowing. In the ordinary way of fowing, the feed is fcattered by the hand; and men, by practice, become tolerably exact in doing it. The other way is by a machine called a Drill, made on purpose. This machine is more troublefome in fowing, and lefs expeditious than the common way of fowing by the hand; and, like all complex machines, is apt to go out of order, and put a stop to the work: but then the fowing by it is attended with advantages that do far more than overbalance thefe. This machine is conftructed in fuch a manner, as to diftribute the feed with the greatest exacnels, fo that the precife quantity propofed may be fown upon any field, and, at the fame time, the feed equally diftributed over all. But there is ftil! a greater advantage that attends fowing by the drill; the regularity with which the feed is fown, allows the corn to be cleared of weeds, with little trouble, and at no great expence. The drill fows the feed in rows; this allows the hoe to be ufed for the deftruction of the weeds, which cannot be done when the feed is fcattered in the ordinary

way.

The quantity of feed proper to be fown depends upon a variety of circumstances; the kind of feed, the feafon of sowing, and the fituation of the land. Thefe things fall naturally under our confideration, when the culture of particular plants is treated of. However, it will not be improper in this place to confider, in the general, whether the fowing thin or fowing thick is most advantageous. It is not necefiary to be very particular in explaining what is meant by thin or thick fowing. The fow

8

ing less than what is commonly done in any part of the coun try, is thin fowing; the fowing more than this, is thick fowing. The generality of the writers upon this subject recommend thin fowing, and they complain much of the obstinacy of the farmers, for not following their directions. The farmers are not so obftinate as not to try the different ways of lowing, nor fo ignorant as not to know when to fow the one way, and when the other. They often fow thinner than they ought to do, as appears from the fituation of the crop; and perhaps as many farmers may be found that leffen their crops by fowing too thin, as there are that hurt them by fowing too thick. I am perfuaded that the quantity of feed commonly used is the most proper. The farmers in general, whatever they may be in other refpects, are certainly attentive enough in their management, to every thing that faves expence. Their greatest fault, generally speaking, is the one oppofite to this. They fcruple to lay out money, though the advantage is obvious; but they are apt enough to enter into the faving plan, whenever there is a probability that it will fucceed. Had the trials of sowing thin, which have been made, proved very fuccefsful, we may be certain that the practice, before this time, would have become general.

Previous to the infifting with the farmers to use a smaller quantity of feed than they commonly do, they fhould be directed to clear their land of weeds: for, without this, the ufing lefs feed, instead of being beneficial, muft certainly prove a real difadvantage. Some of our richeft lands in Scotland are very much infested with weeds, and the preparation made for fowing gives fuch encouragement to the vegetating of their feeds, that the land produces for certain a plentiful crop of fome one thing or other. If a small quantity of feed is fown, a great many weeds fpring up along with it; thefe weeds prevent all the advantages of thin fowing: they prevent the corn from tillering, or fooling, as we call it in Scotland; they keep the air from the roots of the corn, and thereby expofe it to be lodged; and befides, they come to perfection themselves, and fow their feeds: whereas, when the feed is thick fown, the corn foon covers the furface, and prevents many of the weeds from getting up. It must be acknowledged indeed, that, when corn is fown thick upon rich land, it is in very great danger of being lodged and it is to prevent this that thin fowing is fo much recommended: but then thin fowing does not prevent this upon land much infefted with weeds; for the weeds Thut out the air as effectually as the corn itself when thick fown, and it is the want of free air that makes the corn lodge. When the air has free accefs, it hardens the furface, and, while the furfate is hard, the corn is in no great danger of being lodged:

but,