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No. IX.
(In L. 1.).

SOWING WHEAT.

2

under.

4

over.

Is

2

under.

66

over.

under plit or

over-plit preferable?
Over-plit; with the

The quantities of fame quantity of feed.

feed equal: about 2 bufhels an acre.

Oa. '76.

The outfides of the two double lands above] mentioned were har

No. X.
(In L. 1.)
SOWING WHEAT.
Is it better to har-

rowed thrice in a row after fowing under,

place the infides left or to leave the foil in

rough.

rough plit?
Undecifive.

THE RESULT.

Aug. '77. Remarkable! b, was always the rankest crop; and is now more lodged than a, and feveral days forwarder.

Aug. '77.

The crops equal; and not a fmutty ear in the whole field: at leaft, not in the part fown dry.

Aug. 277.(a) much the rankeft crop of Wheat, with a gardenly quondal.

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* Whenever a pofitive anfwer is given, "by this Experiment," must always be understood. For it is not one Refult; but a series of fimilar Results which amount to certainty. (See MINUTES OF AGRICULTURE, 7 Nov. 1776.)

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The other experiments are recorded in the fame form.

Our Author, after minuting in this manner all the experiments and obfervations that had occurred to him during the years 1777 and 1778, proceeds to explain his ideas by fome general obfervations on fcientific agriculture,-which most com-. mon farmers, we are afraid, will find to be above their comprehenfion. The following are a part of thefe obfervations that will be understood by more than will put the precepts in practice:

There are few men, perhaps, who have leifure and perfeverance enough To MINUTE every ufeful incident which may occur to them throughout the year; but the man who has not leifure and induftry enough to pay unremitted attention to his farm, during hay-time and harvest, and to make ANNUAL OBSERVATIONS on his management, is by no means a man fit for a Farmer.

Taking for granted that there are many men who have both opportunity and inclination to increase their own ftock, and to add to the public ftore, of agricultural knowledge; to thofe the Author addreffes the following hints,

Attending to incidents, and to the refults of experiments; and, on hours of leifure, digefting the obfervations made thereon; are, to a man wholly detached from other amufements, agreeable relaxations from the more active employments of the day: especially as a nicety of language is not in the leaft degree neceffary to the rough sketch to be ftruck out in harveft; for it is not the manner of relating the facts, but the facts them felves, which are then to be particularly attended to. Befides, by letting them lie in-the-rough until after autumnal feed-time, and then making out a fair tranfcript, many errors, fuperfluities, and defects, may be discovered, which might (even on a revision) at harvest have been overlooked: the facts will not only be now seen in a new light; but the tranfcription will root them anew in the memory. Every man who has accustomed himself to write his ideas mult have obferved, that after his autograph has lain by him until its contents have been in fome meafure forgotten, he has, on REVISION, feen it in a new point of view: he has reviewed it, in fome degree, as the production of another; confequently with a lefs partial eye than that with which he faw it at the time of writing; and his judgment has of courfe been proportionally ftrengthened. And he must alfo have remarked, that TRANSCRIPTION feldom fails of producing an improvement of the original.

At the time of making out the fair tranfcript, A GENERAL REVIEW of the elements and proceffes fhould be taken. This will not only call to the memory many incidents which otherwife would have efcaped it; but will at the fame time give an opportunity of fyftemizing the incidents and experiments which have been minuted and registered in the courfe of the year, and which appertain to heads not peculiarly noticeable at harvest.

Thus a complete fyftematic view of PAST MANAGEMENT Will be taken; and a valuable collection of useful leffons retained, as guides to FUTURE MANAGEMENT: not, however, the theoretic dogmas, nor even the scientific obfervations, of other men, made on

other

other foils; but maxims drawn from felf-management, on the identical foil to be hereafter managed.

This mode of acquiring agricultural knowledge is not new it has been more-or-lefs practifed ever fince mankind were diffatisfied with the fpontaneous productions of Nature: for it is in this manner the most illiterate Farmer becomes knowing in his profeffion :perhaps, however, without being aware of his acquifitions; or, if apprifed, without providing any other means of prefervation, than merely trusting them in the care of his memory.

Every Farmer who is one link fuperior to his beafls of labour, must say to himself at harvest, "I have this year got fuch and fuch crops;-what has been the management?"

As he bustles across his fields, or keeps-fentry over his workpeople, it is fcarcely poffible for him to refrain from reflections like these :

"Great Clayey Clofe is a brave piece of Wots: the fwaths lie rare-and-round, i'faith! Zuckers, and what an even plant of Clover; and how clean!-Ha! there's nought beats a fummer-fallow for Great Clayey Clofe. You may talk of ftealing a crop, indeed; but, i'cod, it's like ftealing from your neighbour: there's noa good

comes ont at lait."

From his lower, his bufinefs calls him to his upper farm; where ideas like the following must neceffarily hobble acrofs his intellects:

"The Barley of Upland-Down is a brave piece of barley, that it is. Aye, aye, it was a rare fallow. And then the hoeings! and the fold!-Odds my life! a turnip fallow and the fold against the world for Upland-Down."

If thefe incidents are fo fortunate as to make imprefions on his memory, he next year manages accordingly: he fummer fallows his ftiff land, and turnips his light. He does not, however, hug himfeif more on having made the difcoveries, than on his being cunning enough to keep them as family-fecrets: and confequently, on being able to monopolize to himself and his heirs, the advantages which may accrue. The next market-day, however, may be lucky enough to liberalize his notions; and, over the tankard, he may communicate his fentiments to his pot-companions; who, probably, are either too much wedded to the customs of their forefathers, or have too high an opinion of their own management, or perhaps of the management of fome favourite neighbour *, to profit by the information. Thus the difcovery either dies neglected;-remains with the family of the difcoverer ;-or, at belt, is introduced to a few neigh. bouring Farmers. Whereas, the information of the man who is conftantly on the watch for incidents, who is repeatedly making experiments, and who annually reduces his experience to fyftem, is not only more ample and interefting, but he communicates his improvements to thousands he never heard of, and perhaps to tens of thoufands yet unborn. For it is fcarcely poffible for a man who fcruti

For almost every parish in the kingdom contains "the best farmer in England."

R 4

nizes

nizes his DAILY EXPERIENCE with a SCIENTIFIC EYE, not to make fome useful difcovery. And there is fcarcely any man of common understanding, who has carefully attended to the refults of his prefent management, in order to regulate the proceffes of his future; and who has chronologically memorized, and annually registered, thefe refults, fyftematically; who must not in a few years have produced a work of PUBLIC UTILITY.'

That our Readers may have fome idea of the Author's plan, we give the following fection entire, as it contains a general view of the whole operations of the farm:

In AUTUMN,-prior to Wheat Seed time, the Writer has made it a Rule to sketch out the Plan of his next Year's Management, by delineating an INTENDED ARRANGEMENT. This theoretic Plan, however, he has never confidered as perfect and inviolable; but has continued altering and improving it, as Circumftances pointed out in the Courfe of his Management. He, nevertheless, has always found it of very great fervice in proportioning his work to his teams;-the number of acres to be plowed, to the number of beafts of labour he has had to plow them with: befides having a more diftinct view of the bufinefs of the coming year, than he could have had without fuch a Sketch. The utility of this intended Arrangement will appear more fully when the REAL ARRANGEMENT and its Ufes are pointed

out.

In SEED-TIME,—the following has been his constant practice : As foon as the fowing of any particular field is finished, he first adjufts and clofes the Labour Account of that field; (See DIGEST, p. 145.) and, having previously opened a Seed Account for each of the Crops intended to be fown next year, he registers in one line (as in the following Arrangement) the Time of Sowing, the Number of Acres, and Name of the Field; with the Quantity and Quality of Seed which has been fown in it. As foon as the whole of a crop, as Wheat, for inftance, is fown, he adds up the quantity of acres and the quantity of feed fown over them; and thus fixes the real Arrangement with refpect to Wheat.

These several Operations, and this Arrangement, fet the Soil and Seed Proceffes in a clear and interefting point of view; much useful information neceffarily arises; and many incidents now require to be retained, until Harveft, by rough Memorandums.

In MAY,—or as foon as the Seed is all in, he takes a general View of the whole Farm; correcting fuch departments of the intended arrangement as have not fallen under the Seed-Procefs;-as Meadow, Pafture, Fallow, &c. and thus afcertains, precifely, the REAL AR

RANGEMENT.

*The References to thefe Seed-Accounts were omitted (by a typographical error) in the Index which was given in page 145 of the DIGEST.'

The

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