UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES

HUSBANDRY

OF

SCOTLAND.

SKETCH OF

CHAPTER II.

ON THE

PRACTICAL DETAILS

OF THE

SCOTCH SYSTEM

OF

HUSBANDRY.

BY

SIR JOHN SINCLAIR, BART. M. P.

PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY A. NEILL AND CO.

TO THE READER.

EFORE the following detailed account of the impro-
co ved System of Husbandry adopted in Scotland, is com-
^ municated to the public, I feel it incumbent upon me,
>- to give the intelligent Farmers of that part of the uni-
^ ted kingdom, from whom my information has been de-
3 rived, an opportunity of considering it, that the risk of
any material error may be prevented.

It would be impossible indeed, for one immersed in
such a multitude of avocations, to hazard any publica-
tion on so important a subject, without having it previ-
ously considered by some intelligent friends, who will
take the trouble of examining it, in the state of what
may be called printed manuscript ,• and for the purpose
of being favoured with their valuable remarks upon it,
oo this paper is printed for circulation.

It is therefore requested, that the reader, as soon as

-o he can find leisure, thoroughly to examine the paper,

* will please return it with his remarks, (in packets under

CL. an ounce weight, if residing at a distance from Edin-

burgh), addressed to Sir JOHN SINCLAIR, Bart., M. P.

Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.

300967.

SKETCH Ok

CHAPTER II.

ON THE PRACTICAL DETAILS OF THE .SCOTCH
SYSTEM OF HUSBANDRY.

JL HAVE always been of opinion, that however myste-
rious the science or art of Agriculture has hitherto been
considered, yet that it might be reduced to a few simple
principles, and in many respects brought to almost mathe-
matical precision. The reason why that has not yet
been effected to the extent of which the subject was ca-
pable, is, either that real practical men have rarely pu-
blished the result of their experience and observation on
agricultural questions, or that those who have written
their sentiments, have seldom entered sufficiently into de-
tail, so as to explain what may be called «* the Mysteries
" °f Agriculture^' or those minute operations, on the
due execution of which its success must in a great mea-
sure depend. Besides, it is only within these few years
that a judicious and economical System of Agriculture
has been extensively carried into practice, or the prin-
ciples on which it ought to be conducted has been tho-
roughly ascertained. By the improvements, however,
which have lately been introduced into that art, (which
the minute inquiries carried on under the auspices of
the Board of Agriculture, have fortunately brought
to light), the principles are established, on which the
territory of any country, at least of one possessing a
soil and climate similar to Great Britain, may be culti-
vated with profit and success.

It may easily be supposed, that a person engaged in so
many other occupations, could not have acquired suffi-

cient personal knowledge of the agricultural practices o£
any extensive tract 01 country, to have hazarded such
a work t'v present, grounded on his own personal ex-
perience alone ; but having had the satisfaction of re-
ceiving, from a number of the most intelligent farmers
in Scotland, tne most di inc and valuable returns,
of the state of their different possessions, and the man-
ner in which they are respectively cultivated, he hopes
it will be in his power to give a just aud authentic ac-
count of the system on which agriculture is carried on
in the more improved districts of North Britain.

It may be proper, at the same time, to observe,
that the present inquiry is confin u to lands strictly
speaking arable, or subject to the convertible system
of husbandry, and that farms purely grazing do not come
within the scope of the present inquiry.

I. POSITION OF THE FARM-HOUSE AND OFFICES.

The first point that any judicious farmer would resolve
to ascertain, in regard to any farm he would wish to occu-
py, (more especially if it was of any extent, namely, from
300 to 500, or 1000 acres), would be, whether the farm-
house and offices were properly situated, and erected as
nearly as possible in the centre of the farm. In many
cases, this would make a difference in point of rent of
from 5 s. to even 10 s. per acre. The difference is calcu-
lated by some intelligent farmers, as the expence of a
plough, or L. 100 per annum. If a house is placed in
the corner of a large farm, a part of it will often be ne-
glected by the farmer ; less manure will be sent to it ;
the expence of cultivation is materially increased i the
horses have their strength uselessly wasted in going
backwards and forwards, and die remote part of the farm
is left in what in Scotland is called an outfield or after"

6

wall state, that is to say, in miserable pasturage occa-
sionally broken up.

In the improved districts of Scotland, this is a point
as much attended to as the circumstances of the case will
admit of, more especially when any new buildings are
constructed *. How different from that state of feudal
barbarism, (which may still be found in some districts in
England), where all the farm-houses of a parish were col-
lected into a village, for the sake of mutual protection and
defence, and where all the neighbouring fields were culti-
vated in common.

There can only be one reason for having the farm-
house and offices not in a central position, and that is,
•where a threshing-mill is to be driven by water f, and,
in some cases, where wind cannot be commanded near the
centre. That however is only an exception to the ge-
neral rule ; for it may be laid down as an axiom in agri-
culture, " "That the farm-house and offices, ought always to
" be placed, as nearly as possible, in tbt centre of a farm.'1

Where the circumstances of the case will admit of it,
the farm-house and offices should front the south, and
should also be placed on an elevated situation- It is not
only healthier for the farmer, his family, and his servants,
but carts will bring home the corn in harvest time, with
least waste, when going up hill, and when empty, it can

* It is remarked by an intelligent gentleman in England,
that the farm buildings in Scotland are in general much more
convenient than those in England. In a large farm there is
th« difference of at least the labour of one man throughout
the year, between a convenient and inconvenient set of offices.

f The only objections to water threshing-mills are, that
they are useless in time of frost, tind in some places are liable
to be overrun by water rats. The subject of water threshing-
mills will be after more fully discussed.

retura to .the harvest field, by a gentle trot, which will
much expedite the getting home and securing the farm
produce* The manure from the farm -yard so situated, will
all be conveyed down*hill to the fields in the cheapest and
most expeditious manner *.

2. THE BEST CONSTRUCTIOK OF A FARM-HOUSE AND
OFFICES.

This is a most material point for the consideration both
of the farmer and of the landlord, and the rent to be paid,
ought certainly in some measure to depend on the good-
ness of the accommodations with which the occupier is
furnished. With convenient offices, it is evident that
the grain produced on the farm, can be better preserved,
and more advantageously separated from the straw, and
prepared for market. The live stock also on the farm,
can be more easily and regularly fed, and being thus
kept in better order, must consequently be fitter for their
work, or for the market. The propriety also of having
suitable accommodations for the farmer, his family and
his servants, need not be dwelt upon. The expence of
erecting such buildings must be considerable when first
laid out, but no liberal landlord will grudge it for the
comfort and advantage of an industrious tenant, who pays
an adequate rent f. Every convenience afforded to the
farmer, for enabling him to carry on his business with as
little expence and to as much advantage as possible, must

* From a communication by W. Money Hill, Esq; of
Waterden, in Norfolk.

f Even m'tnut'it may be of great consequence to a tenant ;
for instance, in the erection of barns, more especially if the
walls are rough, it is or importance to have a projecting stoiu
or brick at every aperture for the admission of air, to prevent
the access of vermin ; and in laying the foundation of barns,
that material object, (the exclusion of vermin), ought always
to be kept in view.

indeed greatly enhance the value of the farm, and wil)
insure to the landlord, should he have occasion to seek
for a new tenant, abundance of competitors from among
the most intelligent husbandmen in the neighbourhood,
for that situation.

Where convenience and utilitj are the objects princi-
pally attended to, it is recommended by an intelligent
agriculturist in Roxburghshire, who has had great ex-
perience in the erecting of such buildings, (Mr Walker
of Wooden,) to have the farm-house of three stories, the
kitchen-storey half sunk. This makes the house itself
drier, and saves the expence of roofing ; an engraving of
that plan is herewith given. He adds, that he has made
plans of farm-houses, both of that construction, and with
only two stories, having the kitchen and dairy behind i
but he knows that the house of three stories gives most
satisfaction to the occupier. Others object to this plan,
and prefer a wing and back jamb. In the half-sunk kit-
chen storey, besides the danger of dampness, it is impos-
sible to shut out the din of the kitchen, where, in the
evenings, the unmarried lads must necessarily be along
with the women. — It is besides, more troublesome to the
farmer's wife to be continually going up and down stairs.—
Hence a wing or back jamb is preferred by many farmers.

In regard to the expence of erecting new farmsteads,
it cannot be properly estimated, as the price of build-
ing, and the expence of the materials, vary in every dis-
trict. In some publications it is stated at from two and
a half to three years rent of the farm. It is evident, at
the same time, that the landlord can afford a higher al-
lowance, where he receives a considerable rent.

Regarding farm-houses and offices, the following
axioms may be laid down, as principles which ought to
be kept in view, when such buildings are to be erected.

i. The house and offices should be on a scale propor-
tionate to the size and produce of the farm, having uti-

Jity and not ornament in view. Not only the original
cost, but the very expence of keeping unnecessary build-
ings in repair, is a heavy burden upon any proper-
ty, which it is for the interest both of the landlord and
of the tenant to avoid. The house and offices should af-
ford ample convenience to the farmer in carrying on his
business. On the other hand, all superfluous buildings,
and useless decorations, ought to be avoided ; for, as Dr
Coventry has well observed, durable economy should be
preferred to shifting taste *. Nothing can be more absurd
than the enormous barns usually attached to all the great
farms in England. Grain in the straw keeps infinitely
better in the open air than in close barns ; it is less apt
to be destroyed by vermin, and saves the enormous ex-
pence of building and repairing great barns. Threshing
mills, when generally introduced, will soon prove the
absurdity of much useless erections.

2. The accommodations really necessary, ought never
to be straitened in regard to room. The threshing-barn,
for instance, must be sufficiently spacious to contain two
stacks of grain in the straw ; and the straw-barn, as re-
commended by Mr Walker of Wooden, should be so
large as to pile up the whole of that straw when thresh-
ed, so that a considerable quantity of straw may al-
ways be kept in good order for fodder. Where cattle
are fed on straw, (which it would be better to dis-
pense with, if richer food, as will afterwards be ex-
plained, could be provided for them), the farmer would
otherwise be obliged to thresh more frequently than he
would wish to do. There ought to be a granary adja-
cent to the barn, in which the grain, when threshed,

B

* See Discourses on Agriculture, p. 5.

10

may be put, the lower part of which will furnish
space for a cart-shed, which ought to be large enough
to hold two carts for every plough. The size of
the stables, cow-houses, and feeding-sheds, must de-
pend on the manner in which the farm is occupied ; in
particular, as to the feeding-sheds, whether it is most
advantageous to rear young cattle for the grazier, or to
fatten older stock for the butcher ; but it is a rule that
ought never to be departed from, not to scrimp them in
point of space, but to give the stock ample accommoda-
tion.

3. It is highly expedient that the farmer should see
from a window in that room where he usually sits, what
is going forward in the farm-yard, the very idea of
which keeps the servants in awe, and may often prevent
negligence and depredations.

4. The house should be situated a little out of the
line of the square, but in general should form one of the
sides, unless where the house is erected as an ornament
to the neighbourhood. The three sides of the offices
should be separated from each other by gates, which
woirtd not only be an accommodation to the yard, but
would be useful in case of fire, by which infinite damage
might be done to a farmer, without such a precaution.
Such a separation also greatly obstructs the increase of
vermin *.

5. It is of great importance to have either a paved
street, or a good road, all round the farm-yard and dung-
pit. Farmers suffer more by having their carts and cat-
tle struggling in farm-yards through piles of straw and

* In exposed situations, and cold climates, these gates may
be objected to, even though the gable-e: da of the back-wing
are on a line with the back of the others.

11

dung where this is neglected, than is commonly ima-
gined.

6. It is also highly expedient to have two reservoirs
for urine. As soon as one is full, it should remain in
that state to ferment, previous to its being taken away,
and the other in the mean time may be filling. This
plan is strongly recommended by Mr Allan of Craig-
crook, near Edinburgh. It is likewise proper, in order
that the urine may be as strong as possible, and to pre-
vent an accumulation of wet, that the buildings should
not admit water to go inwards from the roof, or it should

be taken away by spouts and drains *.
.

7. It is evident that the access to the house and offices

should be as commodious as possible. The road should
be kept in good order. The corners of the garden and
inclosures to be rounded instead of square, by which
many accidents may be prevented, injurious both to the
carts and to the cattle.

8. A command of water is essential ; it is desirable,
therefore, that the house should be situated near some
river or stream ; but if that cannot be obtained, ponds
and wells, and the means of conveying water by troughs
to the feeding-houses, both for horses and cattle, and to
the dairy, are essential. Nothing can be more injurious
to stock, than to compel them to drink at ponds full of
every nastiness, which the farmer ought to appropriate
to useful purposes.

9. As an appendage to farm-houses, a kitchen garden
is of infinite importance, and may be more profitable to

» It is said, that where abundance of litter is given in the
yards, it hardly ever happens that too much wet gets to them,
and that there is sometimes a want of moisture in dry win-
ters. This ought to be prfivid*d for.

It

the occupier, than any part of his farm. This is certainly
less essential, since potatoes, turnips, and other articles
have been cultivated in the fields ; but still, it is expedi-
ent for a farmer, for a variety of other articles, to en-
able him to try experiments, with new plants, on a small
scale ; to train up his rising family to an attention to
such objects, and to furnish his table with small domes-
tic luxuries, which no farmer would be willing to pur-
chase, if he can procure them at home.

Attending to these principles, the annexed sketch has
been drawn up, pointing out the proper position of farm-
house and offices ; together with the plan of a farm
which is probably as perfect as any that has hitherto been

suggested.

It would be entering into too wide a field to dwell on
the various offices necessary for the accommodation of a
large farmer, more especially, as that subject is very
fully detailed in a valuable paper, printed in the com-
munications to the Board of Agriculture *, and will be
fully explained in the general report on the agricultural
state of Scotland, now preparing to be laid by the Board
of Agriculture before his Majesty, and both Houses of
Parliament ; but it may be necessary to dwell on one
point, regarding the construction of convenient places
for feeding cattle, for the purpose both of consuming
the turnips, and the straw raised on the farm ; and for
converting the surplus straw into dung. Three plans
have been formed for that object : The ist, is to feed
them in open large yards ; the ad, in feeding-houses,

* See a paper on Farm-buildings in general, by Robert
Beatson, Esq; Communications to the Board of Agriculture,
vol. i. p. 3.

15

and the 3d, in open sheds, or what, in Berwickshire, arc
known under the name of Hammfls, or Hemmels *.

The plan of fold-yards is certainly the cheapest, being
in general formed by the offices which afford shelter to the
cattle ; but where a number of animals, of all sorts and
ages, are suffered to mingle together, many accidents must
happen, and the cattle must often be injured, by going
through a yard full of straw and dung, and often very
deep, in which they must frequently sink. Though this
plan might answer for young cattle, where divisions are
made by walls or hurdles, yet it would never answer for
feeding valuable cattle for the butcher.

In a well-regulated extensive farm, employed •in' the
convertible husbandry, it is contended, that fold^yards,
divided for stock of different ages, are indispensably ne^
cessary, as no farm can possibly feed the whole cattle-
stock during winter, which is requisite for grazing in
summer. This important question will be afterwards
discussed.

Feeding-houses are, in some respects, well calculated
for fattening cattle. The ' animals are kept warm and
quiet, and each can have the portion of food allotted to
him ; but the animals having no exercise when thus stall-
fed, become unhealthy, the meat unwholesome, and the
legs of cattle, when confined to one spot, are so apt to
swell, that they are unable to go to market.

On the whole, the 3d plan seems to me the best ; name-'
ly, that of hammels, which I first had the satisfaction of
seeing, at Mr Robertson's of Ladykirk, in Berwickshire.

* It is said, that this is an English word, and hence that
Hemel-Hampstead is derived. But Hammel is probably de-
rived from hum, a habitation.

14

An engraving of this excellent plan is annexed, which
will give an idea of the form of the construction. The
advantages of it are described by Mr Robertson in the
following terms : " I have found these hammels or cat-
" tie-sheds, much better than any large or open court
" and yard. Cattle kept in great numbers waste more
" straw, they fight, and hurt one another with their
" horns. All this (is prevented when they are kept in
" separate divisions, and above all in these hammels,
*' we can give them what meat we choose, and in what
" proportion we think proper ; and can separate those
" of different ages, who ought not to be associated to-
" gether."

Two points on the subject of farm houses and offices,
require, however, some attention, i. By whom they
ought to be erected; and, 2. By whom they ought to be
kept in repair.

In regard to the first point, it is certainly desirable,
that the landlord, who has a permanent interest in the
soil, should, if he can afford it, be at the expence of all
substantial improvements *. But how can that be expect-
ed in the case of entailed estates, where the proprietor
has only a life interest in the property. Frequently,

* Mr Church of Hitchill in Dumfries-shire, observes, that
the onstead or buildings, ought to be erected free of expence
to thejtenant. Many a farmer has undeservedly got the cha-
racter of a bad one, by exhausting his capital on buildings, so
much as to disable him from bestowing it on the cultivation
of the soil. Inclosing ought to be done at the expence of the
landlord, and the fences reared or maintained at the mutua
expence of landlord and tenant. In short, all great perma-
nent improvements on a farm should be executed by the land-
lord, and in consideration of these, let the tenant pay a higher
rent.

also, the tenant has a greater command of ready money
than the landlord, and will lay it out with more econo-
my, and to more advantage. In that case it may be
most advisable for both parties to arrange a plan, by
•which the buildings are to be erected by the tenant, the
farm being let proportionally, at a lower rent, and he
receiving a certain sum for those buildings, if valued to
that amount, at the termination of his lease *.

As to repairs, the farm-houses and offices in Scotland,
are built in a more substantial manner than those of
England ; and it is in general the practice in Scotland,
that the tenant shall keep the house in repair. - It is a
great addition to the landlord's income, to be exonerated
from so heavy a charge, and in Scotland it is rarely
found to be attended with any material loss f.

* Mr Milne of Alvah, near Banff, remarks on the subjecl
of farm-buildings, that few farmers have capital sufficient for
a farm of 200 acres, the expence of stocking which, at a
moderate computation, costs L. 2000 Sterling ; and, if new
houses are required, which very often happens, a great deal
more is necessary. Any allowance the proprietor gives for
building, is seldom or ever paid until the end of the lease ;
the tenant's capital is thereby very much drained, before the
fields can receive much benefit. It also often happens, that
the outgoing tenant has a considerable claim for houses, and
in many instances they are so ruinous, that the ,f:irmer can
neither trust himself or cattle with any degree of safety, but
he must be at a great expence in repairing them. In such
cases, the landlord should certainly give every assistance he
can afford.

f The case in England is otherwise, and the celebrated
Arthur Young remarks, that there is not a more mischievous
system, than that of trusting repairs entirely to the tenants :
ample experience has proved this. It is much better to
charge them with a per-centage on the expence, and with all
the carting of materials, and finding beer for all artizans.

16

AND SHAPE Ot FIElDS.

This ij a point, which, in so far as regards arable
culture, has been brought to a considerable degree of
perfection, according to the system of husbandry adopt-
ed in the more improved districts of Scotland. No-
tJiing can be more absurd, with a view to the cul-
ture of grain, than to have a number of small inclo-
stires, irregularly shaped, surrounded with high hedges
and trees ; and such a system general perhaps in a flat
country, where shelter is unnecessary. Such a plan is
peculiarly reprehensible, where horses and cattle are the
principal objects of attention, as soiling, (or giving
them cut grten food in yards or houses), is greatly pre-
ferable to pasturage : yet so inveterate is the prejudice
-for small fields, that though the expence of inclosures has
now become enormous, they are still persevered in, even
in new inclosures, under the authority of acts of Parlia-
ment, by which the charges of that foundation of agri-
cultural improvement are greatly increased, to the in-
jury, and not to the advantage of the property inclosed.
We shall proceed, therefore, to state, what in Scotland
is considered to' be the best size of fields in an impro-
ved arable district, and the principles on which the
system is founded.

The circumstances on which the size of fields ought t»
depend, are principally the following :

The expence of repairs varies so exceedingly, according to
the age of buil iin^s, their number, and the nature and price
of materials, ihat it is impossible to draw arcrages : in Suf-
folk, I should gue<s from 5 to 15 per cent, on the rental of
farmo above 100 acres.

17

i. The size of the farm in which they are situated;
a. The nature of the soil or subsoil ; 3. The rotations
adopted ; 4. The number of ploughs in the farm ; 5. The
command of water : 6. Access to roads ; 7. The elevation
of the ground; 8. Its being in pasturage or otherwise ; and,
9. The nature of the climate.

i. Size of the Farm. — The size of fields ought cer-
tainly, in some measure, to depend, on the extent of the
possession. In small farms near towns, from six to
twelve acres may be sufficient ; but where farms are of a
proper size, fields from twenty to- even fifty acres, in
some cases as high as sixty, is the si/.e that has been
recommended, and that in na case, they should br
under twenty Scotch or twenty-five English acres, if it
can be avoided. One of my correspondents indeed
states, that his inclosures are about twenty Scotch, ov
twenty-five English acres each, and that he would cer-
tainly enlarge them, were he not restricted to that size
by his lease. Mr Brown of Markle, who e knowledge
in every branch of agriculture is so well known, con-
siders a field of thirty Scotch or thirty eight English
acres, to be a proper medium size, when permitted by
local circumstances.

2, Tie nalurc of toe Sjil and Subsoil. — The be^t size 01
fields for arable cultivation, must always depend upon
the nature of the soil and subsoil. When the loil ij
chiefiy dry, it is of consequence to have the fields largr,
as it tends to accelerate the ploughing, harrowing, rr
ing, &.c. ; but when it happens to be strong clay, it then
becomes a matter of prudence to contract the size of ihe
fields, chiefly for the purpose of keeping them as dry as
C

18

possible*. Mr Rcnnie of Fantassie, whose farm con-
tains both strong and dry land, divides his clay soil into
fields of forty-two Scotch, or fifty-three English acres,
and his turnip soil into sixty-two Scotch, or seventy-seven
English acres. In turnip soils, the following plan has
been recommended by Mr Carnegie of Drylaw-hill, in
East Lothian. Where the farm would admit of it, he
would divide the whole into eight fields of thirty acres
each, under a rotation of, i. Turnip; 2. Wheat and bar-
ley; 3. Grass, and, 4. Oats: and he would have two
breaks or divisions in each field, one-half, (or fifteen
gcres,) of the inclosure in turnips, and the other in grass,
and when ready to consume the turnips, he would strip
one half of them, and give them to the sheep on the
grass : He would then move back the flakes or hurdles,
and would allow the remaining half to be consumed on
the ground, with liberty to the sheep to pasture over the
whole grass while eating the turnips, taking care never
to give the stock more than a fortnight's turnips at a
time. Thus there, would be four fields with white
crops, after turnip and grass. — This seems fo be a useful
hint.

3. Ike rotation adopted. — It is considered to be a pro*
per rule, that whatever is thought to be the rotation
the most suitable to the soil, the fields should be
neither more nor less than the proper division that the
rotation of crops requires, that is te say, a farm with a
rotation of eight courses, should be divided into eight
fields ; six courses into six fields ; five courses into five
fields, and four courses into four fields or inclosures f.
That rule is laid down by Mr Murray, (Kirkland-

* Remarks by Mr Rennie of Kinblethmont.

f The size, it is said, should be equal to the fallow-break.

19

hill), with a view of having the whole field under one
crop at the same time. It is proper, however, to ob-
serve, that where the climate is uncertain, and the soil
various, the following practice has been adopted, that
of having^t division of every kind of grain cultivated in
the farm in the strong part, and another division in the
lighter part. This gives the tenant a fair chance to
have an equal crop, whether the seasons are dry or wet,
and whether they are favourable to the one species of
soil or crop, or to another *.

4. Stock on the Farm. — It has also been observed, that
the size of the fields should be somewhat in proportion
to the number of horses and ploughs on the farm ; for
instance, where six two -horse ploughs are kept, and
where it is difficult, from the nature of the soil, to keep
larger fields than from eighteen to twenty-two English
acres sufficiently dry, that is a convenient size, as there
is less risk of being overtaken by bad weather, and pre-
vented from completing the preparation of the land for
the intended crop ; for with twelve horses in the spring
season, a field of that size can always be finished in four'
days f.

5. Water. — It is necessary in every field actually to
be pastured, to have a supply of water, the command of
which is more likely to be obtained in large, than in
small inclosures. A correspondent, whose fields are

* Remarks of Mr Peter Jack, of Moncur, in the Carse of
Cowrie.

f Remarks by Mr Peter Mitchell in Stirlingshire, and Me
James Cuthbertson in East Lothian.

-O

.1, complains of their being ko ill- watered, that the
stock, when pastured in some of them, cannot get a fup-
ply, even ia winter.

6. Roads. — It is essential that each field should have
convenient access to the farm-road ; so obvious a prin-
ciple need not be dwelt upon.

7. FJwalion of the ground — It is also evident, that
the size of the field must in some respects depend on the
fiatness or elevation of the ground. Even on dry land,
if there is a rise on the ground, from fifteen to twenty
chains is length sufficient ; for where the ridge is longer,
the horses are too much fatigued if compelled to plough
a strong furrow, up-hill, farther in one direction.

8. Pasturage — Wheie the system of grazing and til-
lage is alternately followed, (more especially where the
fields are pastured for two or three years or more), it i™
convenient to have the fields about twenty-two Scotch,
or twenty-seven English acres j because the farmer gene-
rally wishes to have his stock divided, which cannot
well be done with larger fields, and if they are of a
smaller size, too much ground is occupied with fences.
Besides, if grass fields are let for pasture, such a size suit..
graziers best, and consequently rents considerably higher
than larger ones would do. Unless where there are
small fields near the house, it is therefore desirable, to
have some part of the green-crops near the farm-offices.
For if the fields are all large, the whole lot of turnips or
clover might be removed to the outward boundary of
the farm ; whereas if fields are of a moderate size, it is

21

possible to have a part of these crops at regular dis-
tances *.

9. Climate. — The last circumstance on which the size
of a field ought to depend, is climate. In dry and cold
climates, small inclosures are desirable, on account of
shelter : whereas, in wet countries, the fields under cul-
ture cannot be too open and airy, for the purpose of
drying the ground, of bringing forward and ripening the
grain, and for enabling the farmer to secure it, during
any harvest, however unfavourable.

We shall now proceed to make some observations on
the shape of fields, the form of which should be square,
and the soil, if possible, uniform.

SOJJARE FORM.

It is evident, that it is advantageous to have the fences
in straight lines, and that fields when large, should be
square, and when small, of an oblong square, so that the
ploughing may be dispatched with as few turnings as
possible. Some people, whose farms are of a waving or
uneven surface, and who inclose with hedge and ditch,
carry their ditch through the hollows or best soil, with
a view of raising a good hedge; thus, often sacrificing,
for the sake of the fence, the form of their field. A
straight line, however, is preferable, even though it
should be necessary to take some particular pains to en-

* Remarks by Mr Brown, Cononsyth, by Arbrcatlw.
Another correspondent observes, that some extent is de-
sirable for fields in pasture, to attend the stock pasturing
over its surface; others; prefer small fields.

22

rich the soil for the thorns, when it is thin and poor, on
such elevations *. In regard to the square form, an op-
portunitj is thereby afforded, of ploughing in every di-
rection, when necessary, and less time is lost in carrying
on all the operations of husbandry in a field of that form,
than of any other shape.

UNIFORMITY OF SOIL.

An intelligent farmer laments, that the inclosures
on his farm are laid out, more with a view to beauty
than utility, and that regularity and uniformity of ap-
pearance have been chiefly attended to, whilst little re •
gard has been paid to a point infinitely more essential,
that of having the several fields of the same sort of soil ,
hence soils of the most heterogeneous nature are thus un-
fortunately comprised in the same field. Another far-
mer complains, that this principle has been so little at-
tended to on his farm ; that he has ridges, one half con-
sisting of a strong wet clay, and the other half of a
sandy soil, fit for turnips. A spirited correspondent
proposes to obviate this objection, by altering the tex-
ture of the soil. He observes, that there are fields,
partly consisting of strong soils, and partly of light,
where probably there are not above one or two acres of
the latter, for ten or twenty of the former ; and where
almost every year the culmiferous crops fail on the
light soils from drought. He therefore suggests, that
at any slack time, whether in winter or summer, when
the field is under fallow, it would be proper to employ
two carts and horses, with four fillers, and to cover the

Remark by Mr Church, Mitchell, near Annan.

23

acre or two of light soil, with the strong soil contiguous,
which might be all done in one or two days. Draining
perhaps would, in the first place, be necessary ; but the
soil in the field would ever after be uniform. In fields
where light soil predominates, the same plan reversed,
might be adopted.

We shall now proceed to state the advantages of at-
tending, as much as the circumstances of the case will
admit of, to the principles above laid down.

1. Every intelligent farmer will admit, that it is a
material drawback to the cultivation of his farm, if the
fields, instead of being regular in size or form, are laid
out arbitrarily, without attention to any judicious sys-
tem, and where the whole farm is divided into fields of
various sizes, from 5 to 10, and thence to 20 or 30 acres
each, it is extremely difficult to equalize them, so as to
suit any judicious rotation of crops ; whereas by having
fields of a proper size, the whole strength of the farm,
and the whole attention of the farmer, is directed to one
point, and there is also an emulation among the plough-
men, when they are assembled together.

2. It is evident, that where fields are of a proper
size, less ground is wasted, there are fewer fences to up-
hold, and fewer birds to destroy ; that the crops of grain
can be more early harvested, and are less apt to suffer
in dry and clear weather ; and that though small inclo-
sures are better sheltered in winter, yet the opener they
are in summer the better ; for in hot weather the cattle
and sheep always go to the airiest places *. But the
principal argument in favour of large fields is this, that

Remarks by Mr Robertson of Almon.

24

much labour is wasted by short turnings, &c. ; hence an
intelligent fanner, (Mr Mitchell of Balquhain,) has well
observed, that if fields were of a regular shape, and the
ridges of a proper length, Jive ploughs will do as much
wort as six ploughs infields of a small si%e, and of an ir-
regular shape i and every other part of the business to be
performed, as dunging, sowing, harrowing, reaping and
leading, will be executed nearly in the same proportion.

Some general remarks on this important point, (the
size and shape of fields,) still remain to be stated *.

* On this subject the following hints merit consideration.

In regard to the proper size of inclosures for a farm of
200 acres, I think there should be eight of 20 acres, and four
of 10 ; and the best rotation in my opinion is, upon the 20
acre fields, tutnips, or a plain fallow, after which any kind
of white crop the tenant thinks will pay him most, and to
sow along with that crop 8 Ib. of white, 6 Ib. of red clover-
seed, and one bushel of permanent rye-grass seed, to re>
main in pasture for four years, and when broken up, to take
oats -, then to follow the same rotation as at first. The four
small inclosures should be made upon the best and strongest
part of the farm, and the rotation I would follow, would be
a plain fallow, wheat, 12 Ib. or 14 Ib. of red clover, and two
pecks of annual rye-grass per acre sown along with it ; then
to cut green what is necessary for soiling the woik horses,
and the remainder made into hay for them in the spring; then
oats, and the same rotation as at first. If this plan of ma-
nagement is followed upon a soil that will improve itself in
pasture, I am certain a good crop may always be depended
upon, and with little cxpence.

For a farm of 300 acres, the same number as the one of
aco, only larger, that is to say, eight of 30 acre>, and the
four small inclosures, fifteen acres, and the same rotation fol-
lowed. For a farm <<f 700 acres, I would s;iy eight inclosures of
53 acres, and twelve of 25. With those of 50 acres, 1 would
lollow the same rotation as what 1 propose upon the other two
farm?, and with the twelve inclosures of 25 acres, an eight or

25

1. Though fields, on the whole, should be of a large
size, yet there is a great convenience in having a few
smaller fields near the farm-house ; for the family cows ;
for rams, where sheep are kept ; for trying on a small
scale, useful experiments i and for various other pur-
poses *.

2. Where inclosures are found too large for particu-
lar purposes, the field may be effectually subdivided by
sheep-flakes, or hurdles, a sort of portable fence, well
known to every turnip grower. When carefully set,
they have been found a complete fence, both for cattle
and sheep. By this means great advantage is derived,
from the constant use of the land that would otherwise
have been occupied by stationary fences, and the ex-
pence of subdivisions, which, on a large farm, would ne
cessarily have been numerous, is thereby avoided f.

4. LENGTH, BREADTH, AND SHAPE OF RIDGES.

The general advantages to be derived from ridges

D

four course shift can be adopted ; but with the eight-course
always to remain four years in grass. This plan of manage-
ment is only for good soils that will improve by being in pas-
ture, as there are thin clay soils, that the longer they re-
main in grass, they always get worse, and for which a
four-course shift is the best ; and the farm should be divided
in eight, twelve, sixteen, or twenty inclosures, according to its
extent. One or two of the fields could be cut green for
soiling the horses, or made hay for them in the spring ; but it
the tenant chuses, he can take one year's pasture.

* Remarks by Mr Robert Kerr, the intelligent Reporter
of Berwickshire ; Mr Wilson of Simprin, and others.

f Hints from Mr Hunter of Tynefield, and Mr Cuthbert-
son near Prestonpans.

26

have been very ably stated by Lord Kames, in his
Gentleman Fanner, (Chap. 4. Sect. 3.) It is only ne-
cessary, therefore, in this place, to explain those more
minute particulars, which have not hitherto been dwelt
upon, and which, without the assistance of a number of
practical farmers, it would not have been in my power
sufficiently to have elucidated.

On very dry soils, ridges are of use merely as lines
for marking out the operations of the plough, and the
sowing and reaping ; the nature of the soil, which is apt
to suflcr by want of moisture, rendering any sort of
draining which the furrows might afford, prejudicial ra-
ther than advantageous. Indeed, where grain is sown
by drill-machines, ridges are not required even for sow-
ing, as the drill itself, or a marker attached to it, regu-
lates the operation. But ridges are essential in wet soils,
operating as open drains, without the assistance of
which, the crops would rarely be productive in rainy
seasons. It is of infinite importance, therefore, to the
farmer, to be fully master of the rules by which ridges
can be formed to the best advantage. This subject may
be considered under the following heads : i. The pro-
per length of ridges ; 2. Their breadth ; 3. Their
straightness, and the best mode of altering the shape of
crooked ridges ; 4. Their heighth ; and, 5. The ad-
vantage of ridging diagonally where the ground is steep,

I. The proper' Length of Ridges.

The length of a ridge must vary, according to the
size of the inclosures, the acclivity of the ground, and
the nature of the soil, whether wet or dry.

On fields which have much acclivity, a long ridge is
hurtful, not only as tending to fatigue the horses, and to
overstrain them in their wind, but also because, after the

27

ground is ploughed in winter, if much rain or snow falls,
the surface of the ridge will be injured, more especially
in the furrows, by the long-run and large collection of
water, by means of which the finer particles of the soil
are washed away, and either carried off the field, or lodged
on the headland at the bottom. In such situations, rid-
ges of about 150 yards, are found to be most conve-
nient *.

In regard to wet soils, where the ground is flat, from
240 to 300 yards, is considered to be the proper length :
If it should exceed 300 yards, the water might not ea-
sily get away ; and if the field is longer, it is necessary
to make a head ridge across the hollow of the field,
so as to form a level for carrying off the extra mois-
ture f.

In dry soils, and where the land is level, the ridge may
be still longer, and indeed some recommend from 700
to 800 yards ; but, on the whole, from 350 to 400 yards
seems to be preferable : When it much exceeds the lat-
ter size, the horses are apt to be fatigued, and with such
a length, as little time is lost in ploughing and turning
as could well be desired J. Besides, when the ridge is
very long, it becomes more difficult to sow, and it has a
tendency to discourage the reapers.

* Remarks by Mr Stewart of Hilside, and Mr Charles
Alexander of Eafterhaprew.

f Indeed, wherever a field contains a hollow, transverse
to the direction of the ridges, and more especially in wet
soils, or retentive bottoms, a cross head-ridge, or a transverse
water-furrow, ought invariably to be made at that place.

J Remark by Mr Dudgeon, Prora. — Mr Brodie, Gatvald,
observes, that a long ridge has fewest interruptions from the

a. Tie Breadtb of Ridges.

This is a subject on which there is a great diversity of
opinion, in some cases only 4, in others 30 feet, being
recommended *. The material objectioa to narrow
ridges is, the great proportion of the ground that is un-
profitably occupied by furrows, which are always infe-
rior to the rest of the soil. On the other hand, narrow
ridges are of use in draining wet soils. Much, however,
depends, i. On the depth of the soil ; and, 2. On its
texture or quality.

i. In regard to depth, when the soil is very thin, with
a clay or tilly bottom, and the ground very wet, 10 feet
ridges are preferred by some farmers, converting them
into crown and furrow alternately, by which the best
soil is kept near the surface, and never buried : But
even in such soils, 18 feet ridges are recommended by
high authority \.

turnings, and of course more land will be ploughed in an
ordinary yoking, than when the ridges arc very short.

* Mr Money Hill, a celebrated Norfolk farmer, is of opi-
nion, that when land cannot be drilled before the aoth of
October, it is better to plow in the wheat on four feet ridges.
On wet soils, this is advisable, because it keeps the seed dry ;
and in thin soils, because it increases the staple ; for by this
system, the soil of five feet is put on four ; and from many
years experience, Mr Hill is convinced, that the produce is as
great, as if the whole land had been under crop.

| The most difficult of all soils to keep dry, (it is remarked
by Mr Rennie of Kinblethmont), is a thin wet clay, upon
a retentive subsoil ; but even upon such soils, 18 feet ridges
are found to keep them fully as dry as any other breadth,
as it enables the ploughman to round the ridge completely
from the crown to the furrow ; and it is well ascertained, that
one furrow for every 18 feet, is quite sufficient for conduct

29

In Roxburghshire, 14 feet ridges are preferred, both
for expedition in reaping, and regularity of sowing ; and
a most respectable farmer in that country states, that
when a young man, he was accustomed, for many years,
to sow a great part of his own farm, and if there hap-
pened to be any wind, (particularly a cheek-wind), nei-
ther he, nor any one employed with him, could ever sow
a ridge of 18 feet, once going about, so as to give satis-
faction ; hence he was induced to adopt ridges of 14
feet, to prevent the seed from being unequally laid down.
In Roxburghshire, however, they are more apt to be
troubled by wind than in the flat districts on the sea-
coast.

a. In East Lothian, so justly celebrated for every
operation in husbandry, and in other districts skilled in
agriculture, as in Angus, &c. eighteen feet is almost
universally adopted on soils of a strong or clayey na-
ture.

This breadth is considered to be the most advantageous
for preventing wet, and for dunging, sowing, harrow-
ing and reaping. In regard to wet, there is a sufficient
wideness to admit of a gentle slope on each side, effected
by twice gathering the soil when ploughed, by means of
which the surface water soon gets down into the furrow.
The dung also can be easily spread over the surface of
such a ridge. As to sowing, it may be done by two
casts of the seedsman, unless in high winds. A pair of

ing the water to the nearest outlet. Besides, on such soils
a mult.picity of furrows has only the tendency to render
the crop less productive, as it is well known to every agri-
culturist acquainted with them, that on the sides of the
furrows, the crop is always scanty, and sometimes not worth
cutting down.

30

well made harrows covers the ridge at a bout ; and three
reapers are found a sufficient number to cut the grain,
the centre one making ropes for all the three, and none
of them having far to go to lay in the corn they cut
down : At the same time, where the crop is abundant, it
might be advisable to have four reapers, with two rows
of sheaves, and two binders to bind for three ridges *.
It is evident, that in wet land it would not be advisable
to have ridges broader than eighteen feet, as it would
then be necessary to gather the ridge thrice in ploughing,
for the purpose of laying it dry, by which process, in
ordinary soils, the furrows would be rendered so bare, that
upon two or three feet of every furrow, the corn would
not be worth the cutting f. The only question, then, is
this, that though on the east coast of Scotland, where the
climate is dry, eighteen feet ridges may be advisable ;
vet whether on the west coast, where fo much more rain
falls, from ten to fifteen feet may [not, on wet soils,
be more convenient.

On very dry porous turnip soils, it is of little impor-
tance, as has been already observed, whether ridges are
formed at all, unless to regulate the sowing and cutting
down in harvest J. An intelligent farmer in Dumfries-
shire, (Mr Church of Hitchill), has his ridges in general
30 feet wide, when the soil is dry § i and in regard to
such soils, no specific standard is necessary.

» Remark by Mr Dudgeon, Prora.

•f Remark by Mr Rennie, Kinblcthmont.

J Remark by Mr Hunter of Tyncfield.

§ That respectable farmer, Mr Money Hill, has favoured
me with the following observations on this subject. On tur-

3. Str tightness of Ridge.

It is extremely material to have the ridge as straight
as possible. It is calculated that ridges, when much
crooked, measure one- fourth more in the serpentine
direction, than when taken in a straight line *, and con-
sequently they must take one-fourth more labour in
ploughing, harrowing, &c. than if they had been per-
fectly straight. Most of the ridges in the more culti-
vated parts of Scotland, were formerly very broad,
much raised, and greatly curved. Levelling high and
crooked ridges, in very stiff wet clays, is a very difficult
operation, and unless executed with considerable skill
and judgment, productive of loss. The risk attending
such an alteration, induced a spirited practical farmer,
(Mr James Andrew of Tillylumb, near Perth), to try

nip soils he remarks, that ridges twelve paces wide are the
most proper. A ridge of this width can be ploughed much
sooner than two ridges six paces wide. A ridge twenty-
four paces wide cannot be ploughed so soon by an hour as
two ridges twelve paces wide. The cause is evident ; in the
narrow ridge above-mentioned much loss of time is ex peri-
enced at the end of the field, in turning the horses about
nearly to the same place from whence the plough left its
work. In the larger one, much loss of time is also experi-
enced at each end of the field, from the plough having to
move so many yards out of its work before it arrives at its
proper situation for re-entering again the land. Whilst
little or no loss of time is experienced in the plough and
horses swinging about to enter their work again, in a ridge
twelve paces wide. In sowing ;broad-cast, six paces wide,
being the usual breadth, a seedsman covers at a cast : the
top of the ridge and the furrow are the leading marks which
directs him to deposit his seed.

* Remark by Mr Charles Alexander of Easterhaprew,
near Peebles.

32

a new plan, which as it has answered the object he had in
view, it is necessary to explain, and which may be ap •
plied indeed to wet soils in general, whether the ridges
are straight or crooked.

Mr Andrew states, that the ridges on his farm had for-
merly been broad, and much raised*. His predecessor
had levelled them by the plough, and when he entered
into the farm, almost all the good earth had been thrown
into the old furrows, and completely drowned, the crowns
of the old ridges were at the same time so much stript
of soil, that they were scarcely fit to carry any thing.
It was absolutely necessary, however, to do something
to bring the ground into a better state. As it lay on a
gentle slope, cross draining was attempted, but ineffec-
tually. He had then resolved to gather up the ground
to the old ridges, by as many ploughings as might be ne-
cessary to raise them nearly to their former height, and
to throw a drain into every furr»w, thus designing, by one
operation, to dry the ground, to equalize the soil, and to
give it a fallow. When these operations were completed,
he gathered up a small ridge into the furrows above
the drains, to protect them from the surface water.
The following sketch will give some idea of the nature
of this operation :

Ridge. | D | Ridge. | D I Ridge. | D | Ridge. | Q |

Small

Small

Small

Small

ridge &
drain.

ridge &
drain.

ridge &
drain.

ridge &.
drain.

• There is reason to believe, that when waste lands are
first brought into a state of cultivation, the ridges should be
very broad and high until the soil is condensed) for at first it
is generally of a soft and spongy nature.

35

The drains are generally two feet and a half deep, and
as narrow in the bottom as an ordinary spade can, conve-
niently work them. He always thought i- necessary to
go down until a solid tilly bottom was found, in order
that the water might always run immediately above the
till. The drain was filled to the depth of a foot, or
rather better, with small stones, the undermost being al-
ways carefully laid in by the hand, and the rest thrown
in promiscuously above them. The stones were then
covered with a little straw, and earth above all. The
expence, on an average, cannot be calculated at less than
from L. 8 to L. 10 an acre •, but the outlay will be amply
repaid, for every object Mr Andrew had in view will be
accomplished. In its former state, the ground could on-
ly be ploughed at certain times. The farmer was at the
mercy of every season, and found none so dry, that in a
certain degree he did not suffer some injury ; but now, he
can plough almost at any time, the seed can be put in if
there is but a dry day, and in the ordinary course of
things, he can always rely upon a crop, and the soil being
equalized, the crop is always equal. Mr- Andrew ex-
presses his regret, at seeing the mischief that has been
done, almost in every corner of Scotland, by the at-
tempts which have been made to level high ridges bj
the plough ; and I certainly think, that before any pro-
prietor or tenant resolves to carry any plan of that sort
into effect, he ought to examine the result of the measures
which have been adopted on the farm of Tillylumb.

4. Height.

It is highly necessary that ridges, on wet land, should
be well rounded, so as to form the segment of a circle.
This is effected by gathering the soil once or twice, ac-
cording fo its dry ness or wetness, in the course of plough*

E

34

ing the ridge. The height, however, should not be too
great, only sufficient to furnish a declivity to let off the
Crater; for when the crown is raised too high, one -half
of the ridge is always covered from the sun, (a disad-
vantage which is far from being slight in a cold climate),
and the crop, which is always best on the crown, is more
easily shaken by the wind, than where the whole crop is
of an equal height *. Nothing can be more absurd than
an idea entertained by some speculative agriculturists,
that the higher the ridge is raised, the more surface must
be obtained, and consequently the greater crop. Some
planters had a notion that more trees could be planted
on a hill than on a plain of the same extent, which is now
given up as ridiculous. In regard to arable culture, it can
hardly be questioned, that the more the equality of soil,
(which cannot happen where the ridges are high raised),
the more equal will be the crop, and the more abundant
will be the produce f.

5. Line of Direction.

The last point regarding ridges, which it is necessary
to consider, is the line of direction, more especially in
steep grounds* In such situations, it has been found a
great advantage, both for the facility of ploughing and
for draining, to plough diagonally from left to right : the
furrow going up the hill falls off from the plough, the
horse has better footing, and less pull, and the furrow
catches the running springs t- This is particularly to be

* See Gentleman Farmer, p. 74.

.
t Remark by Mr Charles Alexander, Easterhaprew.

if Remarks by Mr Stewart of Hillhead.

35

attended to in the case of drilled turnips ; for owing to
the many furrows between die drills, when the turnips
are eaten off by sheep, not only the soil, but their dung
and urine, are carried off, which greatly augments the
evil. Besides, where the field is steep, the dung can be
znuch easier carted on diagonal ridges *.

Another rule regarding this point is, to direct the rid-
ges north and south, if the ground will permit. In this
direction, the east and west sides of a ridge, dividing the
sun equally between them, will ripen at the same
time f.

5.— OF PLOUGHING, AND THE MOST ADVANTAGEOUS
PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCTING THAT OPERATION.

The plough now commonly used in Scotland, from the
simplicity and the excellence of its construction, is per-
haps the most useful instrument ever invented. It is
cheap, is applicable to all soils and situations, can be
worked by two horses or oxen without a driver, and is
calculated either for deep or shallow ploughing, as the
case may demand. It requires more skill in the
management than wheeled ploughs, which the farmer
may set to any particular depth, and which the plough-
man cannot vary from at pleasure ; but the dexterity
which the Scotch ploughmen attain by practice, cannot be
surpassed, and such a check is therefore unnecessary. Bad
ploughmen, at the same time, may certainly be met with
in Scotland, as well as in other countries, but not so fre-

* Remark by Mr Charles Alexander,
f Gentleman Farzner; p. 79,

36

cjucntly. To this perfection, the premiums given to the
best ploughmen, at annual competitions in various dis-
tricts of the country, have greatly contributed.

The importance of good ploughing is such, that an in-
telligent farmer remarks, he has often observed a diffe-
rence in the crop- of some ridges where he has had a bad
ploughman.

The great difficulty in ploughing is, to determine the
width and depth of the furrow slice, which must vary
according to the object the farmer has in view, and the pre-
ceding and succeeding crop, &c. The following table
will give some idea of what is considered to be a proper
size, in different circumstances.

TABLE OF rLOUGHING.

Nature of tie Ploughing. Width

Incites*

First fallow furrow, 10 6 8 10

Second furrow, ditto, • 9^7

Seed furrow, 7 4

Oat crop from turnips, 9 67

Oat crop from clover ley, 9 4

Beans, if on one furrow, 10 68

Beans, if a second ploughing, .9 5

Beans, seed furrow, 9 3

Barley, 8 4

Potatoes, - 93

The depth of ploughing must, in a great measure, be
regulated by the soil there is to work upon. On thin
soils, more especially on a rocky susbtratum, the plough-
ing must necessarily be shallow ; but where the soil is of a
depth sufficient, it is material to plough deep at the com-

37

mencement of a rotation, and afterwards to vary the
depth, according to the different crops intended to be
raised.

Fallow, however, ought not to be deep ploughed, un-
til it is cleared of every description of root- weeds : It
may then get a good deep ploughing, so as to bring to
the surface, land that has been lying in a dormant state
for years ; and by afterwards ploughing alternately deep
and shallow for the succeeding crops, you will be en-
abled to change the surface, and bring up new soil for
each crop.

It is said, that when the soil is incumbent on sand, till,
or gravel, it is much better to rest contented with the
depth of soil you already have, than attempt to increase
it, at the hazard of bringing up such unproductive arti-
cles. But such an idea is condemned by many intelli-
gent practical farmers. It is observed by them, that
though deep ploughing, without manure, or frequent ex-
posure after it is brought up, may be unprofitable, (as
the subsoil is less productive in its natural state than the
surface), yet where these are properly applied, the soil,
its thickness being increased, becomes more ' impervious
to wet, and less so to drought, and of course more fer-
tile ; nor where the land is shallow, is the turning up of
a little till to be apprehended, if the till is not of a poi- '
sonous quality ; as by that means you deepen the soil,
which, when mixed with lime and dung, will be found a
great improvement *.

* Baron Hepburn says, that though deep ploughing shall
bring to the surface a sour looking obdurate pale yellow co-
loured till, I care not, experto crcdet the manure given to tha
fallow mellows it sufficie: -y-

300967

58

The following general rules regarding the depth of
ploughing, have been recommended from various re-
spectable quarters, and as the subject is of infinite im-
portance, it cannot well be too much inculcated, nor re-
presented in too many points of view.

Maxims as to deep Ploughing'.

i. The depth which land ought to be ploughed, ought to
be regulated by the depth of soil, and the means of impro-
ving it i when the soil is deep, whether light or clay, it
ought to be ploughed as deep as a pair of horses can go,
and at some seasons perhaps it might be advantageous to
plough it with four horses i but where the land is thin
and poor, and the means of enriching it scanty, I should
recommend the depth of ploughing to be in proportion
to the quantity of manure. — [Mr Rennie, Fantassie.] a.
Deep ploughing is highly advantageous upon every soil,
and for all crops, except on those soils where the sub-
stratum is of an ochry sand, which soils, in fact, are
scarce worthy of being cultivated, unless in situations,
where much alluvial compost, or short town manure, can
be procured. — [Mr Brown, Markle.] 3. It is a general
rule never to plough so deep as to go through the soil,
excepting upon fallow, and that only when you have
plenty of lime or dung to add to the new soil.— [Mr
Murray, Kirk landh ill. J 4. Deep ploughing is certainly
liable to this objection, that it requires more manure to
enrich a greater body of cultivated soil, than it would do
to enrich a lesser ; yet land when ploughed shallow, is
more easily accessible to drought, as the larger the quan.
tity of wrought land, the longer must the moisture be re-
tained.— 5. Farmers who follow the practice of deep
ploughing, find a great advantage from it, both in dry and

39

in wet seasons. The extreme of either is not so prejudici-
al as if the crop had been ploughed with a shallow furrow:
6. Many farmers recommend, when fallowing land, to
go as deep as possible the first furrow, by which the sub-
sequent furrows will be more easily done, and to expose
the soil to the winter's frost and to the summer's heat ;
but when land is ploughed in spring for beans or oats, a
strong soil cannot be ploughed with safety, above five
or six inches, and when lime or dung has been mixed
with the soil, a shallow furrow, not exceeding four or
five inches in depth, is advisable. 7. Deep ploughing is
not to be recommended ; z . When rich leys are broken
up for cropping ; 2, When grass only two or three
years old is broken up, more especially where it has
been pastured with sheep ; for all the richness of the
land should be preserved at the top : 3. When lime or
other manures have been recently applied, and lime in
particular, as it has a tendency to sink of its own ac-
cord : 4. Where turnips have been eaten off by sheep on
the land where they grew. In all these cases, from four
to five inches deep, will be found sufficient; and, 5. If
land is infested with grass, which generally runs much
on the surface, the first ploughing should not be deep.
8. In the following cases, dee^ ploughing is advisable.
I. Where the first furrow is given to land intended to
be fallowed in the end of autumn or beginning of winter,
and where grass or root-weeds do not abound, the soil is
thus pulverized and sweetened by the frost ; and, 2. In
moorish or cold soils, as it affords a greater scope for the
roots of plants to procure nourishment, admits the super-
abundant moisture to subside from their roots, and pre-
vents the summer drought making an injurious impres-
sion on the growing crops : For it may be remarked,
that on such land, shallow ploughing exposes vegetation

to be starved or drowned in wet weather, and to be
scorched or withered in dry.

We shall now proceed to give a general view of the
advantages of deep ploughing, a practice which cannot
be too frequently recommended'

ADVANTAGES OF DEEP PLOUGHING.

I. Bringing up of new mould is peculiarly favourable
to clover, turnips, and potatoes •, and indeed, without that
advantage, these crops must diminish in quantity, quali-
ty, and value. 2> Deep ploughing is of infinite conse-
quence, not only by furnishing more pasture to the
roots of the plants, but above all, by preventing the in-
jurious consequences of either too wet or too dry a sea-
son. If the season is wet, there is a greater depth of
soil for absorbing the moisture, so that the plants are not
likely to have their roots immersed in water ; and in a
dry season, it is still more useful, for in the lower part
of the cultivated soil, there is a reservoir of moisture,
which is brought up to the roots of the plants by the
evaporation which the heat of the sun occasions. 3. By
deep ploughing, also, the ground may be more effectual-
ly cleared of roots and weeds of every description : at the
same time, where they abound, it is a good rule, not to
bury them by the first ploughing, otherwise it becomes
difficult afterwards to clean the land : But after the land
is cleaned, it is then proper to raise fresh mould, to in-
corporate with the manure to be afterwards applied.
4. An intelligent farmer, after pointing out that deep
ploughing increases the staple of the soil, keeps the roots
of the corn from being injured by wetness, and also
enables the crop longer to resist drought, adds : " / bow-

41

" ever found deep ploughing attended with good crops,
" when ridges, shallow ploughed, in the same field, were
" but indifferent. A decisive proof in favour of deep
" ploughing *."

' The Norfolk farmers, generally possessing a thin light
soil, with a poor and barren subsoil, prefer shallow plough-
ing at all times, and argue that it is easier to keep a small
quantity of soil in good hearr, than a greater quantity, which
would be formed by deep ploughing, and also that it is easier to
keep it clean of root-weeds. Mr Church has heard the farmers
in that county say, that the land was ; Iways injured when the
pan, or surface of the subsoil, was broken by deep ploughing,
which was never done but by a careless, or bad ploughman.
There may be some ground for their partiality in favour of
their mode of ploughing thin and light soils ; and it would not
be advisable for them to alter their system, unless they fallowed
their lands, gradually deepened them, and limed and dunged
the new soil. But if on these principles they were to increase
the surface of their soil, their crops would be more certain
and abundant, more especially in dry seasons. The follow-
ing valuable hints on this subject, is drawn up by one of the
most intelligent farmers in Scotland, whose name, if he had
permitted me to use it, would have done credit to any publi-
cation.

" After shallow ploughing, the crop, in heavy rains, is very
apt to be socked about the roots, in consequence of which
the straw is whitened prematurely, and the grain does not
come to perfection ; hence the necessity, when the surface is
thin, of thickening it by deep ploughing. I have seen deep
ploughing this kind of land, for the first, and even the se-
cond year, after ploughing up the under-soil, produce a team-
ing crop of thirties, which was hurtful to ihe corn crop ; but
after the cold soil is well mixed with the old surface soil, and
after the lime and dung applied to it, ivhcn summer-fallowed,
has begun to operate on the new soil, I have found great be-
nefit from this operation ; but it is the winter furrow before
the summer fallow that should be ploughed deep; the lime
and dung applied to the fallow, as I have already mentioned,
operate strongly on the fresh soil. I would recommend
ploughing even light lands, although thin, to a proper depth,
though gravel, stones, or dead sand, is turned up and mix-
ed with the surface soil. I have found no inconveniency by

F

42

But although deep ploughing, to a certain extent, is
advisable, yet there is a medium in this as well as in
other things, and ploughing too deep, has not been found
to answer. Mr Hope of Fenton, an intelligent farmer
in East Lothian, states, that he repeatedy 'tried the ex-
periment of ploughing very deep with four horses, and
that the result was far from encouraging a continuance
of the practice. In one case, where he ploughed part of
a field of fallow with four horses, at fourteen inches
deep, the crop of wheat was evidently worse than upon
the rest of the field, that was ploughed in the usual man-
ner ; the land at the same time was of good quality, suf -
ficient to have admitted a furrow much deeper than what
was given. The reason of the inferiority of the crop
upon the deep ploughed part* appeared to be, in conse-
quence of that part of the soil, which had for ages been
regularly manured, being turned down below the reach
of the roots of the plants, and soil of a poorer quality
brought up in its place. He is therefore inclined to
think, that it is unnecessary to plough deeper, than where
there is a fair probability of the different kinds of plants
sending their roots ; and as beans, clover, and turnips,
the only tap-rooted kinds usually cultivated in this

it. Both turnips and corn crops, as well as pasture grass,
stand out better, both in wet and dry seasons, when a shal-
low surface soil is deepened, even by an under-stratum that
may appear very worthless. As proof of the utility of deep-
ening surface soils, both wet and dry bottom'-, look at the
patches of gardens that have received deep digging or shallow
trenching, belonging to the cottages placed on the skirts of the,
rnuirs all over Scotland, and you will observe the additional
verdure and luxuriance of crop upon these patches, more
than upon the lands ;i.!joinin£, the surface of which is often
very little more than scratched by the plough, and the dung
and other manure applied to it, lias not deepness of soil to
operate upon, so as to produce a good crop,"

45

country, seldom send their shoots above seven or eight
inches down into the soil, and the culmiferous species
not so far, it is probable, from these circumstances, that
from seven to nine inches may be deep enough for all
the purposes of ordinary culture. Occasionally, how-
ever, ploughing deeper, in the course of a rotation, for*
the reasons formerly assigned, is certainly advisable.

The following points remain to be touched upon, re-
garding ploughing, i. The angle at which the furrow
slice should be laid in particular cases : 2. The best
mode of ploughing steep lands : 3. The advantages of
water furrowing ; and, 4. The rate of ploughing with a
pair of horses.

1. As one principal object in ploughing is, to lay the
land so that the harrows may, in the most effectual man-
ner, raise mould to cover the seed, this object is most
effectually accomplished by ploughing land of every de-
scription, with a furrow-slice about seven inches deep,
and which, if about io|. inches broad, raises the furrow-
slice with a proper shoulder ; thus endeavouring to form,
by the shoulder of each furrow, the angle 45, the point
which ought to be referred to, when determining between
the merits of different specimens of ploughing. That is
best obtained, by allowing the plough to incline a little
upon the left side, and making the breadth of the fur-
row always bear a due proportion to its depth, which is
about two-thirds, or as six deep and nine broad *.

2. When a field is exceedingly steep, some farmers
plough only down hill, the plough being drawn up hill
empty. By this method the horses travel up hill in
less than half the time they could go with a furrow,
and by being quite fresh at the top, they come down
with spirit ; and by giving the direction a little to

* Remarks by Mr Hope of Fenton,

44

the left as you go down, the furrow falls away from
the plough freely, every inch of the sail is perfect-
ly raised, and lies so close together, that lying in that
state for one year in some soils, and in others for two
years, the sod rots, and being all laid one way, cuts easi-
ly by the plough ; whereas, when attempting to plough
against hill, the ploughing is not half done, grows up in
grass, and, when cross ploughed, makes a bad appear-
ance ; and the fighting against hill, hurts a horse, in one
day, more than three days' ploughing in the way pointed
out. Only one fourth of the time is lost, but that is
doubly repaid, by getting the work properly done, and
the advantage in the after ploughing. Mr Blackie of
Holydown, in Roxburghshire, who makes this remark,
states, that he has cultivated a great deal of ground on
thi principle, and that he is never afraid of any land,
howe er steep, if there is soil enough ; and that by this
mode laud may be ploughed, which would otherwise be
impracticable. In similar situations other judicious hus-
bandmen prefer ploughing in diagonal ridges, so con-
structed as to admit of ploughing up hill without mate-
rial injury to the horses ; and in this way the furrows
are much less apt to be run away or sanded by heavy
rains. Where the land is excessively steep, it is often
necessary to plough directly across, throwing the plaits
or furrow slices all down hill ; and, with the ordinary
plough, going back empty. But where there is much
land of this excessive steepness to cultivate, a plough
with a shifting mould -board, usually called a turn-wrest
plough, admits of ploughing both backwards and for-
wards, shifting the mould board in such a manner as al-
ways to throw the furrow- slice down hill. These two
last methods have been suggested by Mr Kerr of Ayton,
in his BeYwickshire Report, who has seen and practised
both.

45

3- In preparing land for a crop, water -furrowing is a
very important operation, more especially in wet soils
and climates •, indeed not only are these water-furrows,
or surface-drains made and dressed by the plough, but
a spade-man, is also employed, to clear them out, as soon
as the ridge is ploughed : the land is thus never injured
by surface-water *.

4. An intelligent farmer, (Mr Blackie of Holydown),
has sent me the following statement of the number of
miles his ploughs travel in a day. An acre of land, he
observes, is ten chains long, and one broad ; one chain is
66 fe'et : divide that into 80 furrows, which is as narrow
as any body ploughs, — the whole furrows in one acre
measure no more than eight miles. An acre in one day is
'very good work for two horses, yet is a very slow pace
when divided into eight hours work, one mile per hour.
Turning at the ends of the land takes up one tenth of
the time. In dry fine soil, and level ground, a pair of
good horses will plough twelve chains ; on wet heavy land,
nine, sometimes not more than eight chains ; in crossing
or stirring turnip land in summer or spring they will do
sixteen chains, and in some very fine free land two acres.

Mr Erskine of Mar, who has paid much successful at-
tention to many branches of husbandry, calculates, that
the number of yards travelled in ploughing an acre and
a half with a sixteen inch furrow slice, is 16,320 yds.
And with a furrow-slice of 18 inches, - 14,4x0
The furrow-slice of 8 inches, 32,640
9 ^ - 29,040

To the same intelligent correspondent, I am also in-
debted for the following tables.

* Hints from Mr Peter Jack, of Moncur. This plan is
adopted, not only in the Carse of Cowrie, but in all die best
cultivated districts in Scotland.

Talles slewing tie Quantity of Ground ploughed, accord-
ing to tie different Breadths of tie Furrow-slices, and
the rates of the Horses walking.

o

"<u

£

'-i,

S

S

1
a

3

B

c

Ui

>, sis

0

m

> ti

S

JK

3

•2 ••:

6

_S

3

" •

Q

O

IM

O

E

*s^

0
>,T3

o

*

•~ 3

0

^

U

5,

— —

4J W

'Z -O

JS

0

-C °-

•" JO

"5 «;

tj

c "*

S 3°

"5 c

V

M).S

« 3

w *"*

ee

Jj "o

o"i

** ^

£Q ^3

£

^3

~i °
C^a.

E

B

rc

-

-

t

;

In.

i

Yards.

Roods.

Poles.

In.

i

_
I.

Yards.

tloods.

Poles.

8

!

--

14,144

2

I4

6

i

—

28.168

5

7

9

- —

-

«4»'57

2

37

9

—

—

28,191

S

33

1C

-

-

14.^48

3

it

10

-

28,188

6

21

it

-'

-

'4-'S7

3

22

ii

—

-

18,215

7

S

The Rate of walking being i Mile I The Rate of walking being 3 Miles,
and half a Furlong.

8

1

£,14.960

2

3°

S

•

42,2V0

7

31

9

—

— 15004

3

4

9

—

-

U-3S3

i

3°

in

—

— 15,012

3

'9

10

—

--

**,33<J

9

3*

II

-

—1-5-048

3

12

ii

-

•

4*.m

10

Z7

The Rate of walking being i Mile
4 Furlongs.

The Rate of walking being 4 Miles.

8

9
lu
1 1

i

-)

2 1 , 2 I 6
ZI.I2C,
U.I6S

21,186

3
4
4

5

36
M

35
'4

it

9
10
ii

4|— |56.3.T-

-H^6'386
-1-56.376
- '-156,430

10

1 1
13

U

•4
26

2

ro * .

* It is supposed that in England in general, the common
breadth of the furrow-slice, is about nine inches ; but from the
shallow ploughing which the generality of the farmers in
Norfolk, for various reasons, prefer, their furrow-slices are
full eleven inches broad ; so that the quantity of the ground
stirred in the same number of hours work by them, must bs
considerably more than farmers in other districts can do,
where the natnre of the soil requires to have the furrow-slice
«f a narrower breadth.

47

It may be proper also to observe, that some farmers,
convinced of the advantages of frequent ploughing, keep
an extra stock for that purpose. Mr Andrew of Tilli-
lumb, states, that he has always had four pair of work-
horses, and generally in spring and autumn he has been in
the custom of making up a fifth pair for harrowing, by
yoking a saddle-horse and young colt. This is rather
more than is usually kept on farms of such an extent,
(112 Scotch acres), but he has an advantage by it, as he
is thus able to dress his land the more completely. For
potatoes, he gives four ploughings, and sometimes five ;
for beans and barley, always three ; for wheat after oats
or beans, three ; which he finds effectually secures it a-
gainst the depredations of the slug-snail.

Here it may not be improper to take notice of a prac-
tice, which was known in Scotland many years ago, that
of spring sowing, without spring ploughing, and which is
still occasionally adopted. Lord Kames, in his Gentle-
man Farmer, first printed anno 1776, has strongly re-
commended it, even though the scarificator or scuffier
was then unknown *. Mr Fletcher of Balinshaw, in For-
farshire, was accustomed to sow barley on a winter fur-
row, above twenty years ago. A respectable farmer in

* The preferable method for sowing oats, and especially in
£ clay soil, is to turn the field over after harvest, and to lay it
open to the influences of frost and air, which lessens the tena-
city of clay, and reduces it to a fine mould. The surface
soil by this means is finely mellowed for the reception of the
seed ; which it ivonlil le a pity to Intry by a second ploughing be-
fore soiuing. We are taught by experience, that this soil
ploughed before winter, is sooner dry than when the plough-
ing is delayed till spring ; and as early sowing is a great ad-
vantage, any objection on account of**the superficial crusting
is easily removed by a strong harrow, which would produce
abundance of mould for covering die seed. Kames's Gentle-
man Farmer, p. 95. and 96.

48

the Mearns observes, that if too great an accumulation of
work was likely to be apprehended in the early summer
months, an additional ploughing might be saved, by sow-
ing oats on the winter furrow ; and another intelligent
farmer near Dalkeith, (Mr Mylne of Smeaton,) remarks,
that ploughing for barley in spring is unnecessary , un»
less in a very bad season, when the land could not be
•wrought, as it should have been, before winter. Mr Yea-
man of Murie, near Dundee, also tried barley on a win-
ter furrow ; and it was observed, on the crowns of the
ridges, and as low down as the middle, between that and
the furrows on each side, the barley was more luxu-
riant, and appeared richer than that sown in the common
way i but towards the furrows, it was thinner and short-
er, so that on the whole the difference of produce would
not be material. A ploughing, however, was saved..

On a point not yet finally settled, it is proper to state
the arguments on both sides, leaving the question to be ul-
timately decided by future experiments. The farmers in
the Carse of Gowrie do not think it would answer their
strong soil. When they have spare time in the beginning
of winter, to plough part of their clover leys before.
Christmas, (which is sometimes the case), they think the
mould or soil is too close, and on that account the oats is
a more stinted crop, than when the ley is ploughed in Ja-
nuary or February. The early ploughed land is also
more apt to carry couch grass among the oats *. Mr Pa-
terson of Castle-Huntly is decidedly of the same opi-
nion. He admits, that barley might be sown on the win-
ter furrow, where the soil is loamy, with a better chance
of success, for that particular crop ; but the repeated
ploughings, both in clay and loam, during the driest sea-

* Remarks by Mr Jack of Moncur.

49

son of the year, before the barley seed-time, is so neces-
sary for perfectly cleaning the land, that no saving of la-
bour could compensate the want of them, which saving
of labour, is supposed to be the test, if not thf only reason,
that can be given, for sowing barley on a winttr furrow.
As to the absurdity of burying that part of the surface
after being prepared and meliorated by the influence of a
winter atmosphere, and bringing up a soil less prepared,
he asks, may not this be rather more speculative than
solid ? He is much inclined to think, that it would be
much better to give the land another ploughing, as it
would mix and soften the soils, render them more capa-
ble of receiving and covering the seeds, and enable them
to spread their roots to greater advantage, by which a
more certain crop would be insured. Upon the whole, he
is clearly of opinion, that it would be impossible to keep
the ground clean, and in such good order for a succession
of crops, without sowing barley, or something of the same
kind, after having gone through all these operations.

On the other hand, it is contended by a number of in-
telligent English farmers, that spring crops may be suc-
cessfully sown without spring ploughing. That the land
can be effectually cleaned from root weeds by a couch-
rake, and may be sufficiently stirred and pulverized by the
cultivator or scuffler.

On strong land in Suffolk, indeed, after scarifying
merely, they sow barley, or oats, after fallow, or beans,
or pease, or tares, or after \vhat is called a bastard fallow.
In all these cases, the tillage is given in autumn, and the
crops are put in so early, that they are infinitely cleaner
than if a spring ploughing were given them, which would
have prolonged the sowing for six weeks or two months
later.

For beans, this practice has been found peculiarly ex-
cellent, and has been attended with such success, that it

G

50

has spread from Sussex into Essex, where they have not
hitherto tried it much with barley and oats. In regard
to oats, however, this plan has been found to answer un-
commonly well in the strong lands at Petworth, in
Sussex.

6. ON FALLOWING.

Fallowing, when first introduced into Scotland, was
undoubtedly one of the greatest sources of improvement
that could possibly have been suggested ; for the ground
in cultivation, having been kept in constant tillage for
ages, was infested with weeds of various descriptions,
which by no other means could have been kept down or
eradicated. In dry soils, since the introduction of the
turnip husbandry, fallowing has no longer become neces-
sary * ; but in strong lands, it is still accounted the foun-
dation of their fertility, by numbers of the most intelli-
gent practical farmers that Scotland boasts of.

* A farmer in Angus, ("Mr Brown of Conomyth,) recom-
mends fallows even in dry soils. He states, in a communi-
cation to the author, that one-seventh of the dry land of his
farm is in fallow or turnips, but in general he only sows
about ten acres of it turnips, as he finds that he has much
better grass, when sown among wheat after fallow, than with
oats after turnips ; and when broke up from lea, the differ-
ence of the oat crop, in favour of bare fallow, is also discer-
nible. A crop of wheat is obtained at less exptnce than tur-
nips and oats, and on an average of years, is as valuable :
the manure produced by wheat straw may not be so rich as
when many turnips are raised, but a greater quantity is pro-
cured, and if driven out into a large dunghil in the winter
months, will answer perfectly well for fallows.

51

In considering this subject, it is proposed to give, i.
A general view of the advantages of fallowing: 2. A
description of the manner in which it is performed : and,
3. An account of some cases, where fallowing strong lands
is not adopted in Scotland. Whether that practice ought
to be still more extended in that part of the united king-
dom, will be considered, when the further improvements,
of which the agriculture of Scotland is capable, comes to
be discussed.

I. Advantages of fallowing in strong Lands.
The benefits resulting from this operation are very
ably stated by one of my East-Lothian correspondents,
(Mr Hunter of Tynefield.) He has always found, he
observes, a naked fallow necessary, once during a rota-
tion of six : (i. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Clover. 4. Oats.
5. Beans. 6. Wheat -,) and he i$ persuaded, that it will be
found the case, in every soil not of the turnip sort. Clay
soils become hard when constantly cropped, by being al-
ways ploughed in winter, or earlv in spring, being often
wet during the operation of ploughing and harrowing,
and thereby lose their fertility, becoming as it were im-
pervious to the sun and air, as well as to the root of plants,
&c. Summer ploughing is necessary to rectify this ; be-
sides giving opportunity to take out all sorts of root
weeds, to put in lime, &c. &c. and generally pays well for
the summer's labour during the rotation. Other drilled
crops, as beans, pease, or tares, must be sown early
in spring Potatoes also must . be planted in April to
have a full crop, and cannot be substituted for a fallow to
any tolerable extent ; even the ruta baga seems to Mr Hun-
ter unfit for the purpose in our northern situations, as his
long of coming to its growth, and ought to be sown early
in May, otherwise it will seldom be a full crop. The grind

Oft

object with the skilful agriculturist will be, to keep the
land clear of weeds of all sorts, and summer fallow
has ever been found the only sure method of doing so.
Hitherto no plant has been found so well fitted to permit
that as the field turnip, which may be drilled, with the
best prospect of success, from the first week of June, to the
second week of July inclusive, giving full time to prepare
the land, which, together with the ploughings in the rows
among the turnips, completes the fallow in the most per-
fect manner.

This states the question fairly, and if any plant could
be pointed outr that would an ,wer as well on strong land,
as turnips does on light land, fallowing, in so far as re-
gards the extirpation of weeds, would, with a drilled
crop, be as little necessary in the one case as in the
other *.

In the Carse of Gowrie also, fallowing w considered to
be indispensable. 1 hat operation, it is said, by the fre-
quent winter and summer ploughings and harrowings,
meliorates the ground, makes it of a kindly texture,
cleans it of weeds, &c , enables it to receive the manure
in a proper dry season, and allows time for all the small

* Perhaps the newly imported plant called noil-kali, may
answer the purpose. Mr Buist, overseer to Lord Haddin-
ton at Tynninghame, is of opinion, that it may answer on
strong soils, in place of a turnip crop. It rises like a cabbage
plant till it is ab<mt three inches high, then forms like a
Swedish turnip, and appears to be much of the nature of that
useful plant. They were first raised in East Lothian by
Mr Alexander Johnston, surgeon in Dunbar, who some
years ago received a few seeds from General Sir David
Baird, on his return from the Cape of Good Hope. I «w
them in great perfection at Lord Lauderdalc's, near Dun-
bar.

£5

drains to be repaired. The land is thus ready to receive
the seed at a proper period ; by which means the succes-
sive crops are greatly encouraged, (the ground being in
complete order to yield its produce), and less dung an-
swers the same purpose for a succession of crops *.

Nor is this all. Another most intelligent correspon-
dent, (Mr Wood of Millrig), states in the most decided
terms, that naked fallow has paid him much better than
drilled crops, from their after consequences, as the
broad leafed clover succeeds so well after summer- fal-
low, which it never can do after the bean or the turnip,
for their roots take away the nourishment of the earth
where the clover-ropt is fed. The bean or pea also, are
great encouragers of the white snail, a determined enemy
to red clover. The root of clover, being of the carrot
substance, is a great enricher of the earth, and the grass
of it produces more feed than any other usually sown.
Luxuriant crops of oats likewise, always follow red
clover f.

* Hints by Mr Drummond of Westbank.

•f Mr Wood, in another communication, enforces the same
doftrine. He remarks, that Mr Young, in his Survey of Ox-
fordshire, is very decidedly of opinion, that clovers will nt t
continue to thrive well in the fourth or fifth course cf agri-
culture. But Mr Wood c.tn freely declare, from many years
experience, that there is little or no danger of clover succeed-
ing every fourth or fifth year, provided a complete summer-
fallow intervenes betwixt the clovers ; but if green crops are
to serve as a substitute for a fallow, he has found in that case,
in the same field, the clovers give way, when they succeeded on
the fallow part of the ground, the green crop roots taking away
that nourishment which is necessary for the support of thr
clorer plant and perhaps, being of a green nature, that may
have some effect. He could clearly see it is the farmer's inreres;
to make some imaginary sacrifice to insure red clover, ;is it cati
easily be reduced into calculation, that it is the best crop,
when pastured judiciously, for nourishing the earth, the roorj
being upon an acre more weighty than the weight of bsu" or

Besides these advantages, fallowing is supposed tc
contribute materially to the destruction of snails and
other vermin in the ground, not only by destroying them
and their eggs, but also by exposing them to the attacks
of rooks and other birds *.

i. Of the manner in which fallowing is performed.

As the most intelligent fanners in Scotland are con-
vinced, that their after crops are good, in proportion to
the correctness with which the summer fallowing pro-
cess is executed, they bestow the greatest possible atten-
tion on that operation, by having it done as early in the
summer as possible, perhaps by the end of June, com-
pletely reduced by repeated ploughings and harrowings.
By that time, every kind of root weeds and quickens
ought to be gathered off at farthest by the end of July, it
should be dunged and seed furrowed by the end of
August ; of course, ready to sow any time after the 2oth
September. It has been found that, by allowing land to

mutton fed from it, consequently it is great gain, when the
roots make up for what is taken from the surface.

Here it 5s to be observed, that it is probable the new earth
is turned up in the operation of fallowing, which renders the
clover plant so successful.

* Mr Money Hill remarks, that fallowing also is indispen-
<-able, if a farm has got into bad order. When a farmer enters
upon an occupation which has been left by a sloven, on a lease
of twenty-one years, it is necessary to fallow all his land as it
corner in rotation for wheat, under the fifth and die sixth
coime system cf Norfolk. This will take him eleven years to
pet the whole fatm clean. This grand desideratum being ac-
complished, Mr Hill considers fallows ar? unnecessary during
the remaining ten years of his le

55

tic for several weeks between seed-furrowing and sow-
ing, it gets consolidated before the roots of the plant
strike in the ground, and the plants are not so apt to
be thrown out of the soil by the spring frosts *.

It is evident, that this process is attended with consi-
derable expence. Carse and other strong lands, when
properly fallowed, require six ploughings, harrowings,.
&.C., which cannot be stated at less than 9 s. per English
acre each time, or L. 2, 14 s. per acre f. It is to be ob-
served also, that more advantage is to be expected
from fallowing, conducted on scientific principles, than:
when it is managed in the careless and slovenly man-
ner which is too often to be seen, where agriculture is
but imperfectly understood.

3. Cases where fallowing strong Lands is not thought ad-

visable.

Near towns, where manure abounds, the fallowing
process is avoided as much as possible. In the neigh-
bourhood of Glasgow, where the rents are from L.6 to
L. 7 per Scotch acre, several thousand acres of land, even
of a clayey quality, are cultivated under the fallowing
rotation, namely, i. Potatoes, a. Wheat, 3. Clover, and

4. Oats. The potatoes get from thirty to forty tons of
dung per acre; the wheat only a moderate dressing of

' * Communication from Mr Hope of Fenton.

f On strong good soils, recently let, nothing but the deep-
est conviction of the advantages to be derived from that ope-
ration, could induce skilful and intelligent farmers to incur so
heavy a charge, without the advantages of any crop, and pay-
ing at the same time, a heavy rent for the land thus occupied.
Including rent, the expence of a complete over yr;.\
on good land, may be computed at from L. 5, 10 <;. t" L. 3
per acre.

56

hot hrae. Under this, and other rotations of a similar
nature, it is stated, that the land is apt to get foul,
which would require a naked fallow, but the farmers
"have an aversion to that mode of improvement, and sub-
stitute, in its stead, what they call a bastard fallow, that
is, three furrows after the clover has been cut ; the land
is then sown with wheat, and it gets a email quantity of
dung.

An intelligent farmer near Edinburgh, (Mr Gray of
Gorgie Muir), adopts the following rotation on his strong
lands : i. Potatoes, afier being well cleaned by repeated
ploughings, &c., and manured with from forty to fifty
cart-loads of Edinburgh street dung, mixed and turned
with his farm-yard dung, produce from forty to sixty
bolls per acre. Where there is too great a proportion
of clay in the soil, to grow potatoes to advantage, there
yams for horses are planted, and this land is always kept
in open drills, from planting to taking up i that is to
say, without harrowing them down, as the others are
done ; and if it is not a very wet season, the produce is
from thirty to forty bolls per acre, which he considers
preferable to the crops of beans he used to have on the
same land : 2. After potatoes and yams, wheat, (drilled,
where the soil is light, by Cook's machine), and sown
with gcass seeds in the end of March, or beginning of
April : 3. Clover, twice cut, and, 4. Oats.

This idea of cultivating yams ins:ead of beans, on
very strong lands, merits particular attention in tMs
part of the kingdom *. Mr Robertson of Ladykirk, ob-

* On ihis subject, Mr Scott of Craiglockhart observes, re-
garding the feeding of horses, thai of late yean yams h.we
been by many substituted for the evening feed. If work-

57

serves, that our southern neighbours have much the ad-
vantage of us in the bean husbandry. The great dis-
tress attending bean crops with us, is their lateness. In
passing through the country near Aylesbury, he savr
their beans covering the ground, and all in bloom on the
1 4th of June. Our wet weather generally commences
about the aoth of October ; before that period, in Scot-
land, the winter wheat should all be sown, but the beans
are often in the fields. He is of opinion, that fallows
may be much reduced in number, by carefully occupy-
ing the land, where the climate will admit of it, with
drilled beans, but still that there is a certain deacription
of land, that cannot be cultivated weil, without occa-
sional fallows.

Dr Coventry's opinion of fallowing is, that in the first
rounds or courses of cultivating, a complete naked fal-
low is necessary : but in after courses, when the grounds
have acquired a better texture, and are not so liable to
become foul, they may be kept in good order by fallow
or horse-hoed crops, such as beans, potatoes, common
and Swedish turnips, cabbages, and any other species
suiting the nature of the soil, and that mode of culture.

It is proper to add, that an intelligent farmer, (Mr
Andrew of Tillil *nb near Perth), when he fallows,
g ives no manure, as he finds that fallow wheat, with ma-
nure, is apt to be too luxuriant. Mr Allan of Craig-

H

horses can subsist to equal advantage on yams and Swedish
turnips: What a promising prospect for increasing the growth
of wheat, and bringing fields to a high state of cultivation
without losing a crop ! One acre of yams or Swedish turnips
will afford more subsistence for either horses or cattle, than
two of cats or any other grain.

crook near Edinburgh, prefers also fallow without dung,
which is becoming a favourite system in England. Mr
Dudgeon of Prara one of the most intelligent farmers in
East Lothian, likewise contends, that if the land is of
very good quality, a well prepared fallow, will often pro
duce better wheat, without dung, than with it.

7, — OF THE CROPS COMMONLY CULTIVATED IN SCOT-
LANP, WITH bOME REMARKS ON .DRILLING.

The articles principally cultivated in Scotland are not
nnmerous. They may be comprehended under the fol-
lowing heads: i. Wheat; 2. Barley, including bear or
big; 3. Oats; 4. Rye ; 5. Pease; 6. Beans; 7. Tares;
8. Turnips ; 9 Carrots; 10. Potatoes ; 11. Cabbage and
kail, and, 12. Cultivated grasses*. As this work is
not intended to be a treatise regarding every point con-
nected with agriculture, but merely a condensed state-
ment, of the information transmitted to me by the far-
mers of Scotland, regarding the system of husbandry
pursued by them, it is proposed, in this place, merely
to take notice of such particulars, communicated to me
in the course of my inquiries, as seem to be entitled
to attention.

i. Wheat.

The growth of wheat is greatly increased in Scotland.
It is not only more frequently introduced into rotations,

* For the culture of flar and hemp, the reader is referred
to the General Report on the Husbandry of Scotland now
drawing up.

but is also cultivated in many districts where it was for-
merly unknown ; and in situations, where, from their
elevation, it was formerly thought impossible to raise it.
In the parish of Temple, in East Lothian, for instance, it
has already been grown, from 500 to 600 feet above the
level of the sea, and some are trying it with success,
even in higher situations *.

There is nothing that seems more liktly to promote
the successful culture of wheat in Scotland, especially in
districts where the soil is cold, or the climate unfavour-
able, than to sow it early in autumn. In a farm, where
a tenant had declared, that it would not carry wheat,
that he had tried it often, and that it had not succeeded,
a new possessor resolved to sow it on the 12th of
August, and he had the satisfaction of cutting down his
crop on the loth of August in the following year. It
would have been indeed cut earlier, had the weather per-
mitted.

As it was, there was no farmer in Scotland, and few
farmers in the northern counties of England, who had
such a quantity, as 300 bolls of wheat, cut down so soon.
It proved of uncommon good quality, and sold at a high
price, for seed. It averaged about 9 bolls per acre, at 16
stone per boll f.

Another rule in regard to the culture of wheat is, that
of sowing it in a dry bed. Baron Hepburn well ob-

* Communication from Mr George Farme, of Braidwood,
near Dalkeith.

f . Communication from Mr Allan regarding his farm of
Oldliston. Mr Allan states, that early wheat, threshed in the
month of August, does not require to be pickled or screened,
as there is no ball or smut ever seen among early wheat sown
at that time.

60

[terves, that the animal and vegetable kingdoms, bear, in
this inspect, a strong resemblance to etch other ; keep
the feet of both dry, and no atmospheric cold our cli-
mate knows of will materially injure either.

It is also contended, that winter wheat, when the
seed is harrowed in, should be covered to a suffici-
ent depth, and should have, what is called, a good
giip of the land, to prevent its suffering from rain and
frost.

An intelligent farmer strongly recommends kiln-dry-
ing seed-wheat, as a better means of preserving the crop
from smut, than the usual practice of pickling or steep-
ing. From eight or nine year's experience, he states,
that it has been found at least an equal preventive
against the loss produced by that disease ; and allowing
it had no superiority over the method more generally in
use, in respect to that property, still it would be entitled
to a preference, because it can be kept without injury,
should the weather turn out unfavourable for sowing at
the time intended, which is not the case with wheat pre-
pared in the other way ; for unless it be sown almost im-
mediately after pickling, it becomes unfit for seed, and
can scarcely be applied to any other purpose. Wheat,
to be prepared for seed by kiln-drying, ought to be com-
pletely dried, but not subjected to a heat which might in
any degree scorch it *.

• Communication from Mr James Cutlibcrtson of Seton-
Mains. This plan is mentioned in the original report sent to
the Board of Agriculture, regarding the county of Clack-
r.^nan.

This information is strongly corroborated by the evi-
dence of Mr F. wler of Prestonpans, who has in one year
prepared forty bolls of wheat in this way for seed, and
who has no doubt of its answering effectually.

Th. following is the substance of Mr Fowler's infor-
mation on this subject :

r I '" /

I. The heat applied was 81° of Fahrenheit's thermo-
meter. 2. The time of continuance depends upon the
construction of the kiln, the quantity of grain dried at a
time, and the moisture it contains ; but wheat, in good
condition, has generally been taken off as sufficiently
dried, after being eight hours on the kiln 3. The heat
I have never regulated by a thermometer, but have fixed
it as above, from what is given when pale malt is dry-
ing, with which it was the same, as nearly as circumstan-
ces allowed. My criterion of judging of the wheat was,
by the appearance and feel it had, and as was mentioned
in Mr Cuthbertson's original communication, eare has
always been taken, that the grain should be well dried,
•without being in the slightest degree scorched. 4. I
never had any hesitation in allowing wheat to remain
unsown several days after being dried, nor have 1 found
this remedy less effectual, on account of its not having
been immediately sown ; I do not recollect, however, of
«ver having occasion to keep it beyond a week. 5. I
conceive kiln-drying to be necessary for old as well as
new wheat. 6. A considerable field of wheat, entirely
free from smut, is, what I believe, has scarcely ever
been found, nor is it ever considered materially injuri-
ous to the crop, unless it exists to that degree, so as both
to affect the colour and quality of the flour, and since the
introduction of the threshing-machine, by which the
ball is preserved much more entire than by the flail,

wheat, if only slightly affected, can, for the most part,
with good dressing, be almost entirely cleared of it :
from the experience I have had, 1 never found the crop
from seed prepared in this way, completely free of smut,
and have only practised it, because 1 have found that it
is equally effectual with the common method, and it is
not attended with any risk of losing the seed, nor is the
preparation so incommodious. 7. 1 have never made an
experiment upon a very smutty sample of wheat.

-

The most important particular connected with the cul-
ture of wheat in Scotland, is the practice of sowing win-
ter wheat in the spring months. Mr Brown of Markle
states, that he commenced this practice as far back as the
year 1779, as ^id n*s neighbour Mr Rennie of Fantassie,
about the same period. It was sown by several people
before that year, but not to any considerable extent, and
only in seasons, when, owing to the wetness of October,
it could not be sown at the customary time. It is of
great importance to be able to sow wheat after turnips,
for the month of March is not found too late when the
season is favourable. Mr Rennie of Oxwell Mains, in
East Lothian, states, that his March sown winter wheat,
anno 1809, was as good, both in respect to quality and
produce, as what was sown in November and December.
He adds, that wheat sown in autumn, very frequently
lodges in moist seasons, and on that account is deficient
both in quantity and quality. On wet soils, the farmer
often sows early in autumn, not from choice, but lest he
should lose an opportunity of doing it. In regard to the
difference between autumn wheat, and the same kind
sown in spring, as to the number of bolls, he thinks that
in ordinary seasons, the spring sown is equal in quantity

on light dry land, but not to be depended on where the
soil is wet, and the climate not very early *.

* Though not strictly connected with the subject of Scotch
Husbandry, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of inserting
the following Note, containing some particulars transmitted
to me by that celebrated farmer George Culley, regarding
the spring culture of winter wheat.

" Respecting the sowing of winter wheat in the spring, after
turnips, I can speak in a very full manner, as I am persuaded
very few farmers in this island have had more experience of
that practice. I believe that spring sown winter wheat had
not been much tried in this county before my late brother and
1 settled here in the year 1767. We had made some small
trials in the county of Durham before coming north ; but
immediately on our taking Fenton farm, we tried it upon a.
pretty large scale, from one to 200 acres in the year. But
for many years after we extended our farming concerns, we
seldom grew fewer than 500 acres and upwards annually !
and with never-failing success, one year excepted, when a
partial mildew took place, until those last three fatal years,
when most of the wheat in these northern parts of the inland
have been more or less affected with that dreadful malady I
Not that spring -sown wheat was more hurt than the wirvter-
sown, but perhaps less injured upon the whole. Neverthe-
less, I do not know whether I ought to recommend it to be
much sown in the southern counties or not, because, in the
trials we made in the county of Durham, we had nothing
like such plentiful crops as we produce here."

" Besides, in the county of Durham, and all the way from
thence to the southward, they can grow more barley in
quant'ty, and better in quality, than we can by much, and
it is also always much higher sold ; consequently the g: ow-
ing of spring-sown winter wheat after turnips, becomes not
so much a matter of consequence to them. Allow me to re-
mark one thing, Sir John, which I cannot account for : we
can perhaps produce the best oats of any in Great Britain,
and yet we grow very indifferent barley. Perhaps, not only
the friable fertility of our turnip soils in Glendale Ward, but
the vicinity of the mountains, may be favourable to the pro-
duction of spring-sown wlreat ; and I must now, Sir John,
ask you a question, who has visited different climates, whe>

04

The real spring or summer wheat, has been of late intro-
duced in various districts in Scotland. It possesses many-
advantages, being for a much shorter period in the
ground ; and though sown in the end of April, or the be-
ginning of May, will ripen as early as winter sown
wheat. It is certainly, however, not so productive as
wheat sown in winter, or even winter wheat sown in
spring ; and the ear being shorter, the crop cannot be
equally productive. It will probably, however, be a
great acquisition in districts, where winter wheat does not
answer, and more especially where the vegetation is ra-
pid.

In regard to the culture of wheat in general, manj in-
telligent agriculturists begin to be apprehensive, that
from the high price of that article, farmers have been
tempted to sow it too often, and that it comes round too

ther a more rapid vegetation docs not take place in the vale*
adjoining mountainous districts, than at a distance from
them ? It is very proper in you to say, " winter wheat sown
" in spring," because a discrimination is highly necessary
between winter wheat sown in the spring, and the Siberian,
or real spring wheat. We tried the real spring wheat se-
veral years, but in both quantity and quality, it was inva-
riably much inferior to the winter wheat sown in spring !"

" Prior to our coming into this district, no wheat was grown
in Glend.tle, except in the haughs by the river sides, or
some particular pieces of strong land, unfit for turnips. But
now, and for many years, thousands of acres of spring-
sown wheat have been grown with the greatest success,
which had never produced any wheat before ; and until
these last unfortunate years, we seldom produced less than
from three to four quarters per acre after turnips, and fre-
quently more. Upon the weaker turn'.p soils, we ourtelves
sow a red wheat, the seed of wh;ch we got several years
since-from a village called Bnrwell, in Cambridgeshire, an
excellent and productive kind."

65

frequently in the rotation. This may contribute to the
mildew, which has of late affected that species of crop,
and which was certainly never formerly known to such an
extent in Scotland.

2. Barley.

This species of grain was formerly the great favourite
of the Scotch farmers *, before that, by the introduction
of fallows, crops of wheat were rendered more certain
and productive ; but now barley is condemned as the
least profitable of any of the white crops, as not being so
prolific as oats, nor so profitable as wheat. It is remar-
ked, that all crops are robbers of the earth, in propor-
tion as they are heavy in grain upon the acre, and pro-
duce the least weight of straw, to be converted into ma-
nure. Hence barley ought, in general, to be accounted
a more severe crop than either wheat or oats, because
the straw neither gives equal food to the animal, nor
dung to the earth, and of course is not so profitable to
the farmer, unless upon particular soils f . Good far-
mers, therefore, will not persist in barley, if their lands
are suitable for wheat or oats.

Whilst barley is thus condemned, the culture of bear
or big is strongly recommended, more especially in the
northern districts. An intelligent farmer in the Mearns
assigns the following reasons for preferring* bear. The

I

* Some farmers particularly recommend sowing barley
as early as the beginning of March, as the best means of se-
curing an abundant crop.

f Clover succeeds better after wheat than after barlef,
probably owing to the straw beirg stronger.

06

crop of grass, he observes, is almost constantly good or
bad, in proportion as the ground is more or less pulve-
rised j and as bear may be sown three, or perhaps four
weeks later than barley, it may be done at a season when
the land can be brought to a finer tilth. If the grain
crop should happen to fall over, as bear will be sooner
ripe than barley, by being earlier taken off the ground,
the danger of rotting the grass is less ; besides, that it
has thus an opportunity of being well advanced before
winter, if the autumn should prove good ; and in this
climate October is often a mild month. In northern dis-
tricts the earliest grains ought to be cultivated ; and barley
is not only later than bear, but it requires to stand longer
in the stook before it be fit for stacking. No doubt bar-
ley is the more valuable grain of the two ; but that can-
not be put in competition with the risk of a late and pre -
carious harvest, and perhaps the loss, or at least the de-
terioration of the two following crops of grass, and by
which, not only the food for cattle is lessened, but the
land becomes fouler ; for weeds will vegetate if the land
be unoccupied. The produce also from bear will be
found to be greater than from barley, although perhaps
overlooked by the farmer, as he generally sows the lat-
ter on his best land. On tolerable farms, the inferior
land will yield nearly as much bear as the best will bar-
ley ; and had bear been substituted on the latter, the pro-
duce would have been much greater. But on ordinary
land, yielding a tolerable crop of bear, there will be a
considerable deficiency of barley *. How unfortunate

* Mr Grierson, late corn merchant in Leith, who had much
experience and knowledge in the corn-trade, transmitted to

07

it is, that the culture of so useful a crop should be check-
ed by improvident sanction, and the laying an unequal

me the following obsenrations on the subject of bear, and on
the feeding of horses with that article.

" When bear, or what is called big in England, is of the
same weight, I give the preference to big, i. Because it pro-
duces the finest worts and distilled spirits; and, 2. Because
it has less draff or grains. 3. It will produce more meal,
finer, fairer, and more palatable for bread. 4. It is better
calculated for pot barley, because it is shorter in the grain
than the two-rowed barley, therefore not so much waste to
bring it to shape ; it boils softer and eats sweeter. 5. It is
brtter for feeding horses than barley, and better than oats
for horses not much wrought in dry countries, but not so
good as oats in wet countries, or in wet roads, where horses
require more heating food *. But were I to feed horses to
most advantage, I would feed with beans and oats, but
ground as small as malt. It is hardly to be conceived, the
difference of the ease to a hard-wrought horse who has ground
meal to eat, and one that has his oats to eat whole, as he has
not half the time to rest as the one that has ground corn, and
cannot perform the same libour, or last so long. This is a
most important consideration where so many horses are ne-
cessary tor agriculture ; and a very trifling expence would
add a grinding machine to the thrashing-mills, for all jtfis
corn necessary for feeding the horses and pigs on a farm,
The difference of price between barley and bear can only bt
from the weight, and perhaps something in the soil, and ear-
liness or lateness of the harvest ; but both being equal, I
would give the best price for bear, for eirher beer, spirits, or
bread-corn.

That bear is not more cultivated and in higher request, is
owing more to prejudice than any thing else j for it is well
known, that it produces more seeds than barley, and is less
injurious to the ground ; and may be sown for twenty years
r>u the same ground, without either lessening the produce or
impairing the quality, provided the land is fallowed before

* According to this remark, big would he the be»t food for Uor?« In
England and Scotland, during tbe »um;«er wtion. which wo"H be * JJTV
point to establish.

66

and disproportionate duty on the malt made from bear,
compared to that made from barley.

3. Oats.

There is no species of grain that succeeds better in
Scotland than the oat, and some farmers have given up
sowing barley, as it never comes within two or three
bolls per acre of oats, as the straw of it is much inferior,
either for feeding live stock, or for producing manure,
and as the sale of it is uncertain. Oats are also preferred,
in some cases even to wheat, as it has been found that
sowing oats after grass, is more advantageous than sow-
ing wheat, however profitable that^article may be *. Oats
also are a better crop after pease, than even after grass f-

It is well known, that various sorts of oats are culti-
vated in Scotland, as the Dutch, the Blainsley, &c. In
sheltered situations, and in rich soils, the variety called
the Potato Oat is to be preferred ; but in exposed fields,
Mr Brodie of Garvald greatly prefers the red oats. They
unite the advantages of earliness, good grain, and a
power of resisting the wind, equal to any other ; and by
growing them, farmers are enabled to cultivate higher
grounds, than otherwise they could venture to do, with
every prospect of reaping the fruits of their labour.

winter, and tw ce ploughed before sowing, with a sprinkling
of dung. It is very seldom more than ten weeks on the
ground in favourable situations, and barley never less than
fourteen*

* Remarks by Mr Trotter of Newton in Linlithgowshire.

f Remark by Mr Charles Alexander, Easterhaprew near
Peebles. It is proper to observe, that when a fit-Id is fallow-
ed, any mossy part of it should be sewn with oats instead of
wheat.

69

Another variety, called Church's Oats, are much in
request *. And there is also a kind of oat called the

* The following particulars regarding Church's oats have
been transmitted to me by the son of the farmer by whom
they were first propagated. They are generally sown, he
states, from the middle of March till the end of April, but
if they are grown for early cutting, they are sown somewhat
sooner. They ripen a fortnight or ten days earlier than the
potato oats sown on the same soil at the same time, and are
generally cut in the first or second week of August. As they
are subject to shake, they require to be cut before they are
quite ripe, or when the stalk immediately below the ear is of
a pale pink colour, inclining to yell -w. They are sown at
the rate of about six Winchester bushels, per acie, and yield
from sixty to eighty Winchester bushels per English acre,
and there are instances of their doing more. They require
to be sown on dry land in good condition, and prove most
productive on a friable loam, either after grass or turnips ;
on such land they are perhaps not surpassed in increase by
any other. They are a round plump oat, rescmbl ng in this
respect the potato sort ; but they are larger in the grain . and
rather thicker in the husk or skin. They sometime^ have a
small bosom pickle attached, and frequently none, and when
they are good, they have scarcely any or no caii

Being of an early quality, they have treqiu ntiy proved a
public benefit, by being made into meal, and s>'Ui before ge-
neral harvebt. Some years ago they were generally cultiva-
ted in the most improved dis'ncrs in the nonh of ilngland
and south of Scotland, till the potato oat began .o supers-de
them, as they were foun.i nea-ly as produ< uvc, and tioi quite
so liable to shake ; neither do ihey require the land to be in
so rich order to produce a tjood crop. The first his ta'her
got was from an acquaintance, and only amounted to sixty
grains. He planted them on the I4th June 1776, and for
twenty-five ye.irs or upwaids, h: i:rew them on the same
kind of s«'il, without degenerating ; but they have now ra-
ther declined in quality, (pe'haps owing to want of care in
preparing and selecting the seed . since the potato oat has
interfered, to dimini-h their reputation. The farmers on the
east coa«t, are n^w begii-nin^ to grow them to a greater ex-
tent than they have done fur some years, and that a farmer

70

Barbauchlin Oat, which is much recommended. Mr
Blackic of Holydown, has had a few acres of them for
years back. They are coarse in the grain, but very pro-
lific ; the straw, which is strong, answers very well for
cattle in a straw yard, and they produce one fourth more
straw than any other kind. They give perhaps one-
tenth part less meal than potato oats, but they ripen
nearly as early. It is supposed that they would answer
very well in the northern districts, where the soil is sandy
with a kind of gravel. They now sow a considerable
chare of them in Galawater.

4. Rye.

This species of grain is not very extensively cultivated
in Scotland and the winter sort, without which the
countries on the coasts of the Baltic could hardly be sub-
sisted, is almost unknown. My principal reason for
mentioning it at all is, that in the opinion of a most in-
telligent practical farmer in Roxburghshire, rye, on
moorish grounds, is a more certain crop than oats ; a
fact little known, but of infinite importance in carrying
on the improvement of our barren districts.

5. Pease.

For some years past pease have been a precarious crop
in Scotland, principally owing to the continual rains in

there, had last year potato and Church's oats sown on a rich
field of equal soil, at the same time, ami that Church's oats
yielded fifteen "Winchester bushels per English acre more than
the other. It would be very important to raise a variety
from Church's, or some other species of oat, without a bo-
som pickle as the grain would be more equal in point of
size and quality, and lets liable to (hake.

71

the month of August, which kept the pease constantly
in a growing state, in consequence of which the pods did
not fill till the frost came on. Had there been dry wea-
ther in the months of July and August, the crops would
probably have been abundant *. It is now, however,
pretty well ascertained, by the experience of Norfolk,
that a crop of pease will not succeed, if sown on the
same land, above once in ten years.

Some farmers who find that clean pease will not an-
swer, sow pease and beans alternately, with a hand drill,
the rows at twenty seven inches distance, so as to admit
the horse, and the hand hoe at discretion. Mr Hope of
Fenton, finds, that this plan answers better than sowing
these crops separately.

It is surprising that the tenants near Edinburgh have
not attempted to raise early pease, an article which sells
at so high a price in the Edinburgh market, during the
month of July. About twelve years ago a gentleman
sowed two acres with white pease, and sold the whole
by the middle of July, at L. 35 per acre. Immediately
afterwards, he prepared the ground for turnips, which
were sown by the end of that month, but unluckily the
seed was bad, and the turnip crop almost totally failed.
He had no doubt of his making from L. 40 to L. 50 ptr
acre of the two crops.

6. Beans.
It would be a very great improvement in husbandry,

* Observations by Mr Neil Ballingall, in Fife. Mr Hume
of East Barns, near Dunbar, remarks, that pease is not worth
the raising. They can grow plenty of pease straw any year,
but their produce in grain will, in most cases, not pay the
erpence of labour. Ought not the early white Norfolk pea
to be tried ?

7i

more especially in Scotland, if an early bean could be
discovered, which would bear to the common bean, the
same qualities, that the hot seed does to the cold seed
pea : this would remove the principal obstacle to the
bean husbandry in Scotland, the lateness of the crop ;
and it is certainly lamentable to see the bean crop out in
the fields, while with a better climate, the land ought to
have been sown with wheat. Some improvements, how-
ever, in the harvesting of beans will be afterwards de-
scribed, which may tend to remove that objection.

Some farmers prefer broad-cast to drilled beans. A
spirited farmer, during the three first years of his lease,
tried the following experiment. He had part drilled,
and part broad-cast, but the broad- cast always turned
out best. The drilling of land in beans suffers some-
times (when done either across, or to angle the ridges)
in the dressing, the furrows always filled up in the tiov
of horse -hoeing, and in wet weather, which often hap-
pens when the land is so laid down, sours the furrows,
spoils the crop, and destroys the land for after cropping.
Whereas when sown broad cast the furrows are cleared,
and stand so from seed-time till harvest, and generally a
weightier crop, which pulverizes the soil, and keeps the
land clean, equally if not better. He admits, however,
that upon easier soils than what he possesses, the drilling
of beans is an excellent system, when the land is clean
of couch-grass *.

• Communicaton from Mr Henry Thomson of Muir-
town of Balhousie near Perth. Mr Hume of Last Barns, ob-
serves, that be ins cannot be planted too near the surface, if
they are covered at all.

73

7. "Tares.

This article is not much cultivated in Scotland, a few
acres on every farm being only raised for soiling horses,
between the cuttings of clover-, but a spirited and intelli.
gent farmer near Edinburgh, (Mr Allan of Craigcrook),
has carried it to a still greater extent. He considers tares
one of the most valuable crops he can cultivate. If taken
to market green, they bring L.2j per acre ; and when
kept for seed, twelve bolls may be got per acre, which,
Mr Allan says, will fetch from L. 3 to L. 4 per boll.
The proper time for sowing tares for x.*ed, is about the
second week of March *, in drills about thirty inches
wide ; and three firlots of tares, is, in that case, a sufficient
quantity of seed, but it is thought better to sow rows of
beans and tares alternately, as the beans keep up the.
tares ; in that case, half a boll of tares, and the same
quantity of beans, is sufficient for seed. In favour of

* Mr Kerr observes, that the time mentioned is very pro-
per for a crop of tares intended for seed. But what are wanted
for cutting or soiling, ought to be sown two or three times,
to give a succession. The first as early in February as the
season will allow, to come in immediately after the first cur-
ting of clover. A second crop, in the beginning or middle of
March, to stand for seed. And a third sowing in the end of
March or beginning of April, to cut green for the horses
during harvest. Beans answer excellently, to stake the tares
intended for seed ; but those which are meant to be cut
green, ought to have a small admixture of oars ; which both
serves to hold them up, admits the air, aids the scythe, anj
increases the food.

It is a pity our Scots climate does not answer for winter
tares. Mr Kerr tried them twice ineffectually ; but was told
they sometimes come forward to cut before clover, but very
rarely. The earliest sown tares in spring, should, however,
be of the winter sort, being the hardiest.

K

74

this crop, it is asserted by Mr Allan, that a crop of
wheat after tares, without dung, will be as good as after
drilled beans with dung.

It may be proper here to observe, that tares delight
in a new, and even tilly soil. It is possible, therefore,
that they might answer on fallowed grounds sown as late
as May, and might be cut in time enough for sowing
wheat. The soil might be protected by them from the
exhaling influence of the sun, and kept in a moist and
mellow state for the reception of the seed wheat. This
plan, however, will not answer, where the land is not
clean, as it would interfere with the fallow process,

8. turnips.

Drilled turnips is one of the great boasts of Scottish
agriculture, and though the idea of drilling them was
originally taken from the celebrated Tull, yet the pre-
cise mode of conducting this operation, now universal in
this country, certainly originated in North Britain.

It is unnecessary to detail a process so well known,
and which has been so frequently described. It may
not be improper, however, briefly to consider the fol-
lowing particulars : i. The different sorts of turnips cul-
tivated in Scotland; 2. The produce of each sort; 3.
The manner of consuming them ; 4. The modes of
preserving them ; and, lastly, Any miscellaneous parti-
culars, which may be entitled to notice.

I. The sorts commonly cultivated in Scotland, are
known under the name of the Common Globe Turnip,
the Yellow Turnip, and the Swedes, together with the
White Norfolk, for early eatage by sheep.

An interesting experiment has been tried by Mr
Blaikie, a native of Roxburghshire, but bailiff to the
Earl of Chesterfield, with the three first sorts. The globe

75

turnip produced the largest crop, but was the most ten-
der ; the yellow proved a fine crop, was more nutritious
than the globe, and stood the winter better : the Swedish
turnips maintained their superiority for hardiness ; the
yellow Scotch was next in rotation in regard to that very
essential quality.

The yellow Scotch field turnip may be considered as
a valuable acquisition, for the following reasons : — i. It
is more hardy than the globe, decanter, tankard, red
top, green top, or any variety of the Norfolk turnip. —
1. It does not draw more nourishment from the ground
than any of those varieties, consequently does not require
that any extra preparation should be made for it. — 3. It
is not so hardy as the Swedish, but has the advantage,
in not requiring so much manure ; does not draw the
ground so much, nor does it require to be sown so early
by a month, which gives time for cleaning and preparing
the fallows, which are too often but imperfectly cleaned
when the Swedish are sown. — 4. The yellow Scotch is
also a good table vegetable, being palatable, more nutri-
tious, and not so watery as the Norfolk varieties.

When Swedish, yellow Scotch, and Norfolk turnips
were strewed indiscriminately over a field, and cattle and
sheep turned to them, the stock were observed to select
the yellow Scotch, after being nsed to them.

It may be proper to add, that the yellow is by far the
best turnip for milch cows, and that they thrive much
better than the Swedes in light soils.

In regard to the Swedes or rut a baga, they are of so
hard a nature, as to be very pernicious to the teeth of
stock, particularly the very young or the very old.
They require also rich land, or a great deal of manure.
They may be transplanted, but in that case do not come
to the same size as those which grow upon the spot
where they were originally raised.

76

2. The produce of the turnip crop necessarily varies.
Mr Paterson of Castle Huntly found that his globe or
common turnip weighed fifty tons per acre, when entire,
but only forty-six tons when the tops and tails were cut
off. Mr Allan of Craigcrook states, that on his farm at
Oldliston, the common white turnip weighed from forty
to fifty tons per Scotch acre, and the tuta baga from
fifty to sixty tons.

3. The mode of consuming turnips, by feeding cattle
and sheep, is well known -, but there is one mode of giv-
ing them to sheep, adopted by Mr Hunter of Tynefield
in East Lothian, which seems to be peculiar, and to
merit paiticular attention.

He states, that he has been in use for seveial years
past, to turn part of his straw into manure in winter, by
folding sheep, and giving them turnip on the top of ihe
straw. In 1808, he had 300 sheep, mostly black-faced
wedders, three year old from the Highlands, at L. 20 per
score, fed on turnip in the following manner. A fold,
containing an EnglUh acre, was made in the corner of a
field on a sputhern exposure, sheltered from the north
and west by a strong thorn hedge : the whole fold was
then covered with straw a fo<>t thick. The sheep were
turned in, and turnips carted and laid on half of the fold
upon the straw, and a daily supply was continued on the
same half till the straw under them was a little wet : the
turnip was then Liid on the other half, covering that part
where the turnip had been first laid with fresh straw, and
he continued to change from side to side once in two or
three days, always giving fresh straw the whole season.
The sheep lay very dry, the straw serving as a drain to
receive moisture. As the palm or chaff upon the straw
was eaten by the sheep, they fatted apace, and were
sold in March at L. 42 per score. The quantity of manure
produced was very great, (no doubt partly depemlin

77

the quantity of straw used), in one year not less than 800
tons of the best manure he ever saw on his farm. He pre-
fers this method to wintering of cattle on it, first, because
the sheep eat less, of course more manure is gained ;
, and in the second place, because he finds the quality
richer.

This excellent mode of raising abundance of rich ma-
nure, cannot be too strongly recommended.

Several intelligent farmers have of late years grown
ruta bag* or Swedish turnips, for horses and for other
stock, during that critical period when the common tur-
nips fail, and grass has not yet become abundant, and for
these purposes this esculent is invaluable. But Mr
Church of Hitchell observes, that where the soil is thin
and dry, it is impossible to raise a good crop of Swedes
under any management. He therefore begins to enter-
tain an idea of substituting potatoes in their room *.

4. Mr Blair of Montague, near Perth, on the first ap-
pearance of severe frost, has been accustomed, for thirty
years past, to store up turnips, cutting off their tops and
tails, and thus preserving them sound and good for three
months, much to the advantage of his farm ; and Mr John
Shirreff has received a gold medal from the Society of
Arts, for communicating to that public spirited institu-
tion, a simple mode of drawing and stacking, either the

* Mr Kerr observes, that potatoes, he understand*, are
now very extensively applied to the use of caule and horses
in Lanarkshire. If this is ultimately found to answer, and
the practice become universal, it will secure the country
against the possibility of famine in the very worst of years.
It will become a source of tangible humansGojxl, usually ap-
plied to animals, who may be supplied from other sources
calculated for their subsistence. In a year of dearth, the high
price of potatoes, will naturally induce the farmers to stint
their cattle, for the supply of ihe people, and to replenish
their own pockets.

78

whole, or the greatest part of his turnip crop for several
years in autit-vn, intended to be consumed during the
following winter and spring, a practice which he found
•attended with much convenience, economj and emolu-
me>); *

5. The celebrated George Culley, has communicated
to ->e a f .:>, whir!;, "hough perhaps.known to many intel-
ligent farmer , may no. be so universally propagated as it
deserves to be. It i; this ; that all crude soils, or even
such soils as iuive been cultivated, but which have had
little or no calcareous matter mixed with them, will pro-
duce better turnips, with a good dose of lime or shell
marl only, without any dung whatever, than with dung
without any lime or other calcareous substance. This
he finds from long and repeated experience.

It is said that the turnips in Berwickshire are seldom
injured by the fly. This may perhaps be attributed to
the superior culture, for which that district is so much
distinguished, by means of which the young plants are
enabled to push away at the beginning with more vigour
than when the management is less perfect; for it is a ge-
neral observation, that the more rapid the vegetation of
the plant, the better is it able to withstand the effect of
the insect's depredacions.

It has been remarked in Banffshire, that mixing earth
or moss with the offals of fish, makes an excellent com-
post, particularly for turnips, and that the best turnips
are always after fish dung. This should be attended to ou
the sea coast, where such quantities of fish, and of fish
offal may be had. ?

It may be proper to add, that since the stoppage of
the distillery, and the scarcity of grain for feeding milch-

» This useful communication is printed in the 22d vol.
of the Transactions cf ihc Society of Arts, p. 118.

79

cows, turnips have been the most valuable crops raised
in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and that thej have
sometimes sold so high, as from L. 30 to L. 36 per Scotch
acre.

9. Carrots.

This species of crop is not so much cultivated in
Scotland as it ought to be. Its culture seems to be at-
tended with no more difficulty than that of cabbage, po-
tatoes, or turnip?, and if properly cultivated, with little
or perhaps no more expence. An active improver, (Mr
Alexander Guthrie,) states, that in his attempts to raise
the carrot, with hardly any exception, he has succeed-
ed beyond expectation. For working-horses, he knows
no food equal to carrot, and of this he has had complete
experience. Were the growth of carrots general over
the country, and used as food for working-horses, he LJ
of opinion that two-thirds of the oats consumed for that
purpose might be saved. In years of scarcity, this would
be of great advantage to the nation, and a blessing to the
poor.

Mr Buttervvorth informs me, that he has cultivated
carrots for seven years upon the same ground, without
dunging, and with great success, and had one year twenty
acres, which he sold at 5 d. per stone, and two acres and
a half for L. 60 Sterling, without being at the expence
of raising them. — He ploughed the ground in October*
in the common and ordinary way ; in March he ploughed
it again, in the same manner, and harrowed it well, and
where it was sheltered, he sowed the seed immediately
after the harrowing, that the weeds might not get start

* In Suffolk, autumnal ploughing is found much to in-
crease weeds, and to add to the expence of hoeing.

80

of the seed, which is of great consequence : the drills *
were made at one foot asunder. He then rolled the ground
with a heavy roller, drawn by two horses : when the rows
appeared, he run the Dutch hoe betwixt the rows, and
hand-weeded the rows, leaving the plants four inches
asunder : in about three weeks after he weeded a second
time, and kept them very clean. In October, he cut off
the tops with a scythe, and raised the carrots by plough-
ing the ground in the ordinary way, as many as he want-
ed ; but where the ground was dry, he let them remain
with their tops on, to guard them from the frost, and rai-
sed them as he had occasion : frost destroys them if left
in wet ground during the winter ; but in dry ground they
keep best tilt the spring, when they begin to grow, and
should be raised in March. He sowed about 7lb. of seed f
per acre, and they yielded a profit equal to wheat,
and improved the ground till it was absolutely too rich
for carrots, and he had the best crops of barley and wheat
after, that could be imagined : one acre produced nineteen
bolls and a half of wheat, and was very indifferent ground
before it was improved by the cultivation of carrots. He
sold the spot, which was at Burnhead and Stonehouse,
near Liber ton, twelve years ago, at more than double the
price he paid for it, without any improvements, except
by cultivating carrots upon it ; on an average he had about

* Drilling has been tried in Suffolk, but did not succeed.
Here is no mention of steeping the seed, which is found very
important in Suffolk.

f Never more than 5 lh. of seed sown in Suffolk broad-
cast by the best farmers ; the seed being good, that is to say
new.

81

42oo stones per acre *. Where the ground was cold, and
not sheltered, he did not sow till April.

Mr Guthrie adds, that in the attempts he made to steep
the seed, he partly succeeded, and partly failed ; the seed
being bad, it was steeped in pure water twenty-four
hours. He has tried to transplant carrots, but did not
find it answer. He does not think it a good plan to cut
off the tops, the second growth coming too late to pro-
tect the carrots from the frost, as he allowed them to re-
main in the ground during the winter. He has given
them to his horses during the whole of April quite sound
and fresh, and they eat the tops as well as the root.

Mr Paterson of Castle-Huntly also cultivates carrots.
He cuts the tops as required, and gives them to the cows ;
the produce of one acre of which, this year, served to
support nine milch-cows for a fortnight ; after which the
carrots were taken up with the plough ; the remainder of
the tops cut quite close to the body before housing.

Mr John Shirreff has made an interesting experiment,
on a small scale, to ascertain, whether carrots are dete-
riorated, or otherwise, by cutting off their tops in sum-
mer, and converting them into hay.

Weight of the roots of the carrots, grown on a small,
piece of ground, drawn and weighed on the Ib. oz.-
joth November 1810, 16 4

Ditto of the leaves, - - 80

24 4
Ditto of the leaves cut on the 7th of August, 7 8

Total, 31 i a

* The produce, which is 13^ tons per acre, is a fiir com-
mon crop in Suffolk on good lands.

82

Weight of the roots and leaves of carrots grown on an
equal extent of land, and of similar quality, drawn and
weighed on the 3Oth of November Ib. oz.

1810, 46 2

Weight of the leaves alone, 13 ja

Roots alone, 30

Thus it appears, that the roots alone of the carrots,
the leaves of which were not cut till they were drawn in
November, amount to a greater weight than both the
leaves and the roots of the carrots that were trimmed
over on the yth August, and that the difference on the
whole was nearly 50 per cent, on the one produce, and to
30 per cent, on the other.

It is also proper to observe, that the weight of root,
•which is the most valuable part of the plant, is nearly
double in what was uncut in summer, whereas the extra
growth of leaf in consequence, of summer cutting, is on-
ly about 1 ^ per cent, at the utmost.

In regard to the culture of carrots in Scotland, it has
been ascertained, in the most satisfactory manner, that
they can be raised on peaty soils with the greatest suc-
cess. The following account of this important fact I
have received from a respectable proprietor in the county
of Fife *.

* It is well known, that carrots delight in a soil, where
they find no difficulty in striking their roots downwards.
Deep sandy soils were therefore recommended for that va-
luable article, but there is reason to believe, that peaty soils
will be found greatly preferable.

A gentleman in the north of Scotland, being desirous of
cultivating that root, and understanding that celery throve

83

10. Potatoes.

The culture of potatoes has greatly increased in Scot-
land, owing to the following circumstances, r. The ex-

well on peat, he resolved to try, whether carrots, also, would
not answer; and he pitched on an acre of low meadow-
ground for that purpose, which might have been converted
into peats for fuel. It was trenched in November 1805, an£l
a crop of oats taken in 1806. After the oats were removed,
a moderate quantity of rotten dung, and some lime, were
laid on the ground, it was then dug over with the spade, and
in spring 1807, sown with carrots in drills.

In the beginning of the year 1808, the ground got a small
quantity of dung, and was again dug over with the spade,
and sown with carrots. The crop was very abundant,
and some of the carrots measured eighteen inches in length,
although the ground was only trenched to the depth of a
foot.

The quantity per acre was from thirteen to fourteen tons,
which was sold, when delivered at Leith, for 7 s. 6 d. per
cwt., or L. 7, IDS. per ton. The produce of an acre, there-
fore, when the crop answers, is immense. The value of
carrots, as food for cattle, is well known, rand it must be
of peculiar consequence, therefore, in the Highland districts
of the country, to cultivate that root.

From 1 68 to 200 carrots weighed one cwt., and, whrn
sold in the Edinburgh market, fetched, even the small
sized, i d. per piece, and the larger sorts i-J d., and even ;zd.
each.

The principal difficulty is to get good seed. If that can
be obtained, no crop will repay so well the expence of cul-
tivation on a peaty soil. Suffolk is the best county for ob-
taining it.

The quantity of good seed required per English acre, is
from 61b. to 8 Ib. As farm-servants are not Well acquaint-
ed with the culture, it is best to sow the larger quantity.
The price varies, according to the season, from is. 6d.
to 2 s. per Ib. The proper season for sowing field carrots, is
from the middle to the end of March. They should be '
sown in drills, but not in raised ridges like tuunips, and not
rolled. The drills should be eighteen inches apart, if drilled

84

cellent mode in which they are raised, a. The demand
for them at market. 3. Their proving so valuable a
preparation for crops of wheat ; and, 4. The custom
adopted by farmers, of giving portions of land for raising
potatoes, both to their own servants, and to the inhabi-
tants of any neighbouring town or village.

i. Nothing can be superior to the mode of raising po-
tatoes by the plough, and in drills. The following ac-
count of that process, though peculiarly applicable to
the neighbourhood of Glasgow, does not vary material-
ly from the practice usually adopted in other parts of the
kingdom.

The ground is prepared for a potato crop by plough-
ing in winter, or rather in autumn ; and to keep it dry,
during winter, the ridges are gathered, and the furrows
kept clear. It is sometimes ploughed once, and some-
times twice, and well harrowed during the spring, and
the drills being formed, the dung and cuttings are put in
and covered with the plough. In sandy ground the cuttings
are put below, and in heavy soil above the dung. The
potatoes are dressed in summer in the ordinary way, the
drills being pared or sliced, horse-hoed, hand-hoed, weed-
ed, &c. as in other parts of the country.

In regard to the produce and value, that must va-
ry according to the condition of the ground, the time
and manner of culture and cropping, the season, and

on level ground with a hoe ; but if done with a plough as
turnips, they would require two feet.

To those who have peaty soils already in cultivation f, a
trial of so promising an experiment, is earnestly recommend-
ed, and that they would be pleased to communicate the re-
sult, to the President of the Board of Agriculture.

f When peaty soils arc first cultivated, they ought always to be trenched in
the beginning of winter, and exposed to frost. If dug in summer, the heat of the
sun hardens them, and converts them into peat for fuel. But old peaty soils,
may be trenched for carrots in spring. The produce has amounted even to 16
ton per Scotch acre.

85

other relative circumstances. A potato crop will average
from 40 to 50 bolls per acre. They will sometimes fall
short of 40, but many have reaped more than 60 bolls
from one acre. General Spense sold last year a po-
tato crop, for part of which he was paid L. 29 per acre,
and potatoes were raised from part of the field, at the va-
lue of 80 bolls per acre. Andrew Moodie, Esq; reaped,
for a first crop, upon deep moss, near Paisley, from
17^ acres, near one acre of which was occupied with
roads, ditches, &c. 774 bolls of potatoes, which he sold
at L. 418 : 6 : 2. Robert Cameron, in East Walking-
shaw, near Paisley, raised 60 bolls per acre, from moss-
ground. Potatoes are usually sold at from L. 18 to L. 28
per acre, the purchaser digging up and removing the
crop. In a field, near Elderslee House, potatoes, plant-
ed without dung, after a crop of oats, from old rested
land, to which no manure had been given, sold at L. 27
per acre.

Mr Andrew of Tillilumb, near Perth, adopts the fol-
lowing plan in the cultivation of potatoes, i. He cross-
ploughs. 2. Puts in the dung. 3. Ploughs a second
time ; and, 4. The ground is either drilled for potatoes,
or another ploughing given, and the potatoes planted af-
ter the plough in every third furrow. He usually fol-
lows the last mode, as he thinks it best calculated to do
justice to the ground, and generally brings a good crop.
The expences, besides rent and dung, may be stated as
follows :

Seed per acre, 2f bolls, (32 stone Amsterdam,) at 12 s.
per boll, " • ( L. i 10 o

Cutting seed, 026

Planting, 040

Cleaning, after being horse-hoed, • o ia o

L.a 8 6

86

Potatoes at Perth sold this year at about L. 15 or 15 gui-
neas^. Scotch acre; and if L.j is supposed for rent, and L«5
for dung, it will appear that there is not too much for so
much labour, and that the chief profit lies in the state of
preparation the ground is brought into for the succeeding
crop. In a wet season, potatoes do not answer upon heavy
land *.

The average produce of potatoes near Edinburgh, is
from 40 to 60 bolls per Scotch acre, and the average va-
lue from L. 20 to L. 25.

2. The consumption of potatoes is annually increasing
in Scotland, every prejudice against the wholesome-
ness of that root having been long ago exploded. The
simple modes in which they can be prepared for the ta-
ble, is of the utmost advantage to the poor ; and by the
addition of salted herring, both the taste, and the nou-
rishment afforded by that useful article, maybe improved.
It is difficult indeed to conceive how the people of this
country could have subsisted, had it not been for the for-
tunate introduction, and extensive culture of, this most
valuable plant.

3. Potatoes are found an excellent preparation for crops
of wheat. The frequent ploughings necessary for raising

* The following is the expence of cultivating one acre of
potatoes near Dalkeith.

Dung, 40 single-horse carts, at 55. L. 10 o o

Three ploughings and harrowings, a o o

Seed, cleaning with horse and hand-hoe, 3 10 o

Taking up and housing, - 2 ze o

Rent, 55°

L. 23 5 o

87

that article ; the quantity of dung allotted for it, the
frequent hoeings, the stirring which the ground receives
when they are gathered, (sometimes perhaps more than
is necessary), and the favourable period of the year when
they are taken up, are excellent preparations for the cul-
ture of that important grain. Wheat after potatoes,
therefore, is almost universal, wherever both are culti-
vated.

4. The culture of potatoes is very much increased by
two practices : i. That of farmers giving a certain por-
tion of land for raising potatoes to their servants, they
furnishing the dung, and the farmer the plough and the
horses ; and, 2. By a practice of farmers in the neigh-
bourhood of towns and villages letting land to the inha-
bitants for the same purpose, they furnishing both dung
and labour. Near Cullen, in Banffshire, they get a fall
of ground for a load of dung, which the farmer puts on
his turnip field, as the people consider the potatoes of a
better quality when raised without dung. Mr Stewart
of Hillhead, by letting an acre for potatoes, gets the la-
bour of 12 o reapers *. They give the seed only, and
take up the crop. The land is let to labourers and trades-
men in a neighbouring village. The value of the pota«
toes is more than ordinary wages, and they are maintain-
ed the days they work, but it is a great advantage to have

* An acre of potatoes gives 120 days reaping, (s&earing,)
at 55 yards for each day, the drill being 34 inches wide.
The acre thus pays L. 9, the reaper furnishing seed ; the
wages, reckoned at is. 6cJ. besides victuals, which together
make 2s. 2 d. per day. The reaper (shearer) has his pota-
toes at nearly 20 s. the ton, often much less : the advantage
of the farmer is, having these reapers at his call, and only ou
the days when required.

88

a number of labourers at command, more especially du-
ring a critical harvest.

Attentive farmers do not neglect to cut off the tops of
potatoes and jams, if possible before the commencement
of frost, and at any rate before they take up the roots,
which is the means of saving food that otherwise would
be lost, and at any rate the tops make good dung.

Mr Church of Hitchel states, that he has grown, with-
in these few years past, a variety of the potato, more
productive than even the Surinam potatoe or yam, and
they have also this advantage over the latter, that they
boil or steam readily, which the yam does not. He has
had from ten to twelve tons per Scotch acre of them,
which is a greater weight than he ever obtained of Swe-
dish turnips. These newly- introduced potatoes have a
dark green haulm, and no blossom or apple. Sheep stock
seem to thrive upon these potatoes, in even a raw state,
as he fed his breeding ewes for some weeks upon them
last spring, which he was under the necessity of doing by
he failure of his turnip crop.

From the great size to which they attain, they have lately
been distinguished, in the county of Dumfries, by the name
of the Patagonian Potato. In Cumberland, they are called
the Bullock, being much used there for the purpose of
feeding cattle. Their cultivation is in all respects the
same as that of the common potato. Mr Church having
a considerable stock of them, can supply any person
with seed.

II. Cabbages and Kale.

It is said that cabbages, when properly cultivated,
yield more food for cattle than any other crop whatever.
Mr Waddell at Dockenyfauld, near Glasgow, raised cab-
bages on his farm, at the rate of 50 tons per acre, and

89

putting them up to the neck in earth, and covering them
with straw, he thus preserves them for his cows till the
month of February.

Mr Scott of Craiglockhart observes, that an inexhaust-
ible fund of manure might be obtained, by cultivating
cabbages for autumn food. A careful hand will find as
marly pickings from an acre of thriving cabbages, as will
plentifully feed six or seven head of catde, from the mid-
dle of September to the middle of November. Feed-
ing solely on them much longer is not so proper.

The same intelligent farmer observes, that cabbages
should be cultivated as green food for cattle in autumn,
and green kale for the same purpose during the months
of March and April, which last is certainly the scarcest
period of the year for food to stock, more especially in
high situations.

To what extent cabbages ought to be cultivated in
Scotland, will be the subject of future consideration.

12. Artificial Grasses.

Red clover, with a mixture of rye-grass ; white clover
and yellow clover, and sometimes rib-grass, are the gras-
ses almost universally sown in Scotland. Some experi

M

* Two experiments have been reported to me of the cul
ture of lucern in Scotland, on« by a proprietor near Edin-
burgh, who has about three acres of this plant, with which
he maintains ten or twelve horses during the summer season.
The other is by Mr Uuffin, vinegar merchant at the Abbey.
He has had it for several years growing in a plot of his gar-
den ; the plot is not near a rood, and it maintains one horse
to him during the summer months : he has three luxutiant
cuttings, and an after cutting in the end of autumn. From
the first sowing it grows annually ; it lasts from ten to fcur-

90

ments have been tried with lucern *, sainfoin, chicory,
&c., but not to an extent entitled to anj particular no-
tice.

The introduction of red clover is one of the most for-
tunate circumstances that could have happened to the
husbandry of Scotland, more especially since the mode
of cutting it green for stock, or soiling, has been adopt-
ed ; the produce is immense, whilst from the size of its
root, which remains in the ground, it does not exhaust,
as otherwise would be the case. It is also an excellent
preparation for other crops. Many people imagine, that
the land grows sick of clover, but, to any extent, that is
to be attributed to the want of deep ploughing, as clover
delights in new soil, in so much that when it is at first
tried, in any ground tolerably fertile, the produce is hard-
ly to be credited.

The propriety of cultivating rye-grass, is an import-
ant subject of discussion. Mr Arthur Young informs
me, that the English farmers, who are eminent in their
business, abhor rye grass on strong lands, from a multi-
tude of observations on the wheat which follows it, for
the cases are many, in which fields, partly sown with clo-
ver alone, and partly with clover and rye-grass, where
the superiority of the wheat after the clover alone, in-
duced them to resolve on the omission of rye-grass in
future. He adds, that cocksfoot answers all the pur-

teen years, yielding good crops, and perhaps may remain in
vigour much longer. He has tried transplantation, and it
answers to his wish, for lucern throws out a number of fresh
shoots from its root. It requires to be hoed clean from any
other grass or vreeds. There cannot be a doubt of its thriving
well in Scotland, in rich deep soils, which it requires, as its
shoots go far into the ground ; hence a tilly or rocky bottom
is improper for it.

91

poses of rye-grass, particularly as a mixture with clover,
supports more stock, and does not equally exhaust. In
regard to rye-grass, either cut green, or converted into
hay, a person of much experience in the management of
horses, (Mr Alexander Maclaurin of Edinburgh), consi-
ders rye-grass mixed with clover, as a strong, pleasant
and substantial food for horses even at hard work, and
every season he has given it green, even to post-horses,
in the stable, and it has answered well. He is also of
opinion, that hay made of clover and rye-grass, if cut at
a proper season, (before the plants are too ripe,) if safe-
ly got in, and properly thatched, so as to prevent it from
the winter rains, instead of becoming dry and husky, as
some people imagine, improves by time, and is much fit-
ter for the use and benefit of horses, than if used some
months before, and indeed will retain this perfection all
the ensuing summer, autumn, and next winter ; on the
supposition, always, that it is preserved from rain. Good
old hay, for that reason, always gives a higher price than
new. In a comparative view of rye-grass, mixed with
clover, and meadow hay, the former is to be accounted
far preferable to the other, on account of its strength and
substance, by which horses are enabled the better to stand
hard work. The fibres of meadow-hay are soft and small,
and according to Mr Maclaurin's opinion, dissolve sooner
in a horse's stomach, consequently not so proper for hard-
working horses as the other. If cocksfoot, however, would
answer all the purposes of rye- grass, without exhausting
the land, what an advantage ? ^

The cultivation of artificial grasses in Scotland, is al-
' ready so generally known, and will be so fully detailed,
in he General Report now drawing up, of the Husban-
dry of Scotland, that it does not seem necessary to dwell
upon it longer in this place. We shall proceed, there-

fore, to consider how far the crops above enumerated,
ought to be sown broadcast, or drilled.

Hints as to Drilling.

It has long been a subject of dispute, whether it is
most advisable to sow the different crops usually culti-
vated on arable land, drilled or broadcast. Without en-
tering into so wide a controversy, I shall endeavour short-
ly to state the opinions entertained by the intelligent far-
mers, with whom I have lately corresponded, on the sub-
ject of Scottish Husbandry.

It seems to be universally admitted, that it is the most
advantageous system, to drill turnips and potatoes, and
that drilling, in regard to these articles, is greatly prefe-
rable to the broadcast mode, for the following reasons :
x. As it carries off the extra moisture in wet soils : a. As
t exposes more surface to atmospheric influence, by
which the soil is meliorated ; and, 3. As it gives an ad-
ditional opportunity for the vegetation and the destruc-
tion of weeds *.

It would appear likewise, from the experiments of
Mr Butterworth and others, that drilling carrots is an
advantageous system, as the plant can thus be cultivated
on soils, where otherwise it would hardly be practicable,
the drills furnishing an artificial depth of soil in which
they can be raised.

* Remarks by Captain John Henderson of Aimster in Caith-
ness. Some prefer turnips broad cast, imagining that they
are better protected from the frost, by the earth, than when
raised in ridges ; iu which case the earth is apt to fall from

them.

93

Many also approve of the system of drilling beafts, as
the pods of beans are placed on the stem from the root
upward, and of course derive essential benefit, when fill-
ing, from the open space left between the drills. This is
admitted on light or loamy lands ; but where the soil is
of a strong and clayey nature, the broadcast system is
frequently preferred, more especially in the Carse of
Gowrie, as in a rainy season it is found very difficult
to perform the necessary drilling operations in clay,
which renders the crop uncertain and precarious, and not
a cleaning one *.

Many farmers also drill their pease, more especially
in light and pliable lands ; but on strong clays, it is said
that pease broadcast succeed better. It is remarked by
Mr Stuart of Hillhead, that pease sown in drills may
be calculated for cleaning the land, but not for obtaining
a crop j and Mr Charles Alexander observes, that he has
several times attempted the drilling of pease, but never
with success ; the slender nature of that plant not admit-
ting of horse-hoeing, except when young ; and as it is
not of upright growth, not well then. As that plant
supports itself by the plants taking hold of one another,
the interstices prevent the tendrils from getting hold, ex-
cept in the row, when the wind blowing across the drills
lays them over on one side, and retards their podding.

In regard to white crops, some eminent farmers,
Mr Brown of Marlde in particular, consider the ad-
vantages of that system to be at best but proble-
matical f. The intelligent farmers, however, in the

* Observations by Mr Peter Jack of Moncur.

f One of my correspondents remarks, that in regard te
the drilling of white or culmiferous crops, he has had no ex-

94

•eighbourhood of Dunbar, whose lands are subject to
annual weeds, and who sow a great deal of wheat in spring,
have adopted the drilling system with much success, and
consider it essential for the culture of their land.

Some experiments made by Mr Hope of Fenton, East
Lothian, are among the most satisfactory and decisive I
have met with, OB the subject of drilling. From these
experiments, he is inclined to draw the following conclu-
sions : i. That it is of no advantage to drill winter
sown wheat, as the crop is never injured by annual weeds,
and where the soil is infested with root weeds, as the crop,
in ordinary ca»es, will completely meet in the rows, be-
fore the root weeds make much appearance, it is impos-
sible, without injuring the crop, to render much benefit
to the land with the hoe. a. On all land, however,
where annual weeds are abundant, he considers it of great
importance, to use the drill for sowing white crops of
every description, it being understood at the time, that
plenty of hands can at all times be obtained for using the
hoe ; for it is better to sow in the common method broad-
cast, than drill without hoeing.

Mr Hope adds, that an experiment was tried in his
neighbourhood, which places the advantage of drilling in
a very favourable point of view. A field of grass land,
of good quality, which, in consequence of having been
always cultivated in the broadcast manner, was full of
annuals, was all drilled, with the exception of six ridges
in different parts of the field, which were sown broad -

perience ; but it appears to him that the operation is tedious
and minute, without any adequate benefit. The drilling of
these can nerer be meant for cleaning the ground ; a very
good farmer will have it clean before they are sown in it. It
is net so easy, however, to get the better of annual weeds.

95

cast, that the difference of produce between the two might
be ascertained. The drills were made at a foot distance
between the rows, and the drilled part of the field was
hand-hoed, during the summer, at the cxpence of one gui-
nea per acre •. The difference of produce was very great,
for the broadcast yielded only 9 bolls per Scotch acre,
whereas not less than 15 bolls was the produce of the
other.

Among the advantages of drilling, Mr Hope states,
that he has uniformly found the expence of cutting a
drilled crop in harvest less than what was sown broadcast ;
the difference he has always found to be in this propor-
tion, that three reapers will do as much work in the for-
mer case as four in the latter.

Mr Church of Hitchel recommends drilling wheat
crops, not only for the purpose of having an opportunity
to eradicate weeds by hoeing, but to give the grain a
good hold of the ground, which may prevent the frost
throwing it so easily out in the spring, and the wind
loosening the roots of it so readily when it is in ear and
beginning to fill. On light land, he has sometimes obser-
ved the grain make no farther progress towards per-
fection, after a high wind at this period, which he pre-
sumes is owing principally to the roots being loosened,
the ascension of nutriment to the ear_ being thereby pre-
vented.

* Mr Scott of Craiglockhart recommends the Dutch hoe as
the best, for the operator proceeds backward, leaving the
wrought ground and cut weeds untrod : the work is also much
lighter, as less force is requisite, and stooping unnecessary. If
taken in time, before the weeds get rough, a girl will hoe with
ease the fourth part of a Scotch acre per day.

90

Mr Robertson of Ladykirk is of opinion, that the pro-
priety of drilling turnips, beans and potatoes, cannot be
doubted, and that the more labour and hoeing bestowed
on the crops, with judgment, and in dry weather, the bet-
ter will be the returns. He has also observed, that
drilled crops are less apt to be beat down in wet sea-
sons.

It is remarked, from the highest authority in the Carse
of Cowrie, that the culture of white corn crops by the
drill, might be a beneficial mode of husbandry in that
valuable district, as it would be the means of extirpating
the growth of annual weeds, which are so destructive to
the spring crops in the Carse, particularly the beans, the
pease, and the oats sown early upon well frosted land,
which are often rendered not half a crop by the growth
of wild mustard.

An intelligent farmer near Arbroath, (Mr Rennie of
Kinblethmont), states it as his opinion, that the drill sys-
tem ought to be adopted, wherever turnips, potatoes,
beans, or even pease, are sown ; the intervals not less
than twenty-seven inches, regularly horse-hoed, and the
rows hand-weeded by women ; which, if properly exe-
cuted, leaves the ground in as good order as if it had
undergone a naked fallow. None of the above-men-
tioned crops can be cultivated to advantage broadcast ;
for in case of its failure, the ground is sure to be left in
a wretched state indeed. In case of the soil being light,
and much infested with annual weeds, the drill system
may with great propriety be adopted with wheat, bar-
ley, and oats ; but in that case the intervals should not
exceed nine inches, to be either hand-hoed, or done
with a machine made for the purpose. The seed to be
deposited by a sowing-machine, and the grass-seeds co-

97
vtrfed in with the last hoeing, which answers perfectly

The following, on the whole, seems to be the result
that may be drawn from this important discussion.

I. That turnips and potatoes ought to be drilled in all
cases.

a. That drilling carrots is advisable, more especially
where there is not a great depth of soil.

3. That beans should be drilled on light and loamy
soils, but not on very harsh, strong, and stubborn clays.

4. That pease may be drilled in dry soils a; d climates,
where the object is to clean the land ; but where the land
is clean, sowing broadcast suits better the nature of that
plant.

5. That autumn or winter sown wheat may be culti-
vated broadcast, but that spring sown crops, whether
wheat, barley or oats, are most likely to be productive,
where annual weeds abound, when cultivated in drills.

It may be proper at the same time to observe, that in
several districts in England, particularly in some parts of
Norfolk, and Suffolk, they carry their ideas in favour of
the drilling system, in so far as regards crops of grain,
still farther.

8. — ROTATION or CROPS.

Of all the subjects included in the present inquiry,
this, perhaps, is the most important, and the most diffi-
cult to discuss *. The returns transmitted to me regard-
ing this single point, exceed eighty in number, and
would form a moderate volume. It is my duty to en-

N

* Even in gardening a rotation of crops is advisable. See
Nicol's Gardener's Kalendar, p. 21.

98

deavour to compress this mass of useful information,
within a moderate compass. With that view, I shall
endeavour briefly to point out the best modes of crop-
ping suggested in the course of the inquiry. It must
depend upon the judgment of the farmer, to adopt those
which are best suited to the climate where he resides,
the nature of the soil he cultivates, the size and situation
of his farm, and a variety of other circumstances which
will necessarily require his attention, In determining
which ought to be preferred *.

Every farmer must be aware, in fixing on his rotations,
that it is necessary for him to ascertain, not only the va-
rious articles for the production of which his farm is
calculated and which are likely to yield him the greatest
profit ; but also the succession in which these articles
ought to be raised, so as not to diminish the fertility of
his soil j or, as Lord Kames has well observed> so to in-
termix his crops, as to make the greatest possible profit,
consistently with keeping his land in order.

The subject of judicious rotations, has been very ably
touched upon in one of the first reports drawn up for the
Board of Agriculture, (that of Huntingdonshire), by Mr
Maxwell of Fletton. That intelligent farmer having
suggested a course of crops, the propriety of which
will be afterwards discussed, very justly remarks, that
after all the volumes that have been written on farming,
a rational system is the only true groundwork of general

* Mr Church of Hitchel, remarks, that to adopt a judici-
ous mode of cropping, requires a degree of judgment in the
occupier, which can only be obtained by experience and ob-
servation. Much depends, however, on the manner in which
the different processes are executed. The best arranged rota-
tion may be of little use, if these are done improperly.

99

improvement, and that those who carry into execution a
profitable system of management, bid fair to engage the
notice of the neighbourhood, in spite of the impression
of those habits which attach to unlettered farmers, and
thus may be the source of essential service, both to the
cause of agriculture and to their country.

On this part of the subject it may be sufficient to add,
that almost the same crops, which, under one system,
would be extremely unprofitable to the farmer, and in-
jurious to his land, under another rotation, with an in-
tervening crop or fallow, might be not only profitable,
but might promote its fertility *.

lu considering this important subject, it is proposed
shortly to discuss the following particulars: i. The
principles or maxims on which rotations ought to be ar-
ranged : 2. The various sorts of rotations which have
been adopted in Scotland, for various periods of two,
three, four, five, or for a longer period of years: 3. Of
double rotations, where two systems are in a manner
carried on at the same time : and, 4. Any miscellaneous
particulars connected with this branch of the inquiry.

X. Of the principles on which Rotations ought to be ar~
ranged.

I have endeavoured, in the preceding section, to point
out the various articles which are principally cultivated
in Scotland. These articles must be raised, either con-

* Compare, for instance, the old course in the Curse of
Gowrie. i. Wheat. 2. Barley. 3. Oats. 4. Ptase and
beans, when the crops were trifling, with the new system, i.
Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Beans. 4. Barley. 5. Grass. 6.
Oats. Under the first course, the rent was only from 25 s.
to 30 s. per acre. Under the second, it has in many case*
risen to L. 5 or L.Gfer acre, and upwards.

100

stantly on the same ground, or one year must be appro-
priated for the growth of one sort, and the next for the
production of another. There are few cases where the
same land will constantly yield one and the same plant,
or where a repetition of the same crop, or indeed of the.
same species of grain, without some interval, is not found
to be injurious. Hemp is the principal exception to that
general rule ; for in Russia, the same ground invaria-
bly produces it, without either fallow or any intermix-
ture of crops. It appears from Mr Butterworth's expe-
riments already mentioned, that carrots have been suc-
cessfully cultivated for seven years, on the same ground,
with increasing fertility. In some instances, bear or big,
has been sown for years on the same ground. But in ge-
neral, a change or rotation of crops, has been found not
only expedient, but necessary.

The propriety of adopting any rotation must depend
on a variety of circumstances, more especially the fol-
lowing, i. On the climate. Whether it is wet or dry.
Wet climates, for instance, are favourable to the produc-
tion of potatoes and oats, dry climates for pease and
beans-, and the rotations to be adopted in each climate
ought to be formed accordingly. ^. On the sot/ ; for clay,
loam, or sand, have each various crops best calculated
for them. 3. A rotation must also depend upon the si-
tuation of a farm> in reg4rd to the probable sale of its
productions : for instance, a large field of potatoes,
which might be worth L. 25 per acre, near a great town,
might not be worth L. 5, in a remote part of the coun-
try *. 4. On the means of improvement by extra manure,

• That able reporter, Mr Kerr, in his account of the Ber-
wickshire husbandry, remarks, that unless near large towns,
where potatoes are substituted for fallow or turnips, they
never constitute a complete pan of any rotation, because in

. 101

at lime, marl, sea-ware, town dung, &c.— The celebrat-
ed Dunbar rotation, of, i. Turnips; 2. Wheat; 3.
Grass ; and, 4. Wheat, could not be possibly carried on,
without the command of sea-ware, which that neigh,
bourhood possesses : and, 5. The rotation must also de-»
pend on the state or condition of the soil, whether it be old
cultivated land, or a new improvement.

We shall now proceed to state the maxims, which have
been recommended, as the best calculated, to lay the foun-
dations of judicious systems of rotation.

i. It is proper to have various articles on your farm ,
so as not to run too much risk, either in regard to the
season, or to the sale of the produce afterwards. If s
farmer were to cultivate but one crop, he might often
be materially injured by one unfavourable season ; or if
the article which he raised was not saleable, the land
had better have remained unploughed.

a. To have the crops so arranged, that the labour of
ploughing for each, of sowing, weeding, reaping, &c.
shall proceed in a regular succession, and that the labour
or business be not too much crowded on the farmer, at
any one season of the year, nor any extra stock rendered
necessary; but that the crops produced on the farm, shall
be cultivated by the same hands, and with the same
cattle. To this general rule, hand-hoers in spring and
summer, and reapers in autumn, must form an excep-
tion.

3. To avoid forcing crops, or frequent repetitions of
the same articles or species, a diminution both in quan-

saleable, unless at prices inferior to their cultivation, and if
universal, or even but a little more extended, they would
be unsaleable almost at any price. Berwickshire Report,
p. 214.

IOC

tity and quality, except in very rare instances, never
fails to be the consequence. By frequent repetitions of
the same crops, (as Mr Scott of Craiglockhart remarks),
the soil loses stamina, which neither manure nor cul-
tivation can renovate. Great luxuriance in vegetation
can be made to take place, without much real produc-
tiveness, as we see where grain is sown on the sites of
dunghils *.

4. To ayoid two white crops in succession, but alter-
nately £o have white and green crops. To this general
rule there is an exception, when old leys are broken up,
in which case, two crops of oats ought always to be
taken, the second crop being uniformly the best. On
this head, an intelligent farmer in Berwickshire ob-
serves, that it is impossible to lay down general rules,
without modifying them by such circumstances as are
often only to be known by real practitioners : and
though the system of alternate green and corn crops, is,
beyond question, an excellent one in general, deviations
from it may sometimes be admitted.

5. To avoid crops likely to encourage weeds ; and,
founded on this principle, Lord Kames objects to the
culture of pease, which, if not an extraordinary crop,
are apt to foster weeds. If the land has been previous-
ly fallowed for wheat, and thus cleared of weeds, pease,
after wheat, he thinks, may be hazarded f.

* Mr Andrew of Tillilumb, near Perth, finds, that if
clover is cultivated only once in eight years, the produce is
not only about double, but that the succeeding crop of oats is
better by two bolls per acre. In regard to crops of wheat,
Mr Pringle of Ballcncrief, in East Lothian, remarks, that he
does not observe the crops of that grain falling off, though
they are more frequently introduced than formerly ; in many
instances, once in three years.

f Gentleman Farmer, p. 143.

103

6. To raise those crops the most likely to be produc-
tive of manure ; hence green crops are to be recom-
mended, and barley is to be avoided, producing, when
compared to other crops, the smallest quantity of
straw *.

7. To arrange the crops so as to keep the land in good
condition, and increasing, rather than diminishing in
point of fertility f. This is best accomplished by the
convertible husbandry, (or white and green crops in suc-
cession), and giving every part of a farm the advantage
of being occasionally pastured.

8. To commence a lease with a meliorating system,
but during the remainder of the term, to crop the land
in such a manner, as to reap, in moderation, the advantage
of the improvement that has been made. In forming a
rotation, therefore, those articles should be included,
which are the most likely to afford a profitable return to
the farmer.

Keeping these maxims in view, we shall now proceed
to consider, the various rotations which have either been
adopted by, or recommended to, the attention of the far.
mers in Scotland.

* A fair average of straw produced by the different crops,
according to Mr Brown of Markle's calculation, is, Wheat,
1 60 stone; Beans and pease, 130; Oats, 120$ and, Barley,
only 100, per Scotch acre.

f Mr Andrew of Tillilumb justly remarks, that it ought
to be a leading maxim with all farmers, never to take a crop
but when their ground is in such situation that, if the season
favours, it may give us good a crop as such land will carry.
Hence their first care and chief study ought to be, how they
may bring their ground into, and keep it in the best order,
and not what they can draw or take ; for if they are kind and
generous, the grateful earth certainly w\}\ give.

104

2. Of tl>e various sorts of Rotations.

It is not unusual, in treating of this part of the sub-
ject, to consider rotations as they are applicable to dif-
ferent soils, for instance, clay, loam, &c. ; but I think
it on the whole more expedient, to discuss the different
courses of crops, according to the number of years they
respectively require to finish the rotation ; some occupy-
ing two years, some three, some four, some five, &c.
Under each head it will be proper to explain, for what
description of soil each rotation is best calculated.

IIJOQ years Rotation.

In particular cases, some farmers have adopted a rota-
tion of two crops. A field belonging to the Honourable
George Abercromby, embanked from the Forth, car-
ried, for several years, beans and wheat alternately.
Upon his best loams, Mr Brown of Markle also, takes
wheat and beans alternately, summer-fallowing the
ground, when its condition requires that process. Mr
Fairie of Farme, near Glasgow, has adopted the same
system, giving a moderate dressing of dung every fourth
year. Dr Charles Stuart, on his farm near Edinburgh,
has tried a similar system on four acres and a half of
loam, the rotation being wheat and green crops alter-
nately; but the latter were alternate potatoes and beano,
both drilled. In the course of fourteen years, he has
had, on this field, four crops of potatoes, three of beans,
and seven of wheat. To every green crop, putrescent
manure was applied ; thirty toms at least to potatoes,
and twenty-five to beans. The potato crops were all
good : The two first crops of beans were very good : The
third, indifferent. The crops of wheat were large, pro-

105

ducing from ten to thirteen bolls, LinUthgow measure,
per Scotch acre. The only deficiency was in crop 1789,
which averaged but nine bolls />?;• acre ; that might be
ascribed, however, to a season peculiarly unfavourable.
There is no evidence of diminished fertility in the field,
for it is now, (August iSic), covered with a luxuriant
crop of turnips. It is perfectly free from couch-grass,
and rooted perennial weeds, which are now in a great
measure extirpated by hoeing and weeding, but it is still
much infested with annual weeds, particularly the wild
mustard and radish, which may be imputed to the ne-
glect of the farmers in the neighbourhood, and to the use
of Edinburgh dung, stored with the seeds of these and
other injurious plants, which the richness of the soil
brings both speedily and universally to vegetate. Dr
Stuart adds, that the quantity of produce from the above
rotation has not diminished, but that both the wheat and
beans have at least degenerated in quality, and on this
account, though the result might not be thought unfa-
vourable by many, he would not adopt it, if he had a
larger space of land en his farm calculated for wheat.

It is evident, that it is only in the richest loams, and
most fertile soils, that such a rotation is at all practicable.

Ihree years Rotation.

We shall next proceed to consider rotations of three

r
crops.

Mr Arbuthnot, whom Mr Arthur Young considers to
be the ablest farmer he ever knew in the course of his
long experience, practised, for nine years, a three course
system, viz. i. Beans ; z. Wheat ; 3. Clover, and
when he quitted the farm where that plan was adopted,
he was fully persuaded, that he could have continued
that rotation for many years longer. This, however,
was effected by means of London dung, which he Usui at
O

106

command, and which he gave to the bean crop. He also
ploughed nine inches deep, with a plough, which Mr
Young denominates the best tool ever invented *.

Others have also followed a similar system; for in-
stance, x. Potatoes, cabbages, or hoed crops, with ma-
nure; 2. Wheat ; and, 3. Clover or grass : Or, i. Hoed
crop, with manure ; 2. Half oats, and half barley; 3.
Clover or grass.

Dr Coventry has made some observations upon these
courses, to which he urges the following objections.
i. That there is rather too large a proportion of fallow
or cleansing crop, more than what can be wanted in or-
dinary situations, to preserve the land free of weeds. 2.
By there being but one-third bearing corn, it is less pro-
fitable than it might be. 3. There are two species of
crops in the first example ; which circumstance does not
permit the labour to be sufficiently divided and extend-
ed over the year, and leaves too much to be risked on
the success of a particular crop. 4. The quantity of
straw obtained for food or litter, to live stock, must b«
rather scanty, or in a deficient proportion to what will
in general be wanted.

The advantages of such a system, he states, in the fol-
lowing terms, i. From the great proportion of green
crops in this course, much manure will be procured,
somewhat more, perhaps, than may be necessary. 2.
This scheme is calculated to render or preserve the land
very clean of weeds. It may therefore answer as a be-
ginaing course, in situations where the ground is foul,

* Mr Young proposes drawing up for the Board of Agri-
culture, an account of this eminent farmer ; to which ho in-
tends to add the lives of Bakcwell and of Ducket.

107

»nd manure wanted ; but it may be relinquished after -
wards for a better one. It is not indeed in general use
in any district, and has only been followed by some in-
dividuals, who have found it of benefit in the respects
above mentioned.

Four years Rotation.

Rotations of four crops, however, are by far more ge-
neral, and will require more ample discussion. The
first to be pointed out, is the celebrated Norfolk system,
namely, i. Turnips; 2. Barley; 3. Clover; and, 4.
Wheat. Even in Norfolk, however, this course is no
Jonger so generally recommended. It is considered pre-
judicial to the landlord; and, on a lease of twenty- one
years, if constantly persevered .in, it is contended,
would not be found profitable to the tenant. Half the
farm has annually a white straw crop, which, from the
frequency of the repetition, would not be productive ; be*
sides which, the number of sheep and cattle kept under
this system is comparatively trifling *.

It may be proper to compare this rotation, with others
qn a similar principle, for dry soils.

In Roxburghshire, Mr Walker of Mellendean's rota-
tion is £ in turnip and drilled beans ; £ in wheat and bar-
ley after turnips and beans, and sown down with grass-
seeds ; ^ in hay, soiling, and pasture-grass ; and £ in
wheat or oats, after hay and pasture. In the light soils
of Norfolk, neither beans or oats are cultivated.

* See a communication on this subject from Mr Money
Hill, Esq; of Waterden to the author. Dr Coventry re-
marks, on the Norfolk system, that though the land on which
this scheme is pursued, seldom, if ever, becomes by it less fer-
tile, yet for poor ground it seemi not to be sufficiently mclio-

106

Mr Rcnnic of Fantassie, and Mr Brown of Markle,
generally adopt, in their turnip soils, the following ro-
tation : i. Turnips ; 2. Winter wheat, sown in spring *,
or barley ; 3. Clover ; and, 4. Oats. This is certainly
a productive rotation, and it is strongly in its favour
that it is recommended by such eminent farmers, who
are justly accounted at the head of their profession.

Mr Hunter of Tynefield s rotation is, i. Turnips •,
2. Wheat ; 3. Grass, (mostly sheep fed), 4. Four-fifths
winter wheat sown in spring, and one-fifth oats. He
adds, that under this rotation, the produce of his farm
has been improved, both in quality and in quantity, since
its commencement to the present time, and continues to
improve. The additional quantity is to the amount of
no leas than i£ boll per acre.

I have now to state a course of cropping still more
serere, which I think may be called the Dunbar Rota-
tion, as hitherto it has only prevailed in that neighbour-
hood. The course is, i. Turnips; 2. Drilled wheat ;

rating, or fined soon to raise land to that degree of produc-
tiveness, in which it is found to be the most valuable to die
cultivator.

* In regard to winter wheat sown in spring, after turnips,
an experienced farmer, (Mr Dudgeon of Prora), observes,
that it may be safely sown as late as the middle of March,
and has succeeded even later, and that on fine land it may be
safely taken in preference either to barley or oats, if sheep have
eat the turnips upon the ground. This is the most valuable,
and the least expensive method of using them. But fine land,
by this scheme, would be over-dunged, were it not for the
practice adopted of stripping out a part of the turnips, to the
amount of one fourth, one third, or even one half, (leaving
the alternate rows), and carrying those drawn out to the cat-
tle. When a certain breadth is thus stripped, the sheep-
flakes can be set upon the diills which remain, and the strip-
ping be carried on, as they need more ground.

3- Clover ; 4. Drilled wheat. Being extremely anxious
to ascertain, not only the details of this system, but also
whether the plan, when persevered in, continued tobe pro-
ductive, I procured the following particulars regarding it,
from Mr-Hume of East Barns, and Mr Rennie of Ox well
Mains, two respectable farmers, by whom it is adopted.
They informed me, that some deviations were occasion-
ally made from the plan, (but not such as to alter the
general system), by cultivating, on rich spots, pease,
or beans, or potatoes, in lieu of turnips, and by having
three green crops in succession, when the soil is much
subjected to the growth of annual weeds, or requires to
be refreshed. It would appear, however, that without
a good climate, such as they enjoy in the lower part of
East-Lothian, and great quantities of sea-ware, or other
adventitious manure, it would be impossible to conti-
nue such a rotation. The quantity and sorts of dung
usually applied, is, to the amount of about thirty double
horse cart-loads per Scotch acre, to the land intended
for turnips. The turnips are always eaten on the ground
by sheep, which is, (where the situation will admit of
it), by far the best and cheapest method. The same
quantity of dung or sea-weed, is also applied on the
grass land before ploughing. It is found, that applying
the sea-weed early in spring, on the clover to be cut, if
laid on in dry weather, answers well for the succeeding
crop of wheat.

The soil where this rotation prevails, is of a dry qua-
lity. If such a rotation were attempted on wet soils, it
would be advisable to sow oats after the grass, instead of
wheat *, (and that is in general the preferable system),

* Upon the trial of a small piece of grass, partly wheat,
and partly oats, both close together, Mr Dudgeon of Prora
actually had thirteen, bolls of oats, and only seven of wheat

110

but in land of a very dry quality, the drought is fre-
quently very prejudicial to the crop of oats, which re-
quire moisture, and consequently should be sown early
in dry soils and climates.

per acre. It may be proper to explain the circumstances as
they really stood. Upon entering to a field of three year
old grass, he was urged to sow it with wheat in the spring, but
declined to adopt such a scheme, as having something in it to him
quite novel. He was induced, therefore, by the advice of an emi-
nent agriculturist in East Lothian, who much disapproved of
the wheat scheme, to make the above trial. When told the re-
suit, and when asked, if wheat would do much better after one
crop of clover, though it might alter the case a little, he
gave a decided opinion in favour of oats, even in that case.
What induced some to approve of wheat upon old grass af-
ter pasture, in this case, was, the superior excellence of
the soil, and its uncommon tenderness. The wheat and;
oats were both sown near the middle of February, both
equally well harrowed, and covered with the mould ; but the
former, besides being deficient in quantity, was much infe-
rior to good wheat, while other spring-sown wheat, on such
land, but not sown after pasture, was as rine as usual.

Other intelligent farmers, also, object to wheat after grass.
Mr Andrew or Tillilumb, near Perth, states, that if only one
ploughing is given, to wheat after grass, the slug-snail eats it
up. This is also partly the case, though it gets several
ploughings, unless they are given very early in the season, as
thus he apprehends the ground does not yet get time to rot
and pulverize, so as to gather that firmness and closeness
which would prevent their lodging therein ; and besides, he
thinks that there is a something about the ground after grass,
which is not congenial to wheat : hence, though the snail
may not devour it about this time or in winter, it dies away
in the spring, or blights in summer.

Another farmer remarks, that he sometimes sows a few
acres of wheat, by preparing it with rag-fallow; that is, by
giving the ley two or three furrows, and proper harrowings,
to reduce the turf. However, if the loss of winter pasture,
extra work beyond what an oat-crop requires, and the foul
state the land is commonly left in, by this practice for fallow,
is put to the debtor side of the wheat account, perhaps this
method of growing wheat, does not prove more profitable
than an oat crop. He has tried, he adds, wheat after grass,
but never found it answer with only one furr*w.

Ill

The principal objection to this System, according to
Dr Coventry, is, that too much labour comes to be per-
formed at one period of the year, and that too much is
risked, or left dependent on the success of a single spe-
cies of crop.

One most important observation on this subject has
been made by Mr Rennie of Oxwell Mains, namely,
that wheat sown after grass, early in autumn, often fails ;
but if sown in spring, it generally succeeds. It is ne-
ver at the same time so good in quality, or so produc-
tive in quantity, as wheat after turnips, or even after
pease and beans *.

Mr Hume of East Barns observes, that it is more in
the rotation, than in the mode of ploughing, that most
farmers are deficient. He is convinced from experience,
that pease are not calculated for East-Lothian to any ex-
tent : if his lands therefore were unfit to carry beans, and
were dry enough for turnips, he would consider the four-
course shift of i. Turnips ; 2. Oats, Barley, or Wheat;
3. Grass, and 4. Oats, as the best mode ; and if the farm
were so situated, as not to be able to give a thin dung-
ing every fourth year, in the turnip drills, in that case
let the grass remain two, or even three years old, so as

* It would be well worth while for some English farmers
to try winter wheat, accustomed to be sown in spring, on
their clover leys, particularly where any failure in their win-
ter sown crops had taken place. The best plan would be, to
sow turnips early on the clover ley, to eat them off with sheep
in spring, and then to sow winter wheat. The dung of the
sheep, would occasion rapid vegetation. There would be no
risk from the frost, or the wire- worm, which last the tread-
ing of the sheep, with perhaps some yonng cattle, would ef-
fectually destroy, and the land would be in excellent order for
the production of wheat. This plan, if it succeeded, would
render this country at once independent of foreign nations
for bread corn.

112

to require a fifth or sixth part annually dunged. If the
lands were clay, consequently unfit for turnips, he
would take fallow, wheat, grafs, and oats ; the grass to
remain one, two, or three years, as above. The grass,
after the first year, would pay little on clay lands, but
when in grass, there is no expence, and all the other
crops must be good ; but on land that will carry beans,
he thinks, the six-course shift the best, viz. I. Tur-
nips, or Fallow ; 2. Oats, Barley, or Wheat ; 3. Grass j
4. Oats ; 5. Beans ; and 6. Wheat. This, on its proper
soil, he considers as the best mode of the whole, conse-
quently such lands are able to pay the highest rent.

Another rotation of four crops is adopted in Ayr-
shire, namely, i. Fallow, or Fallow Crops ; 2. Wheat ;
3. Clover ; 4. Oats ; and by adopting that rotation, an
active and intelligent farmer, (John Tennant, Esq; of
Girvan Mains), has gradually been enabled to stock
three different farms ; and beginning with a rent of onJy
L. 50 per annum, he now annually pays L. 2700, or
ffty-four times the sum he originally paid when he com-
menced his professional business. There can hardly be
a stronger argument in favour of that system.

Mr Brodie of Garvald, in an upland farm, where the
fixing of a proper rotation, is of peculiar importance,
adopts the following course, i. Turnips; 2. Barley ;
3. Grass ; 4. Oats. He recommends the red oat in par-
ticular for such situations, and in the more northern or
higher situations and districts, it is probable that bear or
big would be better than barley.

The rotation of four crops adopted near Edinburgh,
.namely, i. Potatoes; 2. Wheat; 3. Clover ; 4. Oats, is
unfortunately only calculated for the neighbourhood of
great towns.

There cannot be a better preparation for wheat than
potatoes, nor one more valuable, in respect of produce.

113

but they require a great quantity of dung, and arc no:
always marketable.

We shall now proceed to state rotations of four in
clayey soils.

In thin clays, a four course shift is the best ; as, i. Fal-
low ; 2. Bear or Barley ; 3. Clover ; and 4. Oats ; be-
cause such soils, the longer they remain in grass, the
worse they become.

On the estate of Monorgan, in the Carse of Gowrie,
the following rotation was adopted on a fine friable dry
clay, and has been for many years followed with much
success : i. Fallow ; 2. Wheat ; 3. Drilled Beans ; and,
4. Wheat.

A farmer, who has taken about 300 acres in that dis-
trict, at the rent of about L. 6, 10 s. per Scotch acre,
proposes, I am informed, to adopt the following course,
and expects to derive from it, at a moderate calculation,
the following produce and value :

ear.

™— — .

i
i

3

4

Crop.

Produce.

Price.

Value.

Beans,
Wheat,
Hay,
Wheat,

ii bolls,
n bolls,
300 stones,
10 bolls,

285.

35s-
9d.

35s-
4

L. 15 S
»9 5

i1 5

17 10

c

0
0
0

)L.63 8

c

Average per acre per annum, L. 15 17 o

This sum might be divided in the following manner :

i. Two-fifths for seed and labour, L. 6 6 9^

a. Two-fifths for rent, 66 9^

3. One fifth for tenants' profit, interest of

capital, &c. 335

L.i5 i? «

114

There is certainly a risk that the above rotation will
not keep the land sufficiently clean, on which account it
might be advisable, to drill the crops of wheat, and
perhaps, instead of wheat, to sow oats after clover.

Five y tars Rotation.

Rotations of Jive crops have in many cases been recom-
mended both for strong and light lands.

Above forty-two years ago, John Mackenzie, Esqi
of Glasgow, adopted the following system : i Pota-
toes ; 2. Wheat ; 3. Grass ; 4. Pasture ; 5. Oats ; — a plan
which he observes, has not yet been improved upon, ex-
cept by keeping a greater number of cows for the dairy.
On the subject of cropping, Mr Mackenzie makes the
following important observation. Whenever the far-
mer discovers that he can be as well paid by cultivating
for the use of cattle as for man, and whenever Britain
serves herself in butchers' meat, butter and cheese, she
will cease to find it necessary to import grain. It is an
unimportant queftion to discuss, whether an acre will
support more of the human species by grain, or by ani-
mal food. The nation which lives most on animal food,
will, under a proper system, have more grain than those
who live mostly upon it ; this is caused by the increase
of manure. Grain, he adds, should never be sown, but
when laying down to grass or ploughing from it.

Mr Boyd of Powis, near Stirling, prefers the follow-
ing rotation on a strong carse soil, and he has followed
it with much success, for some years past : i. Fallow ;
2. Wheat ; 3. Hay ; 4. Oats ; 5. Beans.

On dry black land, if there is the command of a suf-
ficiency of dung, the following rotation of cropping, is
recommended by Mr Drummond of West Bank, in the

115

parish of Longfofgan, namely, i. Grass; 2. Wheat;
3. Barley; 4. Green crop; 5. Oats.

On light soils of moderate quality, a five field course
is recommended by that intelligent farmer Mr Alexan-
der, viz. i. Turnips; 2. Grain; 3. Grass; 4. Grass;
5. Grain.

Upon moss or peaty soils, after effectual draining, the
following course is recommended : i. Potatoes or tur-
nips ; 2. Barley or Bear; 3. Clover; 4. Pasture ; and,
5. Potato Oats, a most advantageous crop.

Mr Maxwell of Fletton, in his Report of Hunting-
donshire, considers the following course of crops for
five years, as preferable to every other, i. A clean-
sing crop of whatever kind is best suited to the soil, 29
turnips, tares, or cole-seed, to be hoed, but not to stand
for seed ; 2. A crop of white corn of the kind best
suited to the soil, to be laid down with clover ; 3. Clo-
ver, either grazed or mowed; 4. Beans, sheep-fed and
hoed, or some such meliorating crop adapted to the
soil ; 5. White corn suited to the soil : and he contends,
that however various our soils, and however different in
their nature, the same order or course of cropping ought
to be pursued, (fen lands always excepted), changing
only the species of our corn and vegetables, and adapt-
ing them to the nature of the soil we have to work
upon.

It is certain, that by such state of cropping, a soil of
tolerable natural fertility, .might not only be supported
without foreign aid, but might increase in fertility ; tut
Dr Coventry on this subject has well observed, that
when crops, intended to ripen their seed, are objects of
culture, there is only wanted a degree of vigour and
luxuriance in the plants, sufficient for that purpose ; and
if the fertility of the soil be raised to a higher pitch

116

than is necessary, or consistent with that object, inju-
rious, rather than beneficial effects, may be the conse-
quence. Land may be too rich for corn crops, and it is
better to keep it in a well balanced condition, or in a me-
dium state of productiveness, than in too fertile a con-
dition ; besides the climate may be unfavourable for
pulse crops, in which case a second year of herbage
would be preferable to beans or pease.

It is proper now to state, the improved systems of
cropping in Norfolk, a district from which Scotland has
derived so much valuable information. The courses,
as recommended by that eminent agriculturist Mr Coke,
consist either of five or six crops. The five course is,
i. Wheat ; 2. Turnips ; 3. Barley ; 4. Clover ; 5. Grass.
The six course is, I. Pease ; 2. Wheat -, 3. Turnips ;

4. Barley ; 5. Clover ; 6. Grass.

It is now ascertained, that for a district possessing a
soil and climate similar to that in the neighbourhood of
Holkham, the alternate use of the five and six course
system, is the best husbandry, because pease will not
succeed more than once in ten years.

We shall now proceed to consider the rotations of
six crops adopted in Scotland, where it is a favourite
system.

Six years Rotation.

In a light soil near Alloa, Mr Kerr of Lome's Hill
has adopted the following rotation : i. One half pota-
toes, one-half turnips ; 2. One-half wheat after pota-
toes, one -half oats after turnips; 3. Hay; 4. Pasture;

5. Oats ; 6. Barley.

Mr Robertson of Ladykirk proposes the following
rotations on a good soil, i. Potatoes or turnips ; 2. Bar-
ley ; 3. Grass 5 4. Potato oats; 5. Beans; 6. Wheat.

117

On inferior soils, i. Turnips or fallow ; a. Wheat ;
3. Clover ; 4. Pasture ; 5. Pasture ; 6. Angus oats.

On all the strong lands in the Carse of Gowrie, and
in other fertile districts in Scotland, the following ro-
tation of six crops, with some variations, is considered
as preferable to every other. I. Fallow; a. Wheat;

3. Beans ; 4. Barley; 5. Grass ; 6. Oats ; and indeed if it
is admitted, that fallow is necessary once in six years,
there cannot, on the whole, be a better system, for strong
or rich soils. Where wheat can be taken the fourth
year instead of barley, the produce is still more va-
luable. By some farmers, the course is altered in the
following manner : i. Fallow; 2. Wheat; 3. Clover;

4. Oats ; 5. Beans ; 6. Wheat.

Since the decrease of the value of barley, and the
great demand for wheat, they have, in the Carse <5f Gow-
rie, in some degree, deviated from the regular system
above pointed out, by sowing about one-half of the
fourth division with wheat and with grass-seeds, to
bring the grounds again into a proper rotation, in order
that the whole fifth division may be under grass ; and
still farther to increase the quantity of wheat, a great
part of the sixth division is often sown with wheat in-
stead of .oats. By thus stealing from the barley and
oat divisions, which is done only in favourable seasons,
there is often one-third part of the farm in wheat, in-
stead of one-sixth part, as the rotation before points
out.

On the subject of this rotation, it is only necessary to
add, that some intelligent farmers disapprove much of sow-
ing wheat on limed fallows, being so frequently thrown
out of the soil by the alternate frost, and fresh weather
in the spring, and which often presents little more
than half a crop of inferior wheat. Some change, there-

118

fore, in the rotation in this respect, or some other mode
of application for the time, would be advisable. Mr
Dudgeon of Prora suggests, that perhaps barley on the
fallow, having been BO little sown for many years past,
would be extremely productive, but barley is a preca-
rious crop without dung or some substitute, and the
price of wheat is so much better, that until some change
takes place in that respect, a different system can hardly
be adopted. It is singular that this suggestion should
correspond with the rotation most common in Essex,
namely, i. Fallow ; i. Barley; 3. Clover; 4. Wheat;
5. Barley or oats,-; — the dung being laid on the fallow
for barley, and some on the clover for wheat. The Es-
sex farmers have, it is said, found by long experience,
that barley is a better crop after fallow, than wheat, the
great pulverization that the soil receives during the fal-
low, being admirably calculated for that crop.

Siien years Rotation.

Some farmers have tried a rotation of seven crops.
Mr Cunninghame, near Perth, who rents about L. 1200
per annum, has adopted the following course : i. One-
seventh potato and naked fallow; 2. Wheat; 3. Beans;
4. Wheat, when the season admits ; 5. Barley; 6. Grass ;
7. Oats, or sometimes a few acres after grass sown with
wheat, after three furrows and a little dung.

Mr Allan of Craigcrook near Edinburgh has adopt-
ed the following rotation with success : I. Fallow ;
2. Wheat without dung; 3. Drilled Pease and Beans
with dung, or Tares without dung ; 4. Wheat ; 5. Beans,
or Tares with dung ; 6. Wheat ; 7. Beans and Tares.

ng-

Eight years Rotation.

The last rotation which it is necessary to point out, is
a course of eigLt crops, an example of which has been
transmitted to me bj Mr Andrew of Tillilumb near
Perth. His plan is, i. Fallow or Potatoes ; 2. Wheat ;
3. Beans; 4. Wheat ; 5. Barley, 6. Grass; 7. Oats;
8. Wheat ; but he does not recommend this rotation ex-
cept in situations where the ground is good, and of some
strength, and where there is a command of town ma-
nure. His great object in following this plan is, to re-
move his grass crops at a great distance from one ano-
ther, and he thinks they are so much the better. Last
year he had a field in grass, the one half of which
happened to be the fifth year from a former grass, and
the other the eighth. That in the eighth year had near-
ly one-half more of grass upon it than the other, and
this year he is persuaded that it will produce two bolls
more of oats per acre, though they had been both equal-
ly dunged and dressed for the barley.

$-—Of double Rotations.

There is a mode of cropping to which I think the
name of a double rotation may be given. It is where a
particular course is laid down, but where part of the
farm is alternately put under different crops, so as to
prevent too frequent a repetition of the same sort of
grain, on the same spot. Mr Wood of Milrig proposes,
on that principle, to cultivate 1000 acres of convertible
land, under the following system :

120

> SecondRound
Acres. - „

of dropping.

I. Summer-fallow, turnips 1 ^ ,• • • ,. .

J. ist division, 200 2d divis.

and beans, 3

3. Wheat, ad, — 200 3d, —

3. Clover, one year old, 3d, — 200 4th —

4. Clover, two years old, 4th, — 2co 5th —

5. Wheat and oats, jth, — 200 ist —

Total, 1000

It is intended to shift the turnip and the bean allot-
ments every time to different ground.

By sowing down with clover the second division an-
nually, and breaking up annually the fourth, it comes
into the place of the fifth, which is taken off regularly
for summer fallow after the wheat and oats. It is thus
placed into the first division, and of course changes all
the divisions round, as often as that mode of agriculture
is followed. By this means, the farm is always kept
under the same crops, only the different divisions are
changed alternately. Mr Wood considers this system as
peculiarly calculated for farms at a distance from large
towns, as all the divisions would be maintained in a high
state of cultivation and fertility.

Another sort of double rotation is, where a part of a
farm is preserved in grass for three, four or five years ;
then brought into the regular rotation, and another field
taken out of it. An intelligent farmer, Mr Thomson at
Bewlie in Roxburghshire, has adopted this plan with
much success. His rotation upon the dry soil division
of his farm is, i. Turnips or fallow i 2. Wheat, barley,
or oats ; 3. Clover, partly cut and partly pastured ; and,

121

4- Partly wheat, but principally potato oats j but he has
a fifth division which is kept in grass, and which is
thrown out of the rotation for three, four or five years,
and then brought in again; so that in the course of a
twenty-one years lease, each division, in its turn, remains
in grass for that period of time. In lands which are not
naturally fertile and productive, this plan must be at-
tended with very advantageous consequences. Every
part of a farm thus derives a proportional share of the
advantage of being kept in grass, which is infinitely pre-
ferable to the plan of preserving one part of a farm con-
stantly in grass, and the other half in pasture.

4. — Miscellaneous Particulars.

_, .„ . . , ..,.:..

There still remain some particulars, winch it was dit

ficult to comprehend under any of the preceding beads.

I. When any farm or district begins to be improved,
it is necessary to commence with what may be called
gentle rotations ; that is to say, with crops Hot likely to
exhaust the soil. When the late Earl of Fimllater be-
gan his improvements in the county of Banff, every field
was kept for four or five years in grass before any white
crops were taken from it. Ihe soil was thus enriched,
and is now enabled to undergo more severe cropping.
Fairley's rotation in Ayrshire was of the same descrip-
tion : the land was pastured with dairy stock for six or
nine years ; some dung or lime were then applied,
and three successive crops of oats were taken ; then a
crop of hay, and afterwards the land was pastured as
formerly. This system, though now reprobated, was
suited to the times when it was established, and has laid
the foundation of the present fertility of Ayrshire. Mr
Church of Hitchell observes, that for moderate soils, ha-

122

i

ving no other manure than what they produce, these ro-
tations must at first be extremely gentle, if ever they are
intended to be put in a progressive state of improve-
ment. Mr Park of Windy Mains, near Dalkeith, ob-
serves, that he is also under the necessity of adopting a
gentle rotation, as his land is of very weak quality, ori-
ginally all outjield, being mostly covered with whins and
heath not many years ago.

i. It is remarked, that near towns, where adventitious
manure may be obtained at pleasure, any fixed rotation,
to be invariably followed, is not so necessary ; on the
contrary, that farmers, in such situations, ought to alter
their systems, according as a demand is likely to arise
for different articles.

3. Mr Drummond of West Bank, in the Carse of Gow-
rie, has tried flax on strong lands as a preparation for
wheat, but he found that flax is by no means a sure crop
in that description of soil, and that the succeeding crops
were very deficient, although the ground got more ma-
nure. He found at the same time, that the wheat after
flax was better in quality than after any other crop, but
it was deficient in quantity about one-fourth, compared
to wheat after fallow, and the after crops were still more
so, in proportion.

4. It may be proper to conclude with observing, that
in the opinion of a most intelligent agriculturist, (Mr
Logan of Fish wick), farmers have been induced, in
many parts of Scotland, from the high prices of corn, to
plough too much ; and there is reason to apprehend, that
that great source of manure, namely stock, being neglect-
ed, sold off, or almost given up, that the soil will be ex-
hausted by the severity and weight of cropping, — a cir-
cumstance, which in the course of a few years, must pro-
duce serious mischiefs. Importation being permitted,

123

grain cannot rise in price in proportion to the decrease oi'
its produce, in consequence of the land not being freshen-
ed, and enriched by grass and stock. The result must
be, that the price of stock will rise enormously on account
of its scarcity, a circumstance that cannot be remedied
under a succession of years : for first, the lands worn out
must be fallowed, and laid down to grass ; and next, stock
must be bred for pasturing the land wafter it is laid down.
The supply of Highland cattle has been much less than
formerly, of course, the prices higher, which also will
raise the price of other breeds. Another difficulty will
also occur ; farmers, who had excellent flocks of sheep of
the Leicestershire breed, have rashly parted with them,
for the purpose of turning their whole farms into tillage,
and cannot get such flocks again, but at great expence,
and after a lapse of years.

On the whole, the convertible system of husbandry is
in general to be recommended, where one-half of a farm
is in grain, and the other half in grass and green crops.
By the grain, a sufficient quantity of straw is provided
as food for cattle, where that mode of feeding is adopted,
or for being converted into dung, in addition to a reason-
able profit to be derived from the grain. By the grass
and green crops, a number of cattle are well kept both
in summer and winter ; and being well littered as well
as fed, a regular and sufficient supply of dung is secured.
By this means also, the cattle are so well kept during the '
winter, that should a late spring ensue, or a scarcity of
grass be apprehended, and consequently an overstocking,
(an event which cannot be too anxiously guarded against
by the farmer), a ready market will be insured for
them *.

* Remarks by a farmer in the Mearns.

It is to be hoped, that with the assistance of the facts
and observations above detailed, no farmer will find any
dniiculty in arranging his crops, so as to produce profit
to himself, without injuring the fertility of his farm, or
diminishing that great source of national prosperity and
subsistence.

9. — HARVESTING GRAIN.

This is a point on which it is not proposed to dwell at
any considerable length, but merely to detail any pecu-
liarities in the Husbandry of Scotland, in regard, i. To
cutting down ; 1. To carrying in ; or, 3. To stacking the
crop.

i. In Scotland, the crop is almost universally cut down
by the sickle or hook, the scythe being very rarely used ;
and notwithstanding the liberal premiums offered by a
respectable and public -spirited Institution, the Dalkeith
Farming Society, no reaping machine has yet been in-
vented, likely to answer the object in view. Indeed it is
almost necessary to cut down with the sickle, where
threshing-mills are in use, for the grain must either be
regularly bound, where that operation is performed, or it
must pass twice through the mill.

In many of the more fertile districts, bands from the
Highlands, both male and female, flock down to reap the
crops, receiving a certain sum per day, and their victuals,
for the work they perform. In the Carse of Gowrie, the
harvest was formerly performed by men and women
hired expressly for that purpose ; the men at a guinea,
and the women 153. for the harvest ; during which time

*

125

they got a breakfast and dinner of bread and beer, and one
half lippie of oatmeal every day for supper, which they
generally took up entire at the end of harvest. At
that time the harvest used to cost about 5 s. per acre, in-
cluding all expences. Some time after that, the harvest
wages rose to 30 s. for the men, and 20 s. for the women,
more or less, as the farmer and they could agree ; but the
expence was siibject to variation, according to the price
of meal, and the length of the harvest, from a favour-
able season, or the contrary, and it has been so high as
9 s. or IDS. per acre. About fifteen or sixteen years ago,
some men came to the Carse as contractors, and agreed to
cut down the crops at so much per acre, but that plan did
not continue long.

About six years ago, another practice took place in
that district, which continues to this day. It is called
threading, and now almost universally prevails. By this
plan the reapers are paid in money, without victuals, so
much for every threave they cut down. For a threave of
wheat, consisting of twenty-eight sheaves, each sheaf mea-
suring thirty inches round, 4 d. ; and for a threave of bar-
ley, oats, or pease, of twenty-four sheaves, each thirty
inches round, 3 d.

This mode of harvesting is certainly of very great
advantage to the country in general : for whole fami-
lies turn out together, men, women, and children ; they
bring their provisions with them, remain in the field the
whole day ; the old teach the young to cut down ; every
one does something ; and according to what they per-
form, they are paid. A hundred, or a hundred and fifty
persons, young and old, may frequently be seen in a
field at the same time, and besides the advantage of get-
ting such a quantity of ripe corn cut down in a day, per-
' •'• -_ •••'>* •• ,

126

haps it is an excellent school to fill the whole corn-field
with good reapers or shearers *.

In order to train up reapers or shearers, an intelligent
farmer, Mr Mitchell of Balquhain, puts four or five, ac-
cording to their ability, on a separate ridge, and gives
them, as an awkward squad, a sum in proportion to three
on a common ridge.

Attentive farmers take special care to cut the crop
very low ; for by high cutting, besides the unavoidable
waste, a great deal of manure is lost. By attending
to this, and converting the straw into dung at a proper
season, a sufficient quantity may be procured, to raise
good crops of turnips, the greatest part x>f which being
eat up on the ground by sheep, ensures a succession of
good crops of grain till it falls again to be turnips.

1. Grain is now uniformly carried in by single horse,
or two horse carts, to which limbers, shafts, or frames,
are fixed, in order that the cart may convey a greater
quantity of grain at a time. Carts in this way will ea-
sily carry at once from ten to twenty threaves, according
to the siz£ of the sheaves. In a note will be found the

* Communication from George Paterson, Esq; of Castle-
Hvmtly. Another respectable correspondent from that dis-
trict observes, that the growing crops of corn are now cut
down by the threave. The wheat-th reave consists of twen-
ty-eight sheaves, each sheaf measuring thirty-six inches in
girth, at the band ; for cutting and binding of which, is paid
in his neighbourhood 6 d. per threare. The barley, oats,
and pease, or bean thrcave, consists of twenty-four sheaves,
cf thirty inches girth, for cutting and binding of which is
paid 4 d. each threave. These dimensions of the sheaves arc
varied, according to the fancy of the fanner, and the price is
cither more or less, according as the size of the sheaf is in-
creased or diminished. Hence what may cost 6d. and 4d. in
one part of the district, may be charged only 4 d. and 3 d. in
another.

127

different modes of making and fixing these frames *, which,
are found highly advantageous.

It is certain that carts are more easily managed than
waggons 9 and that by using them, the operations of har-
vest go on more rapidly. When the carts come into the
corn-yard, there are two modes of managing the grain.
In some parts of the country, it is the common practice
for the driver, to unyoke the horses, to turn up the cart,
and then to return immediately to the field for another
load. Another person, with a pitchfork, throws up the
grain to the builder, and to prevent any corn from being
lost, by being thrown off in this manner, there is com-
monly a large piece of canvas spread upon the ground, to
receive it from the cart. In other parts of the country,
it is customary for the driver to stand upon the top of
the cart, and to fork the grain up to the builder. By
the first of these methods, the man and his cart are not

*• There are three different modes of fitting up the carts
for harvesting grain or carrying hay. I. By the first, the lim-
bers or shafts, are fixed together by cross spars, and the up-
per framing mortised into the limbers. 2. Another method
is, to fix the limbers together by cross spars, but the upper
framing is fixed together separate from the limbers, and fix-
ed upcn them by screws. Both these plans are thought pre-
ferable to the first, because the shafts are not so much weakenr
ed by so many mortises cut in them, besides the advantage of
the upper framing being easily taken off, so that the cart can
at any time be made use of for carrying wood, large stones,
&c. This frame will cost from L. 2 to L. 3, according to
the quality of materials, and goodness of the workmanship.
3. A frame, called a hay-top, is occasionally fixed iipon the
common coup-cart, either with small ropes or iron-chains.
These frames will cost from 15 s. to L. i, zos. or L. i, 15 -..ac-
cording to the materials and quantity of iron-bolts made use
of in fixing them together. — Communicaiion from Mr Aa-
drew Gray.

128

detained for any time. By the second, a person to fork
up the grain is saved. Some farmers approve of the first
method, and some of the latter.

3. It is well known, that with the exception of the ce-
lebrated barns at Inverary, where the Duke of Argyle
is obliged, from the unceasing raininess of the climate,
not only to preserve, but actually to dry his corn in large
buildings erected for that special purpose, that the corn
in Scotland is almost universally kept in stacks.

At Lord Haddington's seat at Tynninghame, the stacks
are built on stone-pillars, which is found to be a very
advantageous system. It takes nine pillars with capes to
a stack. The price of these depends very much on the
convenience of getting the stones. There they can be
quarried, carted home, wrought, and put up, for about 3 s.
each. It will require about twenty feet of timber to make
the frame that goes on the pillars ; the price of which also
depends on the situation, and whether it can be got by
short carriage. From the present high price of timber
even there, including every expence, a complete set of
nine pillars, and the timber necessary for a stack, cannot
cost less than L. 3. The advantages resulting therefrom,
when vermin is the object to be kept free from, may be
about two bolls in thirty ; but in a wet season, such as
the last, (1809,) they are found very useful for drying
the corn, when not put into the stack in the best condi-
tion, as they allow a free circulation of the air under,
and the corn is not injured by imbibing moisture, as it
must necessarily do, when set down on the ground in a
wet state *.

• Communication from Mr David Buist, overseer at Tyn-
ningbame.

Near Alloa, they have invented cast-iron pillars fot'
stacks, which seems to be a useful invention where stone
cannot be had. These pillars are two and a half feet
long, and the round bonnet on each end is one foot in dia-
meter. After levelling the ground intended for the
stack, so that all the seven pillars may stand plumb, and
level on the top, they are placed on the level surface, and
require neither building nor flag. Being placed in this
way, they can be removed with very little trouble or
expence. Vermin have also no way of getting up cast-
iron pillars of the above description ; and neither rat nor
mouse have been found in any stack properly standing
upon cast-iron pillars. The price of seven pillars is 50 s.
and the frame, which is made of the very coarsest of tim-
ber, may be valued, (including workmanship and nails,)
at 8 s. ; so that one stack costs 58 s *.

There is another invention, which I believe is peculiar
to Scotland, called bosses. These, with cast-iron pillars,
are admirably calculated for harvesting beans in wet sea-
sons. The process is thus described. A triangle is first
erected on the middle of the frame to hand on the cross
binders of the frame, and which forms a boss of about
three feet wide ; railing must be nailed across the boss so
close as to preserve the sheaves falling into the boss ; but
when railing is not at hand, a strong straw rope may be
made to answer in its stead. After the binder has reach-
ed the top of the boss, he places therein a sack filled with
straw, which, when he builds round, he pulls up until he
reaches the top of the stack ; so that by the vent left by

R

* Communication from Mr John Laing, overseer at Tul-
libody.

130

the sack, the air reaches even to the top of the stack. As
to the question, how soon beans can be put in, by means
of bosses, that depends upon what state the beans were in
when cut. It is therefore necessary to mention three dif-
ferent cases in which beans are cut : First, before either
leaves or pods have changed their colour •, if cut in this
green state, they will require from fourteen to twenty
days, in a bad season, with bosses, and twenty-eight with-
out them. Secondly, when above half of the pods have
turned yellow, and part of the leaves fallen off; when
cut in this state, (which is thought much the best), they
will require from seven to eight days with bosses, and
fourteen without them. And, thirdly, when the pods
have all turned blackish, and the leaves fallen off, in this
state three or four days may do with bosses, and seven or
eight without them. On the whole, it may be affirm-
ed, that beans, by this mode may be harvested in half
the usual time. It is supposed that the beans grow up-
on strong clay, or carse land ; on dry land, they will re-
quire much shorter time in the stook.

Any thing that would tend so materially to improve
our mode of harvesting beans and pease, (for the latter
crop might be treated in the same manner), the culture
of both of which is so desirable, is of the most essen-
tial consequence to Scottish Husbandry.

IO. THRESHING AND CLEANING GRAIN.

We next proceed to the process of separating the grain
from the straw, and cleaning it afterwards, operations
which have been carried, in Scotland, to a degree of per-
fection, altogether unrivalled in any other country *. In

» As a proof of the great number of threshing- mills and
fanners erected in Scotland, it may be stated, on the autlio-

1S1

regard to the first, many attempts have been made, at va-
rious times, for constructing machines competent to
the task of threshing ; but I am fully convinced, that
had it not been for the superior ingenuity of Andrew
Meikle, no threshing -mill would have been brought to
any tolerable degree of perfection in our time. To him
may be justly attributed the merit of the feeding-rollers,
and the drum ; the plan of the flax- mill having been
adopted in other cases. Every friend to merit, must re-
joice to hear, that the inventor of so important a ma-
chine, will be rendered comfortable in his old age, by the
voluntary donations of his grateful countrymen *.

It is not intended, in this place, to give any description
of the nature of the machinery, but it may be proper
shortly to lay before the reader, i. An account of the
different powers used in driving the machine ; 2. A short
view of the advantages resulting from the invention ;
and, 3. Some hints regarding the improvements of which
it is susceptible.

Threshing-mills are driven, i. By horses ; 2. By oxen ;
3. .By wind ; 4. By wind or horses ; 5. By water ; 6. By
water or horses ; or, 7. By steam. Some small ma-
chines of this sort are driven by manual labour, but they
do not merit any particular notice, and in general it is
observed, that unless machines are of a strong and power-

rity of Mr Jack of Moncur, that in the Carse of Gowrie dis-
trict alone, which is a tract of about fourteen miles long, and
four miles broad, there are no less than 1 20 threshing-mills
driven by horses, and ten by water ; and that there is hardly
a farm of any extent in Scotland without fanners. Mill-
wrights also have now become a separate trade, or occupa-
tion, from other branches of mechanism.

* The history of the origin of the threshing-mill is Tcry
ably explained in the Farmer's Magazine.

ful construction, they are constantly going wrong, and re-
quire perpetual reparation *.

i. Where a command of water cannot be obtained,
which is certainly the least expensive power that can be
employed, horses are commonly made use of; and when
the farms are rather of a moderate size, and where the
horses are rarely employed in that labour, some farmers
state, that they consider it rather advantageous than pre-
judicial to their health f ; as they are worked also,
only in bad weather, when other business out of doors
could not be attempted, they consider the threshing by
horses, as attended with little or no expence ; but where
the crop is large, and in particular where a considerable
proportion of it consists of wheat, and where the machine
is heavy, the labour must be severe. This additional la-

* Mr Neil Ballingal states, that the advantage of a mill,
strong and well constructed, well managed, and with fanner-,,
is of the greatest importance. But a slight mill, constant-
ly breaking, and with no fanners, no farmer would accept
of in a present.

»

f Mr Jack of Moncur, in the Carse of Cowrie, remarks,
thrtt he finds his horses, since threshing-mills have become
universal, mugh fairer wrought, as they are every day at
work, and he does not think the threshing, if the mill is of a
good construction, an hnrllul esercUe for the horses in winter,
Another farmer, (Mr Andrew of Tillilumb), observes, that
he dees not find much inconvenience in threshing his mill
by horses, nor does he think the horses much, if any thing
the worse for it, indeed he sometimes thinks them better,
as he can thus give them regular exercise even in the worst
<!ays of winter. He adds, that since he has had a mill, he
has not seen the ^mallest symptom of grease upon his horses.
Mr Andrew's farm, however, only consists of about i ic Scotch
acres, the labour, therefore, cannot be very severe.

133

bour, however, where other power cannot be applied,
farmers consider to be indispensable *.

An intelligent farmer, Mr Blackie of Holydown, gives
the following calculation of the number of horses required
for the different crops. A four-horse mill he thinks is
quite sufficient for oats or barley, but where there is much
wheat, a six-horse power is required. A three-horses'
power does very well for potato oats, when the corn is
fed in by a careful hand ; the mill then threshes much
cleaner than a flail : But when the corn is put in faster
than the mill is ready for it, the horses are oppressed, and
the work not well done.

2. It is said that working threshing-mills by horses is
a power so unsteady, and attended with so much des-
truction to them, and hence so expensive, that some far-
mers prefer the flail, to the erection and keeping up of
the .machinery and horses. Though such an idea seems
to be carried much too far, yet it certainly would be de-
sirable, to exempt the horses regularly working on the
farm, from so laborious a task, and oxen have been re-
commended for that purpose.

A gentleman on the borders, who rents about L. 4000
per annum, informs me, that before he had collected wa-
ter sufficient to thresh his crop, (which may be done much
uftcncr than people are commonly aware of ), he was ac-
customed, for many years, to thresh his crop by oxen ;
and he adds, that wherever there is a necessity for using
animal power, he would recommend oxen, as they are

* Mr Neil Ballingal observes, that the horses, after being
in a threshing-mill for about three quarters of an hour, and
threshing as much straw as is necessary for the stock, a-
mounting, in his case, to sixty or seventy head, will, after
feeding, plough as well as if they had not been in the mill.

134

aaore steady in the machine than horses. His oxen, when
employed in the threshing -mill, were fed in the usual
way ; only from being so near the shed, or court, they
were unyoked in the middle of the day in winter, and got
a few turnips, in lieu of the hay they were accustomed to
get at mid-day, when employed in the field. A single
tree was fixed to the beam, or what is commonly called
the start of the mill, and the oxen were yoked to it by
chains, in the same way as in the plough. For six or
seven years, he never had a horse in the mill, and each ox
•was employed nearly three years, one out of three being
annually laid off for feeding, and a young one trained in
its place. When not 'employed in the threshing-mill, the
oxen ploughed or harrowed as usual, and sometimes were
employed in leading dung, turnips, &c.

The advantages of using oxen in threshing-mills, are
represented in the strongest point of view by Mr Wood of
Mill-Rig in Linlithgowshire.

In a communication to a useful institution, the Salton
Agricultural Society, he observes, that threshing-ma-
chines are so much connected with the farming business,
that it cannot be carried on without them. They are in
general drawn by horses, and are found to be very inju-
rious to that valuable animal ; for which reason, he ad-
vertised some time ago, to have one made, to be driven
by oxen, so as to suit their natural step. This he
happily effected. For two seasons he threshed with
oxen, and found, upon trial, both the mill and oxen to-
answer particularly well. It was thus in his power to
have his threshing carried on, without interrupting any
work wherein his horses are engaged, besides exempt-
ing them from the severe labour of threshing about 100
acres of wheat annually, which proved destructive to his
horses, though they were very high fed. He found

oxen much superior to horses, being much more steady'.
It is necessary, however, that the driver should hum/M^r
the ox in the mill, and that the machine should be made
to go with more velocity, on account of the slower pacp
of the horse.

As a proof of the advantage of employing oxen, Mr
Wood states, that he tried the following experiment.
He put up twelve oxen into one court •, they all had one
sort of food, namely, as many turnips as served them,
and as much straw as they could destroy, and were all in
good condition when put in. Six of them were idle, the
other six wrought in the mill. He turned all the
twelve out at the same time upon young grass, and sold
them off about the first week in July, in the public mar-
ket in Edinburgh, and found the butchers always fixed
upon the worked oxen as the fattest ; it was of course
evident, that their work had done them no harm. The
whole were winter stock ; their cost on an average
was about eleven pounds, and they sold at seventeen
guineas each. The wrought oxen, however, were a year
older than the idle, which might help to make them feed
faster. The next season, having betwixt sixty and
seventy turnip cattle, the greater part of which were
tied up early in October ; he was under the necessity,
therefore, of threshing spon after harvest, to have plenty
of straw for litter, &c. He now found himself enabled,
(his other farming work being well forward), to tie up
his worked oxen to the stake, and they were sold, after
being kept six weeks, for upwards of twenty guineas
each. Their original cost was twelve guineas a head,
about the last week in July, and they were fed on coarse
land, till the threshing began, and then got turnip and
straw. Hence it must be obvious, that this plan is at-
tended with a profit; whereas, by using horses for

136

threshing, it is ultimately a great loss. The use df
oxen, therefore, in this operation, may certainly be
looked to, in some degree, as an improvement in agri-
culture. It is but fair to add, that for the first four or
five times, the oxen are very awkward in the mill, and
great care is then necessary to teach them ; but after that,
they go more steadily than horses.

Mr Andrew Gray makes the following observations
on this interesting subject. Some persons are of opinion,
that as oxen in general move Very slow, hence, that much
time and labour would be lost in working them. That,
however, can be obviated, by altering the velocity of
the machine. It is also doubted whether oxen are as
proper as horses for walking in a circle. A farmer
in the county of Moray, however, informs me, that
he has used four oxen in a threshing mill, at one
of his farms, and that he found they did equally well
as horses; by which his plough horses were eased,
and the oxen he worked were kept in good condi-
tion, by turnips and straw : and as it has been found
from long experience, that oxen, if properly trained,
will work equally fair and pleasant with horses, either
in the plough, the wain, or any other machine in which
they move straight forwards *, it may therefore be pre-
sumed, that if taught, they will work equally fair when
walking in the same circle, and though oxen in general
move slower than horses, the threshing-machine can

* Horses will carry as well as draw ; hence some of the
load may be put on their back, and the horse is the better for
it, more especially going up hill. Oxen, on the other hand,
will draw, but cannot carry ; tumbtil carts, therefore, having
three wheels, are the best for them. If oxen are apt to be
giddy in a threshing-machine, they should be blind-folded,
as horses sometimes are.

137

.eftsily be so calculated, as to answer with their slower
motion. It would therefore seem, that oxen are at least
equal, if not superior to horses, for working threshing-
machines. There are indeed some circumstances that
appear to be in favour of oxen. It is is well known,
oxen are very steady and constant in the yoke, which is
a very material property ii> any animal employed in
machinery.

These are considerations which merit well the atten-
tion of every farmer in the kingdom ; and it now can
hardly be doubted, that for working in the threshing-
mills, and other extra labour, a few oxen on a farm
might be attended with infinite advantage.

3. The next power is wind, and if water cannot be
got, it is contended, that a wind- mill is greatly superior
to one wrought by horses. Wind-mills, it is said, are
now so nicely constructed, that the sails contract and di-
late, according as the wind increases or decreases ; so that
now the motion is much more uniform than that of a
horse mill driven by the most careful driver. The next
great advantage of the wind mill is its great power,
which permits more work to be done in the same time,
and at less expence, as the ordinary servants on the farm
are capable of threshing a sufficient quantity after hay-
ing gone their yoking or journey at either cart or
plough, during the winter months ; besides, the expence
of tear and wear of horses employed at the threshing-
mill, is beyond calculation, as no work upon the farm is
half so expensive*. MrRennieuf Oxwell tvin ins considers,
that a wind threshing-mill, equal to the power of eight
horses, will annually save, when compared to h.

S

* Communication from Mr Rcnnie of Ktnblethmont.

L. 46 per annum, deducting the sinking of L.ioo addi-
tional expence, in the erection of the machine; and Mr
Wilson of Simprin in Berwickshire, is of opinion, that
wherever a great quantity of wheat is grown, the resis-
tance is so great, and 10 overcome it is so ruinous to
horses, that a threshing mill ought to be driven either
by wind or water.

Others object to wind-machines, on account of the ex-
pence of the erection, the uncertainty of their going in
calm weather, and the danger attending them when the
wind blows hard. Mr Brodie of Garwald, in particular,
observes, that in hilly situations, the wind is apt to rise
in such sudden squalls, as frequently to make that power
inconvenient, and not unaccompanied by danger.

Mr Neil of Kelso informs me, that the expence of &
good wind threshing mill will be about L. 550, and that
when a horse power is annexed to it, the additional ex-
pence, according to the present price of timber, will be
about L. no more, or L. 670 in all.

4. Aware of these objections to the power of wind
alone, Mr Kennie of Fantassie, Mr Broun of Markle,
and other respectable farmers, have erected threshing,
machines, so constructed, as to be worked either ly wind
or by Worses, as may be found necessary. They consider
the power of wind to be so uncertain, that without the
addition of horses, a great inconvenience would often be
sustained. Mr Hume of East Barns has a machine of
the same description, but owing to the vicinity of the
sea, he has hardly ever had occasion for the horse
power. He considers threshing-machines of great ad-
vantage, even with horses ; but when wind or water can
be obtained, it is worth, he states, on a farm of about
250 Scotch acres of arable land, from L. loc to L. ZOQ
fer annum.

139

«. Water is by far the cheapest and the test power t«
fee applied to threshing-mills. From the equality and
the smoothness of the motion, the machine will last
double the time to one drove by horses ; and as water-
mills generally do much more work when in motion,
they do not require to be so frequently used *. It is
calculated, that in threshing a crop of any extent, a pair
of horses may be saved upon the farm, by the use of a
water-:: ill, which is a great consideration.

Mr Stewart of Hilhead has a threshing mill driven by
Water collected from springs in the upper part of his
farm, and gathered in a dam. It has seldom been stopt
for want of water, and then only in extreme frosts, when
the ploughmen thresh, having little other work to do.
Mr Stewart adds, that the barley is cleared of awns, by
putting it through the mill with a grater upon it, which
is done at the rate of three bushels in the minute. This
seems to be a useful appendage to the threshing mill.

6. Mr Hunter of Tynefield has a threshing mill
wrought by water, and by horse*, when water is scarce.
About half his crop is* threshed by the water, which
saves about TO per cent, on the expence, whereas, by the
labour of horses only, about 5 per cent, is gained. I con-
sider this to be a very useful suggestion. There arc
many situations, where, by collecting spiings, and form-
ing dams, half the labour of threshing might be done by
'water, without. much additional expence of machinery.

7. The last power to be applied is steam. It is said,
that on some new plan, steam-engines have been invent-
ed at Hull, which would furnish power sufficient to
drive a threshing-machine, at the expence of about

Remarks by Mr James Cuthbertson.

140

L. ace *. Where coal can be had at a moderate ex-
pence, some would reckon steam superior even to water >
but as fire is always a dangerous enemy to straw, and
farm- servants often careless, it may be sometimes at-
(.1 with risk.

2. Advantages of*fljresl>ing-mills.

It is impossible to form an adequate idea of the ad-
vantages which, have been derived from this important
invention, without considering the manner in which
threshing had been previously performed. There were
two methods adopted for that purpose. The first was
by a person who contracted to thresh the grain, giving
twenty-four parts to the farmer, and reserving one twen-
ty-fifth part to himself: The second method was, to hire
a man to thresh the grain, at i s. 3 d, per boll. Both
these modes evidently furnished an inducement to thresh
the grain in a slovenly, rather than in a perfect manner ;
for the more labour that was bestowed on die threshing,
the less was the profit derived from it. The mischief
was, that by these methods, every part of the business
was a distinct process. In the first place, as many hands
were collected to bring in the stack, and to build it into
one end of the barn, as would, with the advantage of a
mill, bring in, thresh, and clean the o.ne half of it, in the
bame time -, next, the tasker had to take it from the
mow, (as it is called), to lay it on the floor, to shake it
well, and then to thresh it ; and when each floor is
threshed, he must put the straw out of his way ; twice
every day at least, he had to gather what corn he had

« Communication from Mr Brown of Cononsyth. Mr
Freeman in Oxfordshire has erected a very large steam
thresh ing-mill.

141

threshed from every corner of the barn, and to separate
it 'distinctly from the straw; women had to attend twice
a day to shake the straw, and men to carry it away ; and
last of all, hands were collected to clean and prepare it
for market, after lying perhaps fourteen days on a cold
clay floor. Instead of all this, with the mill, and at most
nine hands, often with only six or seven, and from four
to six horses, the farmer can bring in, thresh, and partly
clean, on an average, twenty- four bolls in four hours, at
the same time, shaking and disposing of the straw ; and-
before the women leave the mill, it is ready for the mar-
ket, the door locked, and the key in his possession.
What a difference, instead of being a sort of slave to
taskers for at least nine months in the year. A baker
also, will give 2 s. per boll more for wheat threshed by
a mill, than by the flail *.

The specific advantages resulting from this invention,
may be thus stated, i. The threshing and shaking are
so much better performed than they were by the flail,
and by the hand, as to justify the opinion, that there is
an advantage derived, equal to one boll in twenty, over
the old-fashioned methods f. The foul threshing^ or
grain left in the straw by the flail, was formerly so
abominable, that a respectable farmer in the Carse of
Gowrie, calculates, that to his certain knowledge, it was
equal £o the expence of keeping all the work-horses on
his farm |, and the loss was so insufferable, that the far-

* Communication from Mr Richard Sorrmer of Gilchris-
ton.

f Communication from Mr George Farme, Braidwcod,
near Dalkeith, and Mr Brown of Cononsyth.

J There is now no risk from foul-threshing, as every far-
mer can distinguish, in a few minutes, whether the work i»

144

»er was afraid to go from home, for the eight months
in the year during which the threshing lasted. 7. It is
not only of importance, its being done in a much more
perfect manner, but also, that it can be executed much
more expeditiously *, in so much, that advantage may be
taken of any sudden demand ; a scarce market may be
supplied ; a stack of thirty to forty bolls may with ease
be threshed in a day, and sent to market, or to the mil-
ler; and all this may be done during weather, when the
other farming operations must be at a stand. 3. It has
been well observed by Mr Broun of Markle, that, if in
the large farms of this country, hand labour were to be
used for separating corn from the straw, a farmer's
whole attention would be taken up by barn work, other-
wise the work would be imperfectly executed ; whilst
much pilfering would go on, unless he was constantly on
the watch f. At a threshing-machine, any'thing of that
kind can rarely happen, sn many people being employed
together when the machine is at work, constantly under
the eye of the master, or of some confidential servant,
and when the work is finished, every door is instantly

properly done or not ; but by the flail, he was almost always
at die mercy of the thresher, who grew so weary of so tedi-
ous an employment, that it is not to be wondered at he
should execute it in a slovenly manner. Besides, the labour
was an unwholesome employment, from the dust it was apt to
raise, and those who worked at it seldom lived long.

* Once putting it through the hand-fanners, completes it
either for the nvll, or the merchant, and a stack can be
threshed out. cleared, sacked, delivered, and might almost
be ground, and baked into bread, in one aud the same day.

f The doors, of the barns formerly were almost constantly
op:n.

us

locked. 4. One important advantage attending the
threshing-machine, worked by any power, is the supe-
rior value of the grain ; as the speedy way in which the
work is executed, prevents that waste and damp, which
was produced from the long continuance of the corn
among the chaff, thereby rendering it not so fit for meet-
ing the market, and of inferior quality to the consumer*.
Hence, as Mr John Shirreff well observes, the corn, instead
of lying during one, two, or even three weeks, amidst
the chaff and other rubbish, in the corner of a barn,
till it becomes quite raw to the touch, and musty to the
•mall, or, if the floor is damp, sometimes in part, springs,
grain when threshed by the machine, is instantaneously
separated from both straw and chaff, as well as every other
extraneous substance, and can be immediately measured
up into bags, to be disposed of as may best suit the
owner's interest. So great is the difference between
grain threshed by the flail and the machine, that any
person acquainted with the article, may go through
a. corn market, blindfolded, and note every bag. 5. Ano-
ther great advantage is, that the fanner can thresh
his seed-wheat when in a soft state, recently cut
and taken off the field, and without any injury what-

* Communication by Mr James Cutbbertson. Mr Peter
Jack of Moncur, observes, that when grain was threshed by
the flail, it was ten or twelve days in the floor, the firat part
of the grain lying on the floor so lon^, became damp and
swelled, that though put to a proper granary, yet it soon be-
came foisted, from the damp that it carried from the cold
floor, and on dint account, n-ver ha i the fine flavour in flour,
that meal of all kinds now h.tve, never b'.ing suffered to lie
on the barn floor. North countiy oats and meal often lose
a nuirket in the south, or. account of the tcistej taste, it is so
apt 10 imbibe from damp floors.

r

144

ever, which, before the invention of mills, it was hardly
possible to get executed, in the harvest time, without the
greatest difficulty, and at a heavy loss. He is thus also
enabled to provide seed corn in the spring, which was not
always an easy operation. When threshing for seed was
done in a hurry, it may easily be supposed in how sloven-
ly a manner the operation would be performed. In the
busiest time of harvest also, straw can be got for cover-
ing stacks, which formerly could hardly be obtained.
6. It is found that strong wheat-straw is more useful for
cattle when threshed in a mill, it is so much more soften-
ed than by the flail *. 7. If a stack of corn is brought
from the field into the yard, too soon, and is heated, it is
threshed in one day, goes to the kiln and suffers no loss ;
but before the invention of mills, when threshed by the
flail, it was so soured that it was almost unsaleable, and
a loss of perhaps 20 per cent, was thereby sustained.
8. Mr John Shirreff remarks, that by the threshing-mill,
the separation of the grain from the straw, is not only
more complete than by any other known means, but the
separation of the straw from the grain and the chaff, by
the rake, and of the chaff and small seeds from the grain,
by the fanners and skreens, all driven by the same machi-
nery, are advantages not inferior, perhaps, to the separr-
tion of the grain from the straw in the first instance. —
Taking all these circumstances into consideration, and
that prior to the invention of threshing mills, drudgery,
it may be said, stared the farmer in the face ; and that
besides heavy losses, it was the source of endless trouble
and vexation to every occupier of land, it is not to be
wondered at, that the threshing-mill should be considered

• Communication fn.m Mr Peter Jack of Moncur.

145

ilie most useful and profitable instrument belonging to ft
farm, and that its advantages should be accountid INCAL-
CULABLE.

Some estimates, however, have been made of the ad-
vantages to be derived from this invention, which one far-
mer calculates at the rate of 5 s. per acre *, whilst others
state it at 5 s. per acre, with horse mills, but at full 10 s.
per acre upon the whole lands under crop, when the ma-
chine is driven by water, .by wind, or by oxenf. Mr
Dudgeon of Primrose Hill$ from general observation,
without entering into minute calculations, is of opi-
nion, that the aggregate advantage derived from a
well constructed threshing mill, wrought by water, and
tinder proper management, (when compared with the old
mode of threshing,) will be about 8 per cent, upon the
corn threshed, including labour alone, but without ma-
king any allowance for money sunk in erecting the mill,
or repairing the machinery. It is calculated by an intel-
ligent farmer, that a threshing-mill, saves, on an ave-
rage, the expence of three men for nine months, which,
on a farm producing loco bolls, is equal to about L. 70,'
or is. 3d. per boll. Mr Dudgeon of Prora, has made
a comparative estimate of the expence of threshing wheat
by the mill and the flail, from which it appears that the
saving of charges in threshing alone, independent of other
advantages, though the work be performed by horses, and
not by any cheaper power, is equal to 47 s. per 50 bolls,
or ud. per boll.

T

.,.],...

* Communication from Mr Charles Alexander of Easter
Haprew.

f Communication from Mr Wood of Milrig.

Comparative Estimate between tie fire sling- Mili ani
the Flail.

Three pair of horses and the men, at 8s. ptr day foi
each man and pair of horses ; hence for
50 bolls, - - - - L. i 4 o

Three additional men, at a s. - 060

Four women at pd. - - 039

Expence of threshing per mill, L. I 13 o

Which, per boll, is L. o o 7$

Dressing tie Corn.

L. s. d.

i man at is. 2 days, 04 o -\

a women at od. do , o 4 6 r

;... V9S- or /^r boll, o o a£

Oil and other contm- C

gencies, o o 6 ) Tot. per boll, o o 10

Lot for threshing 50 bolls per

flail, 2 bolls at 40 «. L. 4 o o

Expence of threshing as above per mill, i 13 o

Saved on 50 bolls, per mill, L. z 7 c, or n d.

r boll.

When the price of grain is higher than 40 s. per boll,
the profit from the mill is still greater.

147

Improvements on the I'brt thing-Mill *.

It is probable that several improvements will still be
made on this machine. Amongst these, diminishing the

* Mr Robert Ker states, that Mr Dun, a very ingenious
mill-wright at Coldstream in Berwickshire, has made many
useful improvements on threshing-mills, in particular on
those which go by wind ; more especially, by causing the
machinery to regulate the sails in proportion to the wind and
work, in a most effective manner, with no trouble whatever
to the people who feed the mill. He has likewise adapted a
series or" buckets, resembling the chain-pump, which continu-
ally return all ill-threshed grain, particularly ill-humbled bar-
ley, to the threshing stai;e ; and has, be-ides, added an in-
geniously-devised shaker, beyond the rake, for clearing all
the loose grain from among the straw. On the whole, the
machines erected by Mr Dun, Mr Ker is of opinion, have
carried the threshing mill to its utmost perfection ; always
supposing, however, that they possess sufficient moving power
of water or wind ; for they «re rather too much loaded to be
driven with any tolerable ease by horses.

The greatest objection to horse-machines, is the severity of
labour which they require, besides often necessarily occupy-
ing the time of the farm draughts, when much wanted f r
other purposes. The capital defect of the threshing-mills
which are driveen by wind, is the extreme uncertainty of
that power. During the long-continued frosts of winter,
when there is hardly any wind, they are often altogether use-
less for weeks, when straw for litter and fodder cannot be
dispensed with ; and the same thing sometimes happens dur-
ing harvest, when straw is much wanted for thatch. Water-
mills, whire that power can be hid, are certainly the best in
every respect ; being more economical and steadier in their
operation, than when driven either by horses or wind. But
water is very apt to fail in autumn, and during long frosts.
On theie accounts, both wind and water machines, except
when the latter have an ample and ready supply of the mov-
ing power, ought to be provided with horse wheels.

148

size of die drum, is certainly amongst the most im-
portant. The drum should not exceed from two feet
eight inches to three feet. That able mechanic, Mr An-
drew Graj, is decidedly of opinion, that a small drum,
with few beaters, is preferable to the larger one with
a great number, the small drum making better work,

Steam has been lately applied for the purpose of impelling
threshing machines, a;;d is not liable to interruptions ; but
there has not hitherto been iufficient experience to determine
its comparative advantages and disadvantages. It is said
that izcwt. of coals, are required to thresh cut 50 Berwick-
shire bolls, or 300 bushels .of wheat. It is probable, however,
that the alternation of heating and cooling the steam ap-
paratus, may occasion much loss and expence in repairing the
furnace and boiler ; and there is liule chance, in districts mere-
ly rural, of btin^ readily able to procure work-people who
are sufficiently conversant in steam engines, for keeping the
valves, leathers, and other parts of such nice machinery in
order.

As to the expence of threshing, Mr Robert Ker is of opinion,
that all the six horses in the mill, can easily be driven by one
man, so that two of those in the preceding calculation may be
deducted, which is equal to 4 s. of the whole expence. He also j
thinks, that one day is sufficient for dressing 100 bolls, after
going through the threshing machine. On the whole, he
makes the following estimate of the expence of threshing and,
dressing 50 bolls ot wheat :

Three pair of horses at 6s. per pair, L. o 18 o

Four men at 2 s. 6 d. each, c i o o

Four women at i s. each, 040

I.. I jz o
Incidents, as oil, &c. o o si

L. i 12 3i

which is at the rate cf 7^ J. per bo!l.

In the wind or water machine, the exprnce of the horses is
saved, by which the cost per boll is reduced to less than 3
By means of the steam power, the cost is restored to
the same with ho:

H9

not being so severe on the cattle, and less straining
to the machinery. Although it is obvious that a
drum three feet diameter, having four beaters, must
take two revolutions for one of the drum six feet
diameter, with eight beaters, it is evident that the
circumference of the one will move with the same
velocity as the other, because one turn of the large
drum is equal to two turns of the small one, therefore
they will give an equal number of strokes in the same
time ; but it is found by experience, that the small drum
threshes much cleaner, or makes better work than the
larger one. The small drum is therefore to be prefer-
red ; being easier driven, it must be less severe on the
cattle, and by its striking the corn at a more acute an-
gle, of course strips off the grain much cleaner from the
straw *.

Another great improvement is, that of making horses
work equally, to obtain which object, a plan has lately
been invented by Mr Walter Samuel, a smith near Edin-
burgh, the apparatus of which is simple, and cheap, not
exceeding 20 s. per horse, by means pf which all the
horses must equally exert themselves in the machine ; a
discovery for which the inventor deserves to be re-
warded.

* Mr Wood of Milrig remarks, that he has always found
the moderate sized threshing-mill by far the nio«,t useful, and
less destructive to the animals which drive it, and sufficiently
expeditious for the puipose of any farm ; and by employing a
certain number of day labourers, which a farm of proper
size has always at command, and by employing the ox ior
threshing, your horses, and the men belonging to them, are
never taken from other agricultural purposes, rery necessary
perhaps to be carrying on at the same time.

150

Another improvement is, instead of two fluted roller*,
to have one of them plain, but cliipt cross-ways, about
half an inch deep in various places. This prevents the
straw from rolling around the other fluted roller ; in
which case the straw must be immediately cut, otherwise
much mischief may be done. This is supposed to be a
Scotch invention, for it was introduced into Northum-
berland only in the year 1807. When chipped, the straw
adheres to the roller, without lapping round it, which it
is apt to do, when fluted, if the straw is damp.

When horses are yoked in threshing-mills, they ought
either to have goggles, or to be blinded, as they are so
apt to look back. A.11 horses should have breechings to
<nable them to stop the machine, and many have been
VHed, and much mischief done, owing to the want of
so essential an article. The lever ought always to be
placed above the horse's back.

Great diversity of opinion is entertained regarding the
kind of threshing-mill that is easiest wrought, some con-
tending for two movements, some for three, and others
for four. Mr Rennie of Fantasie recommends a mode
of trial which he thinks would set that matter to rest,
that of having three or four models of different move-
ments, but of equal power, to be constructed by an able
mechanic, and these to be wrought by means of weights,
which he thinks would at once ascertain which of them
had the easiest draught ; at the same time, it would be
difficult to say, with any degree of correctness, which
ought to be preferred. So much depends on a variety of
circumstances; as, i. The strength, quality and condi-
tion of the horses ; 2. The length and stiffness of the
straw ; 3. The ripeness of the grain i. 4. Its being well or
ill filled i 5. Its being dry or damp ; 6. The experience

151

and ability of the driver, and feeder ; and lastly,
condition in which the machine is kept *.

As to the charge of erecting threshing mills, theexpence,
in the Carse of Gowrie, is calculated at L. 200 for each
machine, including the horse shed, the fanners and the loft
connected with the framing of the machinery, but exclu-
sive of the barn, the barn lofting, &c. f. This expence
is likely to increase, owing to the increased value of
wood, but Mr John Shirreff remarks, that that must ra
some degree, be counterbalanced, by the present more ge-
neral introduction and employment of cast-metal seg-
ments and pinions, in the construction of which, much
labour is saved, and consequently wages to the operative
mill- wright.

Upon the whole, after the experienced advantage of
powerful threshing -mills on large farms, they have now
become not only most useful, but almost indispensably ne-
cessary appendages ; and farmers who have been accustom-
«d to the dispatch, security, and economy, which they con-
tribute to the management of extensive concerns, would
find themselves reduced to most unpleasant inconvenience,
should any circumstances oblige them to have again re-
course to the flail.

* Communication from George Rcnnie, Esq; of Fan*
tassie.

f Communication from Mr Peter Jack of Moncur.

On Fanners.

This excellent instrument is more generally to be found
in Scotland than even the threshing-mill. By using it,
with the aid of riddles in some part of the operation, all
dust, chaff, and other refuse are blown away, and the
grain separated into divisions according to its quality, by
which it is rendered intrinsically more valuable, than if
the good and the bad were mixed together ; in the same
manner as a fleece of wool is more valuable, when broken
or sorted by the wool-stapler *. Some years ago, religious
people, attached to old habits, refused to winnow with
the deifs wind, as they called it ; but every scruple of
that sort, is now given up. The threshing-mill has gene-
rally one set of fanners attached to it, driven by a belt
from the end of the axle of the threshing drum ; but
where the machine is driven by horses, the working of a
second pair, for cleaning the grain completely, is rather
found to be severe upon them : the second pair of fan-
ners is therefore generally driven by hand. Mr Dudgeon
of Primrose Hill states, that one of his neighbours has
got a small water-wheel, totally unconnected with the
threshing machinery, for driving the second fanner, which,
by affording a steady equable motion, separates the light
grain in the most complete style f. By some improve-

• There is an excellent account of the fanning process in
Kerr's Berwickshire.

f Mr Cuthbcrtson finds, that the two pair of fanners at-
tached to his water threshing-mill perform their work so
well, that oats or beans are completely finished for market ;
wheat and barley, hovcvcr, require an additional dressing bf
tbe hand-fanners.

153

inents in the late erected machinery, it is said, that hand
fanners are rendered unnecessary, and that the cleaning
01 the grain is completed, at the same time that it is
threshed, so that the grain may be measured into the
sacks. This would indeed be an essential improvement.
At the same time, owing to 'he inequality of motion ne-
cessarily attendant on the operation of threshing, the se-
cond fanner, for separating the light grain from the
good, will not accomplish the purpose intended, in a
perfect manner, if it goes at the same time with the
mill*

END OF PART SECOND.

The Third Part will be Printed and Circulated
as soon as possible.

0*2 6

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