Part 12

But I take harsh uncivil Clay to be the least profitable of any to keep in Tillage.

To this Dust, Namque hoc imitamur arando ought to be apply’d, and not to Putre Solum, which itself needs Tillage, as well as strong Land: But it seems the Antients did not observe the Difference between natural Pores (or Hollowness) and artificial ones, tho’ it is very great; as is shewn in Chap. of Pasture of Plants: ’Tis easier indeed to imitate this artificial Dust in hollow than in strong Land.

’Tis to be suppos’d, that the Indian Plants had their due Degrees of Heat and Moisture given them; and I should not chuse to bestow this Toil upon the poorest of Earth in a Field or Garden, tho’ that be the most sure wherein to make the Experiment.

This is the most proper Trial of the Effect of Pulveration by pounding and grinding; but Land may be so barren, that Plough or Spade may not be sufficient to pulverize it to that Degree, which is necessary to give it the same Fertility, that Pounding in a Mortar, or grinding betwixt Marbles (as Colours are ground), can.

I never myself try’d this way of pounding or grinding, because impracticable in the Fields.

But I have had the Experience of a Multitude of Instances, which confirm it so far, that I am in no Doubt, that any Soil (be it rich or poor) can ever be made too fine by Tillage.

Land that is too hollow and light, having no Cement to join its Parts together, tho’ in Nature they are capable of infinite Division, yet in Practice the Plough cannot divide them to any Purpose, unless they were first join’d, but glides through without breaking them; being more like to the primary Particles of Water against the Plough, which are broken by no Force, than to Earth; it may be moved, but not broken by Tillage, and therefore ought not to be reputed arable; nor does it indeed deserve the Name of Land, but as the desart Sands of Lybia, to distinguish it from Sea.

According to some, this Rule is only general, and not universal; for, say they, there’s a Sort of binding Gravel, that, when it is made fine, will, by a sudden Dash of Rain, run together like a Metal; and I have seen the same Accident in a particular Sort of white Land; but this very rarely happens to the latter: I never knew it above once, and that was after Barley was sown on it; the Hardness was only like a very thin Ice upon the Surface, which was some Hindrance to the coming up of the Barley, until the Harrow’s going over it once or twice broke that Ice or Crust, and then it came up very well.

I never had any other Sort of Land liable to this Misfortune: therefore can say nothing to the Gravel in that Case, nor how deep the Constipation may reach in it, nor what Remedy is most proper to prevent the ill Consequence of it: But if there should be two or three Exceptions out of One thousand Seventy-nine Millions One thousand and Sixty different Sorts of Earth (see Mr. Evelyn’s Terra, p. 2), ’twill be no great Matter.

But I think these are no real Exceptions against any Degree of Pulverizing; for it only shews, that some Sorts of Land, tho’ very few, are subject by Accident to lose too soon their Pulveration: And if the Fineness were no Benefit to that Land, such Loss of it would be no Injury to it.

For ’tis without Dispute, that one cubical Foot of this minute Powder may have more internal Superficies, than a thousand cubical Feet of the same, or any other Earth till’d in the common Manner; and, I believe no two arable Earths in the World do exceed one another in their natural Richness Twenty Times; that is, one cubical Foot of the richest is not able to produce an equal Quantity of Vegetables, cæteris paribus, to Twenty cubical Feet of the poorest; therefore ’tis not strange, that the poorest, when by pulverizing it has obtain’d One hundred Times the internal Superficies of the rich untill’d Land, it should exceed it in Fertility; or, if a Foot of the poorest was made to have Twenty Times the Superficies of a Foot of such rich Land, the poorest might produce an equal Quantity of Vegetables with the rich. Besides, there is another extraordinary Advantage, when a Soil has a larger internal Superficies in a very little Compass; for then the Roots of Plants in it are better supply’d with Nourishment, being nearer to them on all Sides within Reach, than it can be when the Soil is less fine, as in common Tillage; and the Roots in the one must extend much further than in the other, to reach an equal Quantity of Nourishment: They must range and fill perhaps above twenty Times more Space to collect the same Quantity of Food.

And very poor Land, well pulveriz’d, will produce better Corn than very rich will do, without Manure or Tillage. The Experiment may be made by paring off the Turf, and setting Corn in the whole Ground that is very rich; and that will shew how much the natural Pasture of the rich is inferior to the artificial Pasture of the poor Land; but then the poor must have this Proportion of Excess of internal Superficies continued to it, during the whole Time of their Growth, which cannot be done without frequently repeated Divisions of the Soil by Hoeing or Manure; else it might require forty Times the internal Superficies at the Time of Sowing, to keep twenty Times the internal Superficies of the rich till Harvest: For although the rich is continually losing some of its artificial Pasture, as well as the poor, yet by losing this equally, they still draw nearer and nearer to the first Inequality of their natural Pasture.

But poor Land, being lighter, has this Advantage, that it being more friable than the strong, requires less Labour to pulverize it; and therefore the Expence of it is much less, than in proportion to the Excess of Poorness of its internal Superficies.

But in this fine Soil, the most weak and tender Roots have free Passage to the utmost of their Extent, and have also an easy, due, and equal Pressure every-where, as in Water.

Hard Ground makes a too great Resistance, as Air makes a too little Resistance, to the Superficies of Roots.

Farmers, just when they have brought their Land into a Condition fit to be further till’d to much greater Advantage, leave off, supposing the Soil to be fine enough, when, with the Help of Harrows, they can cover the Seed; and afterwards with a Roller they break the Clods; to the End that, if a Crop succeed, they may be able to mow it, without being hinder’d by those Clods: By what I could ever find, this Instrument, call’d a Roller, is seldom beneficial to good Husbands; it rather untills the Land, and anticipates the subsiding of the Ground, which in strong Land happens too soon of itself.

This Injury the Roller does, is only when tis used to press down the Earth after the Seed is sown; and is the greater, if Land be moist; but the Rolling of it in dry Weather, when ’tis to be immediately plow’d up again, is the most speedy Way to pulverize the Soil; and the Harrow is then very useful in pulling up the Clods, to the End that the Roller may the better come at them to crush them.

But more to blame are they, who neglect to give their Land due Plowing, trusting to the Harrow to make it fine; and when they have thrown in their Seed, go over it twenty Times with the Harrows till the Horses have trodden it almost as hard as a Highway, which in moist Weather spoils the Crop; but on the contrary, the very Horses, when the Earth is moist, ought all to tread in the Furrows only, as in plowing with a Hoe-Plough they always do, when they use it instead of a common Plough.

Nam veteres Romani dixerunt male subactum Agrum, qui satis Frugibus occandus sit.

Sed ut compluribus Iterationibus sic resolvatur vervactum in Pulverem, ut nullam vel exiguam desideret Occationem, cum seminaverimus. Col. Lib. 2. Cap. 4.

CHAP. VI.

Of HOEING.

Hoeing is the breaking or dividing the Soil by Tillage, whilst the Corn or other Plants are growing thereon.

It differs from common Tillage (which is always perform’d before the Corn or Plants are sown or planted) in the Times of performing it; ’tis much more beneficial; and ’tis perform’d by different Instruments.

Land that is before Sowing tilled never so much (tho’ the more ’tis till’d the more it will produce) will have some Weeds, and they will come in along with the Crop for a Share of the Benefit of the Tillage, greater or less, according to their Number, and what Species they are of.

But what is most to be regarded is, that as soon as the Ploughman has done his Work of plowing and harrowing, the Soil begins to undo it, inclining towards, and endeavouring to regain, its natural specific Gravity; the broken Parts by little and little coalesce, unite, and lose some of their Surfaces; many of their Pores and Interstices close up during the Seed’s Incubation and Hatching in the Ground; and, as the Plants grow up, they require an Increase of Food proportionable to their increasing Bulk; but on the contrary, instead thereof, that internal Superficies, which is their artificial Pasture, gradually decreases.

The Earth is so unjust to Plants, her own Off-spring, as to shut up her Stores in proportion to their Wants; that is, to give them less Nourishment when they have need of more: Therefore Man, for whose Use they are chiefly design’d, ought to bring in his reasonable Aid for their Relief, and force open her Magazines with the Hoe, which will thence procure them at all times Provisions in Abundance, and also free them from Intruders; I mean, their spurious Kindred, the Weeds, that robb’d them of their too scanty Allowance.

There’s no Doubt, but that one third Part of the Nourishment raised by Dung and Tillage, given to Plants or Corn at many proper Seasons, and apportion’d to the different Times of their Exigencies, will be of more Benefit to a Crop, than the Whole apply’d, as it commonly is, only at the time of Sowing. This old Method is almost as unreasonable as if Treble the full Stock of Leaves, necessary to maintain Silk-worms till they had finished their Spinning, should be given them before they are hatched, and no more afterwards.