Part 14

But the other Sort of Sarrition, whereby the Corn is said Adobrui, to be cover’d, seems to be perform’d by Harrowing cross the Furrows; which must needs throw down much Earth from the Furrows, which necessarily fell upon the Corn.

How this did contribute to make the Corn fruticare, is another Question: I am in no doubt to say, it was not from covering any Part of it (for I see that has a contrary Effect), but from moving much Ground, which gave a new Pasture to the Roots: This appears by the Observation of the extraordinary Frutication of Wheat ho’d without being cover’d; and by the Injury it receives by not being uncover’d when any Earth falls on the Rows.

The same Author saith, Faba, & cætera Legumina, cum quatuor Digitis à Terra extiterint, recte farrientur, excepto tamen Lupino, cujus Semini contraria est Sarritio; quoniam unam Radicem habet, quæ sive Ferro succisa feu vulnerata est, totus Frutex emoritur.

If they had ho’d it only betwixt Rows, there had been no Danger of killing the Lupine, which is a Plant most proper for Hoeing. What he says of the Lupine’s having no need of Sarrition, because it is able of itself to kill Weeds, shews the Antients were ignorant of the chief Use of Hoeing; viz. to raise new Nourishment by dividing the Earth, and making a new Internal Superficies in it.

Sarrition scratched and broke so small a Part of the Earth’s Surface, amongst the Corn and Weeds, without Distinction, or favouring one any more than the other, that it was a Dispute, whether the Good it did in facilitating the Runcation (or Hand-weeding) was greater, than the Injury it did by bruising and tearing the Corn: And many of the Antients chose rather to content themselves with the Use of Runcation only, and totally to omit all Sarrition of their Corn.

But Hoeing is an Action very different from that of Sarrition, and is every Way beneficial, no-way injurious to Corn, tho’ destructive to Weeds. Therefore some modern Authors shew a profound Ignorance, in translating Sarritio, Hoeing: They give an Idea very different from the true one: For the Antients truly hoed their Vineyards, but not their Corn; neither did they plant their Corn in Rows, without which they could not give it the Vineyard-hoeing; Their Sarculation was used but amongst small Quantities of sown Corn, and is yet in Use for Flax; for I have seen the Sarculum (which is a Sort of a very narrow Hoe) used amongst the Plants of Flax standing irregularly: But this Operation is too tedious and too chargeable, to be apply’d to great Quantities of irregular Corn.

If they ho’d their Crops sown at Random, one would think they should have made mad Work of it; since they were not at the Pains to plant in Rows, and hoe betwixt them with their Bidens; being the Instrument with which they tilled many of their Vineyards, and enters as deep as the Plough, and is much better than the English Hoe, which indeed seems, at the first Invention of it, to be designed rather to scrape Chimneys, than to till the Ground.

The highest and lowest Vineyards are ho’d by the Plough; first the high Vineyards, where the Vines grow (almost like Ivy) upon great Trees, such as Elms, Maples, Cherry-trees, &c. These are constantly kept in Tillage, and produce good Crops of Corn, besides what the Trees do yield; and also these great and constant Products of the Vines are owing to this Sort of Hoe-tillage; because neither in Meadow or Pasture Grounds can Vines be made to prosper; tho’ the Land be much richer, and yet have a less Quantity of Grass taken off it, than the Arable has Corn carried from that.

The Vines of low Vineyards, ho’d by the Plough, have their Heads just above the Ground, standing all in a most regular Order, and are constantly plowed in the proper Season: These have no other Assistance, but by Hoeing; because their Head and Roots are so near together, that Dung would spoil the Taste of the Wine they produce, in hot Countries.

From these I took my Vineyard Scheme, observing that indifferent Land produces an annual Crop of Grapes and Wood without Dung; and though there is annually carried off from an Acre of Vineyard, as much in Substance as is carried off in the Crop of an Acre of Corn produced on Land of equal Goodness; and yet the Vineyard Soil is never impoverished, unless the hoeing Culture be denied it: But a few annual Crops of Wheat, without Dung in the common Management, will impoverish and emaciate the Soil.

The Vine indeed has the Advantage of being a large perennial Plant, and of receiving some Part of its Nourishment below the Staple; but it has also Disadvantages: The Soil of the Vineyard never can have a true Summer Fallow, tho’ it has much Summer Hoeing; for the Vines live in it, and all over it all the Year: neither can that Soil have Benefit from Dung, because though by increasing the Pulveration, it increases the Crop, yet it spoils the Taste of the Wine; the Exhaustion of that Soil is therefore supply’d by no artificial Help but Hoeing: And by all the Experience I have had of it, the same Cause will have the same Effect upon a Soil for the Production of Corn, and other Vegetables, as well as upon the Vineyard.

All Vineyards must be ho’d one Way or other, or else they will produce nothing of Value; but Corn-Fields without Hoeing do produce something, tho’ nothing in Comparison to what they would do with it.

Vines, that cannot be ho’d by the Ploughs, are ho’d by the Bidens.

Mr. Evelyn says, that when the Soil, wherein Fruit-Trees are planted, is constantly kept in Tillage, they grow up to be an Orchard in half the Time they would do, if the Soil were not till’d; and this keeping an Orchard-Soil in Arable, is Horse-hoeing it.

In some Places in Berkshire they have used, for a long time to Hand-hoe most Sorts of Corn, with very great Success; and I may say this, that I myself never knew, or heard, that ever any Crop of Corn was properly so ho’d, but what very well answer’d the Expence, even of this Hand-work; but be this never so profitable, there are not a Number of Hands to use it in great Quantities; which possibly was one Reason the Antients were not able to introduce it into their Corn-Fields to any Purpose; tho’ they should not have been ignorant of the Effect of it, from what they saw it do in their Vineyards and Gardens.

In the next Place I shall give some general Directions, which by Experience I have found necessary to be known, in order to the Practice of this Hoeing-Husbandry.

I. Concerning the Depth to plant at.

II. The Quantity of Seed to plant.

III. And the Distance of the Rows.

I. ’Tis necessary to know how deep we may plant our Seed, without Danger of burying it; for so ’tis said to be, when laid at a Depth below what ’tis able to come up at.

Different Sorts of Seeds come up at different Depths; some at six Inches, or more; some at not more than half an Inch: The Way to know for certain the Depth any Sort will come up at is, to make Gauges in this Manner: Saw off 12 Sticks of about 3 Inches Diameter: Bore a Hole in the End of each Stick, and drive into it a taper Peg; let the first Peg be half an Inch long, the next an Inch, and so on; every Peg to be half an Inch longer than the former, till the last Peg be six Inches long; then in that sort of Ground where you intend to plant, make a Row of Twenty Holes with the half-Inch Gauge; put therein Twenty good Seeds; cover them up, and stick the Gauge at the End of that Row; then do the like with all the other Eleven Gauges: This will determine the Depth, at which the most Seeds will come up.

In the common way of Sowing tis hard to know the proper Depth, because some Seeds lying deep, and others shallow, it is not easy to discover the Depth of those that are buried: But I have found in drilling of black Oats, that when the Drill-Plough was set a little deeper for Trial, very few came up: Therefore ’tis proper for the Driller to use the Gauges for all Sorts of Seeds; for, if he drills them too deep, he may lose his Crop; or, if too shallow, in dry Weather, he may injure it, especially in Summer Seeds; but for those planted against Winter, there is the most Damage by planting too deep.

When the Depth is known, wherein the Seed is sure to come up, we may easily discover, whether the Seed be good or not, by observing how many will fail: For in some Sorts of Seeds the Goodness cannot be known by the Eye; and there has been often great Loss by bad Seed, as well as by burying good Seed; both which Misfortunes might be prevented by this little Trouble; besides ’tis not convenient to plant some sorts of Seed at the utmost Depth they will come up at; for it may be so deep, as that the Wet may rot or chill the first Root, as in Wheat in moist Land.

The Nature of the Land, the Manner how it is laid, either flat, or in Ridges, and the Season of Planting, with the Experience of the Planter, acquired by such Trials, must determine the proper Depths for different Sorts of Seeds.

II. The proper Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre, is much less than must be sown in the common Way; not because Hoeing will not maintain as many Plants as the other; for, on the contrary, Experience shews it will, cæteris paribus, maintain more; but the Difference is upon many other Accounts: As that ’tis impossible to sow it so even by Hand, as the Drill will do; for let the Hand spread it never so exactly (which is difficult to do some Seeds, especially in windy Weather), yet the Unevenness of the Ground will alter the Situation of the Seed; the greatest Part rebounding into the Holes, and lowest Places; or else the Harrows, in Covering, draw it down thither; and tho’ these low Places may have Ten Times too much, the high Places may have little or none of it: This Inequality lessens, in Effect, the Quantity of the Seed; because Fifty Seeds, in Room of One, will not produce so much as One will do; and where they are too thick, they cannot be well nourished, their Roots not spreading to near their natural Extent, for Want of Hoeing to open the Earth. Some Seed is buried (by which is meant the laying them so deep, that they are never able to come up, as Columella cautions, Ut absque ulla Resurrectionis Spe sepeliantur): Some lies naked above the Ground; which, with more uncovered by the first Rain, feeds the Birds and Vermin.

Farmers know not the Depth that is enough to bury their Seed, neither do they make much Difference in the Quantity they sow on a rough, or a fine Acre; tho’ the same that is too little for the one, is too much for the other; ’tis all mere Chance-work, and they put their whole Trust in good Ground, and much Dung, to cover their Errors.

The greatest Quantity of Seed I ever heard of to be usually sown, is in Wiltshire, where I am informed by the Owners themselves, that on some Sorts of Land they sow Eight Bushels of Barley to an Acre; so that if it produce four Quarters to an Acre, there are but four Grains for one that is sown, and is a very poor Increase, tho’ a good Crop; this is on Land plowed once, and then double-dung’d, the Seed only harrow’d into the stale and hard Ground; ’tis like not two Bushels of the eight will enter it to grow; and I have heard, that in a dry Summer an Acre of this scarce produces four Bushels at Harvest.

Stale Ground is that which has lain some considerable time after Plowing, before it is sown, contrary to that which is sown immediately after plow’d; for this last is generally not so hard as the former.