Part 15

But, in Drilling, Seed lies all the same just Depth, none deeper, nor shallower, than the rest; here’s no Danger of the Accidents of burying, or being uncover’d, and therefore no Allowance must be made for them; but Allowance must be made for other Accidents, where the Sort of Seed is liable to them; such as Grub, Fly, Worm, Frost, &c.

Next, when a Man unexperienced in this Method has proved the Goodness of his Seed, and Depth to plant at it, he ought to calculate what Number of Seeds a Bushel, or other Measure or Weight, contains: For one Bushel or one Pound of small Seed, may contain double the Number of Seeds, of a Bushel, or a Pound, of large Seed of the same Species.

This Calculation is made by weighing an Ounce, and counting the Number of Seeds therein; then weighing a Bushel of it, and multiplying the Number of Seeds of the Ounce, by the Number of Ounces of the Bushel’s Weight; the Product will shew the Number of Seeds of a Bushel near enough: Then, by the Rule of Three, apportion them to the Square Feet of an Acre; or else it may be done, by divideing the Seeds of the Bushel by the Square Feet of an Acre; the Quotient will give the Number of Seeds for every Foot: Also consider how near you intend to plant the Rows, and whether Single, Double, Treble, or Quadruple; for the more Rows, the more Seed will be required.

The narrow Spaces (suppose seven Inches) betwixt Double, Treble, or Quadruple Rows, the Double having One, the Treble Two, and the Quadruple Three of them, are called Partitions.

The wide Space (suppose of near five Feet) betwixt any Two of these Double, Treble, or Quadruple Rows, is call’d an Interval.

Examine what is the Produce of one middle-siz’d Plant of the Annual, but the Produce of the best and largest of the perennial Sort; because that by Hoeing will be brought to its utmost Perfection: Proportion the Seed of both to the reasonable Product; and, when ’tis worth while, adjust the Plants to their competent Number with the Hand-hoe, after they are up; and plant Perennials generally in single Rows: Lastly, Plant some Rows of the Annual thicker than others, which will soon give you Experience (better than any other Rule) to know the exact Quantity of Seed to drill.

III. The Distances of the Rows are one of the most material Points, wherein we shall find many apparent Objections against the Truth; of which, tho’ full Experience be the most infallible Proof, yet the World is by false Notions so prejudiced against wide Spaces between Rows, that unless these common (and I wish I could say, only vulgar) Objections be first answer’d, perhaps no-body will venture so far out of the old Road, as is necessary to gain the Experience; without it be such as have seen it.

I formerly was at much Pains, and at some Charge, in improving my Drills, for planting the Rows at very near Distances; and had brought them to such Perfection, that One Horse would draw a Drill with Eleven Shares, making the Rows at three Inches and half Distance from one another; and at the same Time sow in them Three very different Sorts of Seeds, which did not mix; and these too, at different Depths; as the Barley-Rows were seven Inches asunder, the Barley lay four Inches deep; a little more than three Inches above that, in the same Chanels, was Clover; betwixt every Two of these Rows was a Row of St. Foin, cover’d half an Inch deep.

I had a good Crop of Barley the first Year; the next Year, Two Crops of Broad-Clover, where that was sown; and where Hop-Clover was sown, a mix’d Crop of That and St. Foin, and every Year afterwards a Crop of St. Foin; but I am since, by Experience, so fully convinced of the Folly of these, or any other such mix’d Crops, and more especially of narrow Spaces, that I have demolish’d these Instruments (in their full Perfection) as a vain Curiosity, the Drift and Use of them being contrary to the true Principles and Practice of Horse-Hoeing.

Altho’ I am satisfied, that every one, who shall have seen as much of it as I have, will be of my Mind in this Matter; yet I am aware, that what I am going to advance, will seem shocking to them, before they have made Trials.

I lay it down as a Rule (to myself) that every Row of Vegetables, to be Horse-ho’d, ought to have an empty Space or Interval of thirty Inches on one Side of it at least, and of near five Feet in all Sorts of Corn.

Note, We call it one Row, tho’ it be a Double, Treble, or Quadruple Row; because when they unite in the Spring, they seem to be all single; even the Quadruple then is but as one single Row.

Observe, that as wide Intervals are necessary for perfect Horse-hoeing, so the largest Vegetables have generally the greatest Benefit by them; tho’ small Plants may have considerable Benefit from much narrower Intervals than Five Feet.

The Intervals may be somewhat narrower for constant annual Crops of Barley, than of Wheat; because Barley does not shut out the Hoe-Plough so soon, nor require so much Room for Hoeing, nor so much Earth in the Intervals, it being a lesser Plant, and growing but about a Third-part of the Time on the Ground; but he that drills Barley, must resolve to reap it, and bind it up in Sheaves; for if he mows it, or does not bind it, a great Part will be lost among the Earth in the Intervals: But ’tis now found, that in a wet Harvest the best Way is not to bind up drill’d Barley or Oats; but instead thereof, to make up the Grips into little Heaps by Hands, laying the Ears upon one another inwards, and the Stubble-ones outwards; so that with a Fork that hath Two Fingers, and a Thumb, ’tis very easy to pitch such Heaps up the Waggons without scattering, or wasting any of the Corn.

’Tis also seen, that when the Reapers take Care to set their Grips with the But-ends in the Bottoms of the Intervals, and the Ears properly on the Stubble, they will so stand up from the Ground, as to escape much better from sprouting, than mow’d Corn.

In Hand-hoeing there is always less Seed, fewer Plants, and a greater Crop, cæteris paribus, than in the common Sowing: Yet there, the Rows must be much nearer together, than in Horse-hoeing; because as the Hand moves many times less Earth than the Horse, the Roots will be sent out in like Proportion; and if the Spaces or Intervals, where the Hand-hoe only scratches a little of the upper Surface of them, should be wide, they would be so hard and stale underneath, that the Roots of perennial Plants would be long in running thro’ them; and the Roots of many annual Plants would never be able to do it.

An Instance which shews something of the Difference between Hand-hoeing and Deep-hoeing is, That a certain poor Man is observ’d to have his Cabbages vastly bigger than any-body’s else, tho’ their Ground be richer, and better dung’d: His Neighbours were amaz’d at it, till the Secret at length came out, and was only this: As other People ho’d their Cabbages with a Hand-hoe, he instead thereof dug his with a Spade: And nothing can more nearly equal the Use of the Horse-hoe than the Spade does.

The Hoe-plough exceeds the Spade in this Respect, that it removes more of the Roots, and cuts off fewer; which is an Advantage when we till near to the Bodies of Plants that are grown large.

And when the Plants have never so much Pabulum near them, their fibrous Roots cannot reach it all, before the Earth naturally excludes them from it; for, to reach it all, they must fill all the Pores, which is impossible: So far otherwise it is, that we shall find it probable, that they can only reach the least Part of it, unless the Roots could remove themselves from Place to Place, to leave such Pores as they had exhausted, and apply themselves to such as were unexhausted; but they not being endow’d with Parts necessary for local Motion (as Animals are), the Hoe-Plough suplies their Want of Feet; and both conveys them to their Food, and their Food to them, as well as provides it for them; for by transplanting the Roots, it gives them Change of the Pasture, which it increases by the very Act of changing them from one Situation to another, if the Intervals be wide enough for this Hoeing Operation to be properly perform’d.

The Roots of a Mint, set a whole Summer in a Glass, kept constantly replenished with Water, will, in Appearance, fill the whole Cavity of the Glass; but by compressing the Roots, or by observing how much Water the Glass will hold when the Roots are in it, we are convinc’d, that they do not fill a Fourth-part of its Cavity; tho’ they are not stopp’d by Water, as they are by Earth.

The Objections most likely to prepossess Peoples Minds, and prevent their making Trials of this Husbandry, are these:

First, they will be apt to think, that these wide, naked Spaces, not being cover’d by the Plants, will not be sufficient to make a good Crop.

For Answer, we must consider, that tho’ Corn, standing irregular and sparsim, may seem to cover the Ground better than when it stands regular in Rows; this Appearance is a mere Deceptio visus; for Stalks are never so thick on any Part of the Ground as where many come out of one Plant, or as when they stand in a Row; and a ho’d Plant of Corn will have Twenty or Thirty Stalks, in the same Quantity of Ground where an unho’d Plant, being equally single, will have only Two or Three Stalks. These tillered ho’d Stalks, if they were planted sparsim all over the Interval, it might seem well cover’d, and perhaps thicker than the sown Crop commonly is; so that tho’ these ho’d Rows seem to contain a less Crop, they may contain, in reality, a greater Crop than the sown, that seems to exceed it; and ’tis only the different Placing that makes one seem greater, and the other less, than it really is; and this is only when both Crops are young.

For the Eye to make a Companion betwixt a sown Crop and such a ho’d Crop, it ought, when ’tis half grown, to look on the ho’d Crop across the Rows; because in the other it does so, in Effect, which way soever it looks; but whatever Appearance the ho’d Crop of Vegetables (of as large a Species as Wheat) makes when young, it surely, if well managed, appears more beautiful at Harvest than a sown Crop.

I have counted Fifty large Ears on one single ho’d Plant of Barley.

The next Objection is, That the Space or Interval not being planted, much of the Benefit of that Ground will be lost; and therefore the Crop must be less than if it were planted all over.

I answer, It might be so, if not Horse-ho’d; but if well Horse-ho’d, the Roots can run through the Intervals; and, having more Nourishment, make a greater Crop.

The too great Number of Plants, plac’d all over the Ground in common sowing, have, whilst it is open, an Opportunity of wasting, when they are very young, that Stock of Provision, for Want of which the greatest Part of them are afterwards starv’d; for their irregular Standing prevents their being relieved with fresh Supplies from the Hoe: Hence it is, that the old Method exhausting the Earth to no Purpose, produces a less Crop; and yet leaves less Pabulum behind for a succeeding one, contrary to the Hoeing-Husbandry, wherein Plants are manag’d in all Respects by a quite different Oeconomy.