Part 22

If Wheat were as hardy as Rye, and its Roots as patient of Cold, it might, no doubt, be sown in as dry a Season as Rye is, and prosper the better for it, as Rye doth. This will appear, if Wheat and Rye be both sown in the same dry Season, after the Winter is over.

But as Wheat requires to have the Earth lie harder on and about it, in the Winter; so it also requires more Dung (or somewhat else) to dissolve the Earth about its Roots, after the cold Winter is past, than Rye doth, whose Roots never were so much confined.

’Tis another general Rule, that all Sorts of Vegetables thrive best, when sown on fresh till’d Ground, immediately after ’tis plow’d.

Wheat is an Exception to this Rule also; for ’tis better to plow the Ground dry, and let it lie till the Weather moistens it (tho’ it be several Weeks), and then drill the Wheat: The Harrows and the Drill will move a sufficient Part of the Ground, which will stick together for Defence of the small Roots, during the Winter, the rest of the Mould, lying open, and divided underneath until Spring, to nourish them.

There is a Sort of binding Sand, that requires not only to be plow’d dry, but sow’d dry also; or else the Wheat will dwindle in the Spring, and fail of being a tolerable Crop.

But what I mean by dry Plowing is, not that the Land should always be so void of Moisture, as that the Dust should fly; but it must not be so wet, as to stick together. Neither should we drill when the Earth is wet as Pap; it suffices that it be moist, but moister in light Land than in strong Land, when we drill.

But the drier ’tis plow’d the better.

If the Two Furrows, whereon the treble Row is to stand, be plow’d wet, the Earth of the Partitions may grow so hard by the Spring, that the Roots cannot run freely therein, unless there be Dung to ferment and keep it open.

So we see, that a steep Bank, made of wet Earth, will lie fast for several Years, when another, made of the same Earth dry, will moulder, and run down very soon; because its Parts have not the Cohesion that holds the other together, it continues open, and more porous, and crumbles continually down.

I have seen Trials of this Difference betwixt plowing Dry, and plowing Wet, for planting of Wheat, both in the Old Way, and in the Drilling Way, but most in the latter; and never saw an Instance where the Dry-Plowing did not outdo the Wet; if the Wheat was not planted thereon before the Earth was become moist enough at Top.

And strong Land, plow’d wet in November, will be harder in the Spring, than if plow’d dry in August; tho’ it would then have Three Months longer to lie.

After Rain, when the Top of the Ground is of a fit Moisture for Drilling, harrow it with Two light Harrows, drawn by a Horse going in the Furrow betwixt Two Ridges; once will be enough, the Furrow being just broken to level, or rather smooth it for the Drill.

Once Harrowing is generally enough, but not always.

If the Veerings whereon the next Crop is to stand, be plow’d dry, we may drill at any Time during the common and usual Wheat-seed time, that is proper for the sort of Wheat to be drill’d, and the sort of Land, whether that be early or late, we may drill earlier, but not later than the sowing Farmers. But I have had good Crops of Wheat drill’d at all Times betwixt Harvest and the Beginning of November.

The Word veering is, I believe, taken from the Seamen, and signifies to turn: It is the Ploughman’s Term for turning Two Furrows toward each other, as they must do to begin a Ridge: and therefore they call the Top of a Ridge a Veering; they call the Two Furrows that are turn’d from each other at the Bottom, between Two Ridges, a Henting, i. e. an Ending: because it makes an End of plowing Ridges.

Our Intervals wholly consist of Veerings or Hentings; when Two Furrows are turn’d from the Rows, they make a Veering; when turn’d towards the Rows, they are a Henting, which is the deep wide Trench in the Middle of an Interval.

For the Benefit of the middle Rows, ’tis better not to drill Wheat on strong Land before the usual Season; because the later ’tis planted, the more open the Partitions will be for the Roots of those Rows to run through them in the Spring: and yet, if the Earth of the Partitions be plow’d very wet, tho’ late, they may be harder at the Spring, than those which are plow’d early and dry.

There is a Sort of Wheat call’d by some Smyrna Wheat: It has a prodigious large Ear, with many less (or collateral) Ears, coming all round the Bottom of this Ear; as it is the largest of all Sorts of Wheat, so it will dispense with the Nourishment of a Garden, without being over-fed, and requires more Nourishment than the common Husbandry will afford it; for there its Ears grow not much bigger than those of common Wheat: This I believe to be, for that Reason, the very best Sort for the Hoeing Husbandry; next to this I esteem the White-cone Wheat, then the Grey-cone. I have had very good Crops from other Sorts; but look upon these to be the best.

’Tis said to grow mostly in some Islands of the Archipelago, and some Author describes it Triticum spica multiplici: There is another Sort of Wheat that has many little Ears coming out of Two Sides of the main Ear, but this is very late ripe, and doth not succeed well here, nor is it liked by them who have sown it; yet I have had some Ears of it by chance among my drill’d Wheat, which have been larger than those of any common Sort. I have not as yet been able to procure any of the Smyrna Wheat, which I look on as a great Misfortune; but I had some of it above Forty Years ago.

When Wheat is planted early, less Seed is required than when late; because less of it will die in the Winter than of that planted late, and it has more Time to tiller.

To tiller is to branch out into many Stalks, and is the Country Word, that signifies the same with fruticare.

Poor Land should have more Seed than rich Land, because a less Number of the Plants will survive the Winter on poor Land.

The least Quantity of Seed may suffice for rich Land that is planted early; for thereon very few Plants will die; and the Hoe will cause a small Number of Plants to send out a vast Number of Stalks, which will have large Ears; and in these, more than in the Number of Plants, consists the Goodness of a Crop.

A too great Number of Plants do neither tiller, nor produce so large Ears, nor make half so good a Crop, as a bare competent Number of Plants will.

Another thing must be consider’d, in order to find the just Proportion of Seed to plant; and that is, that some Wheat has its Grains twice as big as other Wheat of the same Sort; and then a Bushel will contain but half the Number of Grains; and one Bushel of Small-grain’d Wheat will plant as much Ground as Two Bushels of the Large-grain’d; for, in Truth, ’tis not the Measure of the Seed, but the Number of the Grains, to which respect ought to be had in apportioning the Quantity of it to the Land.

Our Bushel contains Seventy Pounds of the best Wheat.

Some have thought, that a large Grain of Wheat would produce a larger Plant than a small Grain; but I have full Experience to the contrary. The small Grain, indeed, sends up its first single Blade in Proportion to its own Bulk, but afterwards becomes as large a Plant, as the largest Grain can produce, cæteris paribus.

Farmers in general know this, and choose the thinnest, smallest-grained Wheat for Seed; and therefore prefer that which is blighted and lodged, and that which grows on new-broken Ground, and is not fit for Bread; not only because this thin Wheat has more Grains in a Bushel; but also because such Seed is least liable to produce a smutty Crop, and yet brings Grains as large as any.