Part 34

When Barley, among which the St. Foin is planted in a dry Summer, is great, there are few Farmers that know till the next Spring, whether the St. Foin succeeds or not; because the young Plants are not then visible; unless it be to those who are accustomed to observe them in all the Degrees of their Growth. I have seen a Field of Ten Acres of such, wherein, after the Barley was carried off, nothing appeared like St. Foin; but when by the Print of the Chanels I searched diligently, I found the small St. Foin Plants thick enough in the Rows; they had no Leaves, they being cut off by the Scythe; no Part of them that was left had any Green Colour; but from the Plants there came out many Sprigs like Hog’s Bristles, or like the Beard of Barley: This whole Piece of St. Foin succeeded so well, that the Third Year its Crop was worth Three Pounds per Acre, the Land being good.

St. Foin drill’d betwixt Rows of Barley or Oats, always is stronger than when drill’d amongst Corn that is sown at random; and therefore is in less Danger of being kill’d by the Lodging of the Corn; neither is the Corn in Rows so liable to fall as the other.

The Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre will depend, in great Measure, upon the Goodness of it; for in some bad Seed, not more than One in Ten will grow; and in good Seed, not One in Twenty will miss; which is best known by stripping off the Husks of a certain Number of Seeds, and planting the Kernels in Earth, in the manner directed for finding the proper Depth to plant at, which, in this Case, let be half an Inch: This being done, the Quality of the Seed will be known. But until frequent Trials have furnish’d Experience enough to the Planter to know the Difference, let him observe, that the following are good Signs; viz. The Husk of a bright Colour, the Kernel plump, of a light-grey or blue Colour, or sometimes of a shining black; yet the Seed may be good, tho’ the Husk is of a dark Colour, if that is caused by its receiving Rain in the Field, and not by heating in a Heap, or in the Mow; and if you cut the Kernel off in the Middle, cross-ways, and find the Inside of a Greenish fresh Colour, it’s surely good; but if of a yellowish Colour, and friable about the Navel, and thin, or pitted, these are Marks of bad Seed.

The Quantity, or rather Number of Seeds convenient to drill, ought to be computed by the Number of Plants we propose to have for making the best Crop, allowing for Casualties.

Not that we need to be so exact as to the Number of Plants, whether they be Two, Three, or Four hundred upon a square Perch. Neither is it possible to know beforehand the precise Number of Plants that may live; for sometimes the Grub kills many, by eating off the first Two Leaves.

Many even of the best of Seeds, both sown and drill’d, are liable to Casualties, but not equally; for about Twenty-eight Years ago, my Servants (being prime Seedsmen) had a Fancy in my Absence to try an Experiment of the Difference betwixt sowing and drilling of St. Foin; and in the Middle of a large Field of my best Land they sow’d a square Piece of Three Acres, at the Rate of One Bushel to an Acre, not doubting but, by their skill in sowing even, it would succeed as well as if drill’d; but it succeeded so much against their Expectation, that the Land all round it, which was drill’d at the same Time, with the same Proportion of the same Seed, brought extraordinary good Crops of St. Foin; but the sow’d Part was so very thin, that tho’ it lay still with the rest for Eight Years, it never was a Crop, there not being above Three or Four upon a square Perch, taking the Three Acres all together: Not that it can be supposed, that the sown would always meet with so many Casualties as this did; for then Eight Bushels sown to an Acre might have been too thin, and much thinner than all the rest of the Field was, tho’ drill’d with only One Bushel to an Acre: And ’tis often seen, that when an Acre is sown with seven Bushels of Seed, the St. Foin is as much too thick, as that sown with One Bushel was too thin.

I do not know, that of the many hundred Acres of St. Foin, that have been drill’d for me, ever one Acre was too thin, except when planted with Wheat: The young Plants were kill’d by the Frost.

In drilling St. Foin not to be ho’d, and before the Ploughs of my Drill were so perfect in making narrow Chanels as they are now (for, when the Chanels were open, they had Six times the Breadth, wherein Part of the Seed was wasted), then my Quantity was One Bushel to an Acre, sometimes Six Gallons.

But a single Acre (in the middle of a large Field of St. Foin) being drill’d late in October, the frosty Winter kill’d at least Nineteen of Twenty Parts of that Bushel. At first it made such a poor Appearance, that ’twas by mere Accident, or it had been plow’d up for a Fallow; but, missing of that, a few Plants were perceiv’d in the Summer, which by their Singleness grew so vigorous, and so very large, that the Second Year of Mowing it produc’d a Crop double to the rest of the same Field, which was drill’d in the Spring, with the same Proportion of Seed, and none of it kill’d: tho’ all this Field was a much better Crop than some that was sown in the common Manner, with Seven Bushels to an Acre. I have generally observ’d the thin to make the best Crop, after the First or Second Year.

But I believe, there might remain alive Three or Four Plants to each square Yard, standing single, and at pretty equal Distances.

But Note, This Acre was dunged, and in better Order than the rest.

But, notwithstanding I commend the Planting of St. Foin thin, that most of the Roots may be single; yet I have Fields that were drill’d with but Four Gallons of Seed to an Acre; and yet the Rows being Seven Inches asunder, the Roots are so thick in them, that the Ground is cover’d with the St. Foin Plants, which seem to be as thick (in Appearance) as most sown St. Foin, whereon Seven or Eight Bushels are sown on an Acre. And I have other Fields that were drill’d with about Two Gallons of Seed to an Acre (which is Five Seeds to each square Foot), the Rows Sixteen Inches asunder, that produce better Crops, tho’ the Ground be poorer. The drill’d St. Foin, being regular, is more single, tho’ as thick as the sown; and for that Reason always makes a better Crop, and lasts longer than the sown that is of the same Thickness, but irregular.

I have also often observ’d in Lands of St. Foin, lying dispersed in a common Field (but where there was not Common for Sheep), and where the Ends of other Lands kept in Tillage, pointed against the Pieces of St. Foin, and the Horses and Ploughs turning out upon the St. Foin did plow and scratch out a Multitude of its Plants; so that it was thought to be spoil’d, and Law-suits were intended for Recompence of the Damage; that afterwards this scratch’d Part, supposed to be spoil’d, became twice as good as the rest of the same Pieces, where the Ploughs did not come to tear up any Plants.

This Plowing and Scratching was a sort of Hoeing, which helped the St. Foin by a small Degree of Pulveration, as well as by making the Plants thinner.

The Reason why the single St. Foin Plants make the greatest Crops, is, that the Quantity of the Crop is always in Proportion to the Quantity of Nourishment it receives from the Earth; and those Plants which run deepest will receive most; and such as are single will run deeper than those which are not single.

Also the single do send out all round them horizontal Roots, proportionably stronger and larger, whereby they are better able to penetrate, and extract more Nourishment from the Staple, or upper Stratum, than the other can do, if there be a competent Number; which is, when ho’d, fewer than any-body imagines. ’Tis common to see a single St. Foin have a bigger Tap-root than Twenty thick ones: Their Length is in Proportion to their Bigness: Therefore that single Plant may well be supposed to have Twenty times more Depth of Earth to supply it, than all those Twenty small Roots can reach to. And tho’ these under Strata are not so rich as the upper; yet, never having been drain’d by any Vegetable, they do afford a very considerable Quantity of Nourishment to those Roots which first enter them.

The small thick Plants are so far from equalling the Product of the single, by their Excess of Number, that the more they are, the smaller, shorter, and weaker they become; less Nourishment they have, and the less Crop they produce; and are soon starv’d, decay, and die, unless reliev’d by the Expence of frequent Manure, or that the Soil be very rich.

Single Plants exceed the other by a Multitude of Degrees, more than a Giant does a Dwarf, in Strength, as well as Stature; and therefore when natural Grass happens to come, are so much the better able to shift amongst it.

The single Plants seem also to exceed the other in their Longevity; for ’tis observ’d, that all St. Foin that has continu’d great for a good Number of Years without Manure, has been so single, that the Owners have determined to plow it up at the Beginning, for the Thinness of it.

How long this may last by Culture, I can’t tell; but undoubtedly much longer than without it; and I can say, that I never knew a Plant of St. Foin die a natural Death; the most common End of it is Starving. And when an hundred thick Plants have not the Nourishment which One single Plant has, ’tis no Wonder that these (in a Croud thus besieg’d with Hunger) should be starv’d before it.

Sown Plants, when too thick, are crouded on every Side; but those that are drill’d, have always Room enough on Two Sides of them; unless the Rows are too near together.

Another Advantage the single have, in respect of Moisture: These reach to a Depth where that is never wanting, even when the upper Stratum or Staple is parch’d up, as appears by the Experiment of the Mints, that if any Root of a Plant has Moisture, that Root will communicate a Share to all the rest. Hence it is, that, in the driest Summer, these single Plants make a great Crop, when the other yield next to nothing. I remember I once saw a Farmer coming out of a Ground with a Load of St. Foin Hay, which he assured me was all he could find worth cutting, out of Forty Acres of this thick sort, in full Perfection, Three Years after sowing: He valued his Load at Three Pounds; but withal said it came off so much Ground, that the Expence of Mowing, Raking, &c. was more than the Value; when, in the very same dry Summer, there was Three Tun of St. Foin to an Acre in a Field, where it was drill’d single and regularly.

This was on rich deep Land in Oxfordshire; and the other St. Foin, which was so poor, was on thin Slate Land near Causham in Wiltshire in the Bath Road. It is now about Forty Years since.

And I have often observ’d, that where the Plants are thin, the Second Crop of them springs again immediately after cutting; when Plants that stand thick in the same Ground, spring not till Rain comes; and I have seen the thin grown high enough to cut the Second time, before the other began to spring.

The best way to find what Number of these Plants it is proper to have on a Perch of Ground, is to consider what Quantity of Hay one large Plant will produce (for, if cultivated, they will be all such).

Without Culture these Plants never attain to a Fourth Part of the Bulk they do with it: Therefore very few have seen any one Plant at its full Bigness. One Plant, well cultivated, has in the same Ground made a greater Produce, than One thousand small ones uncultivated.

But the Hay of a large single cultivated Plant will weigh more than half a Pound; and 112 Plants upon a square Perch, weighing but a Quarter of a Pound apiece one with another, amount to Two Tun to an Acre.

If St. Foin be planted on some sorts of Land early in the Spring, and ho’d, it may bring a Crop the same Summer; for I once planted a few Seeds of it on sandy Ground in my Garden, at the End of February, which produced large Plants above Two Feet high, that went into Blossom the following June; tho’ there was a severe Frost in March, which kill’d abundance of Wheat, yet did not hurt these Plants: This shews that St. Foin is a quick Grower, unless it be planted on poor cold Ground, or for Want of Culture.