Part 50

The Expence of drilling cannot be much; for as we can hoe Six Acres a Day, at Two Furrows on each Six-feet Ridge, so we may drill Twenty-four Acres a Day, with a Drill that plants Two of those Ridges at once; and this we may reckon a Peny Half-peny an Acre. But because we find it less Trouble to drill single Ridges, we will set the Drilling, at most, Six-pence per Acre.

As every successive Crop (if well managed) is more free from Weeds than the preceding Crop; I will set it all together at Six-pence an Acre for Weeding.

This is when the Land has been well cleansed of Weeds in the preceding Crop, or Fallow, or both.

This may be enough, if the Land be well cleansed the Year before, and considering that several Years in such there is no Occasion for Weeding at all: And as this Calculation is comparative with the old Way, we should examine the Price of weeding the sown Corn, which by the best Information I can get, was in the Year 1735. about 4s. per Acre for Weeding of Barley; and of Wheat, round about where I live, about 6s. and in Wiltshire, 15s. per Acre for their Wheat, amongst which much Damage is done by the Weeder’s Feet, and yet some Weeds are left.

For a Boy or a Woman to follow the Hoe-plough, to uncover the young Wheat, when any Clods of Earth happen to fall on it, for which Trouble there is seldom necessary above once to a Crop, Two-pence an Acre. One Peny is too much for Brine and Lime for an Acre.

But this Expence being so small, ’tis better that a Person should follow at every Hoeing, where we suspect, that any Damage may happen from any Earth’s falling on, or pressing too hard against some of the Plants.

Reaping this Wheat is not worth above half as much as the Reaping of a sown Crop of equal Value; because the drill’d standing upon about a Sixth Part of the Ground, a Reaper may cut almost as much of the Row at one Stroke, as he could at Six, if the same stood dispersed all over the Ground, as the sowed does; and because he who reaps sowed Wheat, must reap the Weeds along with the Wheat; but the drilled has no Weeds; and besides, there go a greater Quantity of Straw, and more Sheaves, to a Bushel of the sowed, than of the drilled. And since some Hundred Acres of drilled Wheat have been reaped at Two Shillings and Six-pence per Acre, I will count that to be the Price.

One Sheaf of the latter will yield more Wheat than Two of the former of equal Diameter.

The whole Expence of an Acre of drilled Wheat.

l. s. d. For Seed 00 02 03 For Tillage 00 04 00 For Drilling 00 00 06 For Weeding 00 00 06 For Uncovering 00 00 02 For Brine and Lime 00 00 01 For Reaping 00 02 06 ---------- Total 00 10 00 ---------- The Expence of an Acre of sowed Wheat is 04 00 00 To which must be added, for the Year’s Rent of the Fallow 00 10 00 ---------- Total 04 10 00

If I have reckoned the Expence of the drilled at the lowest Price, to bring it to an even Sum; I have also abated in the other more than the whole Expence of the drilled amounts unto.

And thus the Expence of a drilled Crop of Wheat is but the Ninth Part of the Expence of a Crop sown in the common Manner.

’Tis also some Advantage, that less Stock is required where no Store-sheep are used.

II. Of the different Goodness of a Crop.

The Goodness of a Crop consists in the Quality of it, as well as the Quantity; and Wheat being the most useful Grain, a Crop of this is better than a Crop of any other Corn, and the ho’d Wheat has larger Ears (and a fuller Body) than sow’d Wheat. We can have more of it, because the same Land will produce it every Year, and even Land, which, by the Old Husbandry, would not be made to bear Wheat at all: So that, in many Places, the New Husbandry can raise Ten Acres of Wheat for One that the Old can do: because where Land is poor, they sow but a Tenth Part of it with Wheat.

We do not pretend, that we have always greater Crops, or so great as some sown Crops are, especially if those mention’d by Mr. Houghton be not mistaken.

The greatest Produce I ever had from a single Yard in Length of a double Row, was Eighteen Ounces: The Partition of this being Six Inches, and the Interval Thirty Inches, was, by Computation, Ten Quarters (or Eighty Bushels) to an Acre.

I had also Twenty Ounces to a like Yard of a Third successive Crop of Wheat; but this being a treble Row, and the Partitions and Interval being wider, and supposed to be in all Six Feet, was computed to Six Quarters to an Acre. And if these Rows had been better order’d than they were, and the Earth richer, and more pulveriz’d, more Stalks would have tillered out, and more Ears would have attained their full Size, and have equall’d the best, which must have made a much greater Crop than either of these were.

But to compare the different Profit, we may proceed thus: The Rent and Expence of a drill’d Acre being One Pound, and of a sow’d Acre Five Pounds; One Quarter of Corn, produced by the drill’d, bears an equal Proportion in Profit to the One Pound, as Five Quarters, produced by the other, do to the Five Pounds. As suppose it be of Wheat, at Two Shillings and Six-pence a Bushel, there is neither Gain nor Loss in the one nor the other Acre, though the former yield but One Quarter, and the other Five; but if the drill’d Acre yield Two Quarters, and the sow’d Acre Four Quarters at the same Price, the drill’d brings the Farmer One Pound clear Profit, and the sown, by its Four Quarters, brings the other One Pound Loss. Likewise suppose the drilling Farmer to have his Five Pounds laid out on Five Acres of Wheat, and the other to have his Five Pounds laid put on One dung’d Acre; then let the Wheat they produce be at what Price it will, if the Five Acres have an equal Crop to the one Acre, the Gain or Loss must be equal: But when Wheat is cheap, as we say it is when sold at Two and Six-pence a Bushel, then if the Farmer, who follows the old Method, has Five Quarters on his Acre, he must sell it all to pay his Rent and Expence; but the other having Five Quarters on each of his Five Acres, the Crop of One of them will pay the Rent and Expence of all his Five Acres, and he may keep the remaining Twenty Quarters, till he can sell them at Five Shillings a Bushel, which amounts to Forty Pounds, wherewith he may be able to buy Four of his Five Acres at Twenty Years Purchase, out of One Year’s Crop, whilst the Farmer who pursues the old Method, must be content to have only his Labour for his Travel; or if he pretends to keep his Wheat till he sells it at Five Shillings a Bushel, he commonly runs in Debt to his Neighbours, and in Arrear of his Rent; and if the Markets do not rise in time, or if his Crops fail in the Interim, his Landlord seizes on his Stock, and then he knows not how it may be sold; Actions are brought against him; the Bailiffs and Attorneys pull him to Pieces; and then he is undone.

Or suppose a drill’d Acre to produce no more than One Third of the sow’d Acre’s Crop, whose Expence is Five times as much as of the drill’d, ’tis much more profitable, because a Third of Five Pounds is One Pound Thirteen and Four-pence; and a Fifth of the Rent and Expence being only One Pound, such drill’d Acre pays the Owner Thirteen and Four-pence more Profit, than the other which brings a Crop treble to the drill’d.

Tho’ only Five Acres and one Acre be put, yet we may imagine them Two hundred and Fifty, and Fifty to enrich the one, or break the other Farmer.

III. The Certainty of a Crop.

The Certainty of a Crop is much to be regarded; it being better to be secure of a moderate Crop, than to have but a mere Hazard of a great one. The Farmer who adheres to the old Method is often deceiv’d in his Expectation, when his Crop at coming into Ear is very big, as well as when ’tis in Danger of being too little. Our hoeing Farmer is much less liable to the Hazard of either of those Extremes; for when his Wheat is big, ’tis not apt to lodge or fall down, which Accident is usually the utter Ruin of the other; he is free from the Causes which make the contrary Crop too little.

A very effectual Means to prevent the failing of a Crop of Wheat, is to plow the pulveriz’d Earth for Seed early, and when ’tis dry. The early Season also is more likely to be dry than the latter Season is.

1. The Advocate for the old Method is commonly late in his sowing; because he can’t fallow his Ground early, for fear of killing the Couch, and other Grass that maintains his folding Sheep, which

2. are so necessary to his Husbandry: And when ’tis sow’d late, it must not be sow’d dry, for then the

3. Winter might kill the young Wheat. Neither can he at that time plow dry, and sow wet, because he commonly sows under Furrow; that is, sows the Seed first, and plows it in as fast as ’tis sown. If he

4. sows early (as he may if he will) in light Land, he must not sow dry, for fear the Poppies and other Weeds should grow, and devour his Crop; and if his