of great advantage; but let it be done properly, and it will be of much greater (14).'

The fixth part of this book is entitled, The Benefit of Drill and Horfe-hoeing Husbandry. It treats largely of the method of managing Turnips, Wheat, and St. Foin, in that way; but is moftly a transcript from Mr. Tull, without any improvements that we can perceive.

We fhall, however, for the use of our practifing Readers, add a few Remarks, in the Notes, on fome particular paffages of this part.-As firft, we are told, in the fixtieth Chapter, that when a piece of ground is intended for Turnips, of whatever kind it be, it fhould be firft plowed up as deep as poff• ble(15),' &c.—2dly, In the fame Chapter, that the Turnips rifing

(14) And this is, in truth, the only proper method of drilling corn: if there is any proper way of doing it. This may be called Drilling on the Level, to diftinguish it from drilling on ridges, the Tullian way; and the rows, in drilling on the level, fhould be no wider than is neceffary to admit either the hand or the horse-hoe, which ever is thought proper to be used. For it is far from being in itself an advantage to plants, to be in rows; but only as it gives room, in the field, to extract the weeds, and to ftir the ground with more convenience, and lefs expence, than otherwife; and, in the garden, for the other ends juft mentioned. For it is evident, the plants must be more in each others way; and, as their roots cannot fo well reach or come at all the ground, they must receive less benefit from it, as well as leave more room for the weeds to grow, when in rows, than when fparfim, or all over the ground. Corn likewife fcrails, or breaks and falls down every way in fingle ftalks, which entangle with each other, and with the weeds, a great deal more in rows than in the common way; and this the more the wider the rows are: nor are the narrowest rows we have seen entirely free from these faults. When common grain falls down, or lodges, as fome call it, the ears all reft on the talks of their contiguous ears, and lie one over the other like the feathers of a bird, or the scales of a fish; so that when a whole field of wheat is laid, the ears, for the greateft part, may be feen lying uppermost upon the ftraw or ftalks, and very few touch the earth. But it is not fo with drilled corn in ridges, the Tullian way; for, when that falls, the first part that touches the ground is commonly the car, which frequently, at reaping time, is found rooted into the earth, and grown out quite green.

(15) This will render the land barren for a time; for fuch deep plowing will turn down into the ground a great deal of the top and beft mould. It will alfo turn up as much of a worfe earth, which, by its coldness, rawnefs, and toughnefs, if clayey, or by its real fterillity if hurlocky, gravelly, or fandy, will not fail to fpoil the crop of Turnips, as well as damage the fubfequent crops of corn.

rifing at random in the ordinary way, are, in a great measure, to be cut up, but in this all the feed that is fown is for good (16).” -3dly, In the next Chapter it is faid, there is a great advantage in having two fhootings of the Turnips in the fame field:

if one crop fhould be deftroyed, there is another safe, perhaps, without the trouble of a fresh fowing.-For the small flies that do the mischief, come in innumerable multitudes, and' destroy the crop, and then go away; and it is a perfect chance whether they come again juft at the rifing of the fe'cond crop' (17) &c.

4thly, In the fixty-third Chapter, we are affured that Dung is allowed to be useful for Turnips by Mr. Tull, its great enemy (18).

And,

fifth Chapter of the firft Part, our Authors tell the Farmer, that be must not plow deep in a thin Soil, &c. but, now they feem to have altered their minds, for in whatsoever kind [of Soil] it be, he must plow as deep as poffible.

(16) But our Authors likewise foon change their minds, as to this; for, in the next chapter, they tell us, that when the feafon is fa⚫vourable, when all the feeds have fhot, and no mifchief has been ⚫ done by infects, the number of plants will be too great. Precaution has been used to fow more than need grow, because it is natural to fuppofe fome will be loft; but when all rife, they must be ⚫ thinned. The fooner this is done the better. The method is, to pull up the worst looking fhoots, and most where they ftand thickeft; it is idle to let these stand to exhauft the earth first, so that the earlier they are deftroyed the better.'

Now here we fee, that all the Seed that is fown is not for goid ; for that they must be thinned; how? by pulling.

(17) In our opinion, it would be a greater chance that they should go away at all; for, as foon as they have devoured one crop, the other will probably appear, (if it appears at all) and thus fupply the flies with a fresh flock: and fo on, when the third crop comes at the heels of the fecond. When Turnips come up fo gradually, and at feveral times, one after the other, they are very often destroyed by the fly; but thofe that start out of the ground quick, and pretty nearly together, do generally escape them: for if the fly comes, while they are feeding on fome of the plants, others will grow into rough leaf: and thefe they rarely meddle with. Thus old Turnip feed, that grows flowly, and sprouts up at many different times, a few at a time, feldom comes to any thing, for the fly commonly devours them as faft as they appear out of the ground: while new feed, that grows quick, and comes up nearly altogether, foon grows out of the way of the fy.

(18) We cannot find that Mr. Tull was fuch an enemy to Dung as our Authors reprefent him; that Gentleman, indeed, believed, that

conflant

And, 5thly, (In the next paragraph) that the beft Judges of Turnips leave only thirty to a fquare perch, when they have been sown in the common way, but' when drilled in ridges, with fix feet intervals,―fixty may be left in a perch (19).

6thly, In the fixty-fixth Chapter, our Authors relate from Mr. Tull, the prodigious increase of Wheat, by the Horsehoeing Husbandry, in ftalks, ears, and grains. As that the ftalks, inftead of being two or three, are thirty or forty from each grain, and all come to have good ears (20), &c.

7thly,

conftant tillage, applied to a fmall number of plants, would supply the place of dung, and be much cheaper: and on these two principles his theory was founded. But he recommends the use of dung, in fome cafes, as cheaper than tillage; and gives the best hints concerning the time when, and condition in which, it should be laid on land, of any Author we have yet perused.

(19) Here we must take the liberty to diffent, not from our Authors, but from our Authors Author, Mr. Tull, these being nearly his words, and they are an instance of his partiality to his own system. We cannot think that any man, who is a real judge of thofe affairs, can allow nine square feet, i. e. one square yard, to one Turnip, whofe diameter, at a medium, throughout a crop, fhall not be nine inches. We have numbered above one hundred and twenty pretty full grown Turnips, befides many more smaller ones, upon one square perch of ground.

(20) We have frequently feen as many ftalks from a root of corn in the common Hufbandry, where the land was good, and the plants ftood very thin, but cannot say the ears, tho' much larger than common, were all good; for, indeed, but few of them were fo. Because at harveft, many of them were blighted and withered, and feemed like dead ears, having but few grains, and thofe thin and lank, containing very little flour; and most of the reft were mildewed fo much as to damage the grains that were in them and this is the common misfortune of wheat, when it is fo very thin on the ground.

:

Corn in general, (as well as moft other vegetables) when it is very thin on the ground, branches out into many heads or stalks, and those ftrong and large, even tho' the ground be poor; except in fome particular cafes. We have numbered above fifty ftalks or branches from one root of wheat, in the middle of a field of wheat, on no extraordinary land, and not manured; which was owing to the exceeding thinnefs of the crop and, in our judgment, that great increase of falks from a few grains of feed in the horfe-hoeing Husbandry, is principally occafioned by the very fmall number of plants on the fame ground.

And it is obferved, that Wheat, in particular, when it grows thick on the ground, tho' it may have but very few stalks, (perhaps, at a medium, not above two) from one root, and tho' the ears fhall be

fmall,

7thly, Chapter fixty-eight acquaints us with the great nicety required in laying in the feeds of St. Foin. In moderate ⚫land it should be covered half an inch deep, and in such as is very dry and light, a little deeper; but nothing is fo dangerous as the burying it too low in the ground (21),' &c.

8thly, Laftly it is obferved, in Chapter feventy, that all the articles of feed, tillage, drilling, weeding, and reaping, with • whatever other leffer articles there may be in this method of Husbandry, [the Horfe-hoeing] do not amount to above the eighth part of the expence in the common method: therefore were the crop much lefs, the profit would ftill be very greatly above that of the other: it is plain then how vaft the advantage muft be, when it is as we fee really greater (22).

Having

fmall, and contain but a few grains, yet fhall these come to greater maturity, and be finer, and plumper, than those of other wheat that happens to be very thin on the ground, and, in confequence, tillers, or branches out for this, generally, ripens very unkindly, having numbers of green immature ears at harveft; and, except in a very favourable feason, moft of the others blight, mildew, and thus become lank and thin, the grains of the corn being lean, and almost empty of flour. And this is the misfortune that attends wheat in the horfe-hoeing Hufbandry.

To conclude, this is a grand defideratum in Husbandry, which, whoever shall fupply, by discovering a method to caufe wheat, in particular, to ripen as kindly, and come to as perfect maturity, when it is ever fo thin planted on the ground, as it does when it is at a due or common thickness, will do more real fervice to his country, than he who shall find the Longitude at fea.

(21) From hence the Reader may be led, perhaps, to think, that the drill will plant the feeds with a mathematical exactness, when he is told, that these should be covered half an inch deep,' &c. But, in fact, we are perfuaded, there is no fuch thing to be done. For when the Drill is fet fo very fhallow, tho' even then it will go often three times as deep (as indeed it may without danger of burying the St. Foin, or, perhaps, any other feed the Farmer fows) yet it will much oftener go above ground, by reafon of the unevenness of the furface, hard and easy places in the ground, obftructions from stones, and from the dirt and rubbish which adheres to it.

(22) This wants fufficient proof. For, in the article of feed only, where the difference is much the greatest, Mr. Tull directs fix gallons of wheat to an acre, in the horse hoeing way; and the common Hufbandry requires but twenty gallons, (or two bufhels and a half) which is not four, inftead of eight, times the quantity. The tillage, including hand-hoeing, and harrowing, and rolling or clotting the intervals between the horse-hoeings, (one of which must be done) is feldom less than the tillage in the common Husbandry. We are

fenfible

These obfervations on the Horfehoeing Husbandry, we con ceived more especially due to our Readers, feeing this celebrated theory has never, at leaft to our knowlege, been animadverted on before; but, on the contrary, has been implicitly received, and highly applauded, by the curious in Agriculture. In our experience of it, it has not only failed to produce that great profit its ingenious Inventor feems to promife, or its fanguine Admirers to expect, but it has not even anfwered the expences it occafions; nevertheless, it may juftly be allowed a fimple, natural, and rational fcheme, fupported with great force of argument, and with the teft of experiment, by its moft ingenious Author. And tho', perhaps, it may not be the very truth itself, with refpect to Agriculture, yet it fo nearly approaches the truth, that the judicious Husbandman will be led by it into a truer and more natural method of managing his land, than he probably would ever have thought of. But yet, on the other hand, it may be, it has been, like a fword in the hand of a madman, to many a rafh, unadvised Practifer; and thence has ftrongly prejudiced the common Farmer against every thing new in Husbandry.

We shall next proceed to give a flight account of the rest of this tedious fixth book; which now affumes the form of a Letter; faid to be the thoughts, at large, of a practical Correfpondent,' &c. which feems to run through the reft of it, being about fixty-nine pages: and we can only fay, it feems; for, after above fifty pages, containing a medley of things, fome relating to country affairs, others foreign to them, fome indeed curious and not unuseful (23), but often ferved up to the Reader

to

fenfible Mr. Tull reprefents. this article extremely low, but he was certainly too partial to his favourite theory, in this respect particularly. He also fets the reaping at half the common price, but this is not an eighth part. Tho' this is copied from Mr. Tull, yet where they fay, the crop is really greater than a fown crop, they really enlarge upon him, for he does not pretend that his crops were greater than fown crops, or always fo great. Horfehoing Hufb. 8vo. p. 261.

(23) As, Of the advantages, and pleasure of a country life. Of commodious buildings. Laying farms and lands conveniently together. Of dividing grounds; and of good fences. Of fupplying lands with water; and of floating and draining wet land. Of making good roads, &c. Of the new hufbandry; and of the old: where fpeaking of open fields, we are told, that tho' corn was alfo formerly fometime [their own words] fowed in inclofed grounds, &c.→→→→ yet the open fields always had, and still have the preference, as producing the best and sweetelt corn, and as the leaft fubject to smuts and blights-that corn growing near a hedge has not so great a quantity