work in hand. Indeed, in some parts of the country, the ploughman who drives the hindmost pair of harrows does not think it requisite to employ reins at all, so sure is he of leading his horses by the head; and the leader, to give himself less trouble than using his voice, only guides the near horse with a single rein. It is the constant use of the single rein which renders horses, in those parts of the country, more easily hied than hupped, (692, 693.) The double rein, on the other hand, enables the ploughman to hup his horses with ease; though, doubtless, the horses will turn more naturally towards their driver than away from him. 2353. To draw the harrows as they should be drawn, is in reality not so light work for horses as it seems to be; and, when the tines are new sharpened and long, and take a deep hold of the ground, the labour is considerable. To harrow the ground well—that is, to stir the soil so as to allow the seed to descend into it, and bring to the surface and pulverise all the larger clods-requires the horses to go at a smart pace; and not only for this, but on all occasions, harrows should be driven with a quick motion. 2354. If the men owe the steward a grudge for his sharp discipline, springwheat sowing is a favourable time to take advantage of him, when the land is naturally friable and the horses are quite fresh, and also when the lime of the pickle is sure to annoy the sower's face, and he is unable to walk quickly on the rather soft land. If they keep the harrows close at his heels, for very shame he must sow hard to keep before them; and should he be a slow sower and a heavy walker, he will get a good heating. It is always prudent in a sower to start the sowing as soon as the first sackful of seed is set down, to get in advance before the sacks are all set down and the harrows yoked. Indeed, he must have one ridge sown before the harrows can commence their work. I never saw a man sowing with his coat on but a wish arose to see the harrows kept close at his heels to punish him for the lazy trick. 2355. In conducting the harrowing after the seed, the mode must be guided by the circumstances of the case. If the harrowing commences at the foot of the inclination, the ridge next the fence should be ascended by both the pairs of harrows; and on gaining the top of the inclination, the second ridge is descended, to breakin the seed; and hieing both the horses at the foot, the first ridge is again ascended, which finishes its double tine; and though both tines have been given on it in the same direction, the anomaly should be submitted to, in order to gain a favourable point for the horses to break-in the seed. Hieing the horses again on the upper head-ridge, the third ridge is broke-in ; and hieing again on the lower head-ridge, the second ridge is ascended, and is thus finished of its double tine. Thus by hieing both pairs of harrows at both ends, one ridge is broke-in on going down, and another receives the double tine on coming up, and this is a simple and easy mode of working the horses. Suppose the harrowing had been begun at the top of the declivity, the breaking-in will then commence at once on going down hill, and to preserve the advantage, the harrows come up the same ridge and finish it with a double tine; and so on with every succeeding ridge. As there is little room for 2 pairs of harrows to turn at the end of one and the same ridge, the leading harrows are driven straight forward upon the head-ridge, and the horses are hied so as to make them move round upon the far side of the head-ridge, and still hied round, they take up their place on the same side of the ridge they had come down ; while the hind harrows are hupped so far at the end of the ridge as to give them room to turn by the far side of the headridge, and then hieing, take up their position on the same side of the ridge they had come down, in rear of the leading harrows, which by this time have gone on to their side of the ridge, and are moving onwards. The entire movement is easily and quickly managed with double reins; but with a single rein, or with the voice alone, this mode of turning at the end of a ridge is apt to create confusion. If the inclined field is begun to be sown at the opposite side, the same arrangements as I have just described for easy breaking-in of the seed for the horses, and according as the harrowing is begun at the foot or top of the inclination, should be followed; but in following them here the horses will have to be hupped instead of hied, because now the open side of the field is on a different hand. I have recommended the hieing because it is more easy for the horses, they being more accustomed to it; but instead of always hupping, which this last mode imposes, there is a plan of avoiding the inconvenience-and it is this: Take in a division of 6 ridges, and the harrowing of them is begun on the last-sown ridge, and continued over the six in the same manner as if the first of them had begun the proper side of the field; the effect is, that the harrowing proceeds in the opposite direction from that in which the sowers are walking, instead of proceeding in the same direction. When one division of six ridges has received a double tine of harrowing, another is taken in, until the entire field is finished being broken-in. 2356. After the appointed piece of ground, whether a whole field, or part of one, has been sown and broken-in, the land is cross-harrowed a double tine, that is, at right angles to the former harrowing, and to the ridges; but as, in this operation, the ground is not confined within the breadth of ridges, the harrows cover as much of the ground as they can, and get over it in less time than in breaking-in; besides, any second harrowing is easier for the horses, and they can of course walk faster. point of more importance than seems generally to be imagined. Its object is not merely to cover the seed, but to pulverise the ground, and render,it of a uniform texture. Uniformity of texture maintains in the soil a more equal temperature, not absorbing rain so fast, or admitting drought so easily, as when the soil is rough and kept open by clods. Whenever the texture becomes uniform, the harrowing should cease, though the appointed number of double tines have not been given; for it is a fact, especially in light, soft soils, that more harrowing than is necessary brings part of the seed up again to the surface. 2360. Should the spring wheat be sown early in the season, that is, in January or near to the end of February, the ridges should be water-furrowed, in order that, in case of much rain falling, or snow melting, it may find opportunities of running off the surface of the ground by the waterfurrow in every open furrow between the ridges. What of the spring wheat is sown late in the spring, that is, in the last of February and beginning of March, the water-furrowing need not be executed until after the sowing of the grass seeds has been finished-and these are usually sown immediately after the sowing of the wheat-but the actual determination of doing so depends upon the relation which the last-sown break of spring wheat bears to the whole extent of the field. Should the last sowing embrace the last portion of the field, then the grass seeds will be sown not only over the last break of the spring wheat sown, but the entire field, and the water-furrowing will be given after the sowing of the grass seeds; but should there still be another break to sow of spring wheat, the grass seeds will be delayed in their sowing until the whole field shall have been sown with the wheat; and in that case the last break of the spring wheat should be water-furrowed immediately after it has been sown. Should the last break of the spring wheat sown be as late as is prudent for the season to sow any more, and there be still a portion of the field to be ploughed, that portion will be reserved for barley, and the grass seeds will be delayed in the sowing until the barley is sown, and then the entire 2359. The well harrowing of land is a field, including all the portions of it sown 2357. The harrowing is finished by another double tine along the ridges, as in the case of the breaking-in; but this last operation is both easily and quickly performed, the soil now being free and uniform in texture. 2358. To judge of the harrowing of land, the sense of feeling is required as well as that of sight. When well done, the friable portion of the soil seems uniformly smooth, and the clods lie freely upon the surface: the ground feels uniformly soft under the foot. When the land is not enough harrowed, the surface appears rough, the clods are half hid in the soil, and the ground feels unequal under the foot-in some parts resisting its pressure, in others giving way to it too easily. with spring wheat, will be sown with the open-furrow. grass seeds at one time. 2361. Water-furrowing is the making of a plough-furrow in every open-furrow, for the purpose of forming channels by which the rain-water may flow off the surface of the land. It is executed with a common plough and one horse, or with a double mould-board plough and one horse; and as the horse walks in the open-furrow, the plough following obliterates the horse's foot-marks. The double mould-board plough is a better implement for making water-furrows than the common plough, because it forms a channel having equal sides, and the furrow-slice on each side cast up by the mould-board is small, and cannot prevent the water reaching from the ridge into the water-furrow, whereas the common plough casts up a rather large furrow-slice on one side, and makes a sharp hollow furrow on the other. Either plough is used simply in going up one open-furrow and down another until the field is finished, the horse being hied at the turn into every The water-furrowing of spring wheat is always done after the harrowing, and finishes the work of the field for the time. 2362. The double mould-board plough. This is an implement not only useful in water-furrowing any kind of soil after it has been sown with grain, but is an essential one in the cultivation of the potato and turnip crops. When duly constructed, it is highly efficient in the formation of drills or ridgelets for the potato or turnip crop, setting up at each turn the half of a ridgelet on each side; while the common plough, so much used for this purpose, sets up only a half ridgelet at each turn, doing, therefore, but half the work. In a variety of farms, also, it is much employed in summer in the earthing up of the potato and turnip crops, for which purpose it is frequently made of wood, but in all cases the iron plough is to be recommended. 2363. Fig. 209 is a representation of a common double mould-board iron plough, Fig. 209. THE DOUBLE MOULD-BOARD PLOUGH. equipped for the purpose of water-furrowing or earthing-up. The frame-work of it is pretty much in form of the common plough, except that the beam a lies right in the central line of the whole plough. The bridle b is variously formed according to the taste of the maker, but always possessing the properties of varying the point of draught upward and downward as well as right and left; the breast d forms part of the body-frame; the share e is plain on both sides, spear-pointed, and is set upon the head of the body-frame; the right and left mould-boards are f,f; the handles are g. The length of this plough is 10 feet. The mould-boards of such ploughs are liable to great variation in their form: some of them have little or no twist, and others variously contorted. Those of the present figure have been selected as possessing all the requisite qualifications for an earthing-up plough. 2364. The land being thus sown and harrowed, I give in fig. 210 a representation of a field in the act of being sown by hand, as a record of a practice which will probably soon become obsolete: a is the sower with his hand swung back, ready to make the cast with the seed-he is furnished with a sowing-sheet; b represents the sower after he has made the cast, and the seed has entirely left his hand, and is partly lying in the ground and partly fall ing from his hand, forming the section of the ellipse at c, as formerly described (2319;) d is the open furrow between the ridges occupied by the sowers, who are each walking on the third and fourth furrowslices from the open furrow-this distance Fig. 210. J THE SOWING OF CORN BY HAND. allows the seed to fall as much towards the open-furrow as it should do, while it places the sower as far upon the ridge as enables him easily to cover the half of the ridge entirely with seed; e is the fieldworker who carries the seed-she is in the act of returning to the sack i for more seed, taking the rusky with her, after she has served both the sowers with a fresh supply; i is the sack containing the seed placed upon the furrow-brow of the ridge, and there is yet as much seed in it as will supply the sowers until they shall have passed it; f is the leading pair of horses, drawing the leading pair of harrows; g shows the harrows as they cover the ground from the furrow-brow over the crown of one side of a ridge, and from the crown to the furrow-brow of the other side; h is the leading ploughman, driving his horses with double reins, and the following-man at g is also behind the harrows, having the double reins in his hands, and not going at his horses' heads in a line with the foremost ploughman h. There are only two pairs of horses shown in the figure, which can only serve one sower, although two sowers are shown; the other pair of horses may be supposed to be following these, on the ridge immediately beyond the one they are harrowing. 2365. Another method of sowing spring wheat, very different from what I have yet described, remains to be mentioned, namely, after grass. a very warm In this case spring-wheat takes the place of oats. It is unusual practice to sow wheat after grass at all in Scotland, though it is very common in England, and its success there attests the superiority of the English climate. Another circumstance, perhaps, that promotes the culture of spring wheat on lea in England, in preference to oats, is, that the climate is climate is too dry, and too in the southern counties, for the perfect growth of the oat; and oatmeal not being wanted for food to the people of England, may also direct the efforts of the agriculturists there to the growing of as much wheat as possible, which efforts the drought and heat of the climate second very materially. The very opposite of these circumstances operate to encourage and maintain the culture of oats in Scotland. The climate is humid, which is congenial to the growth of the oat plant; and it is not so warm, even in summer, as to stint its perfect development, while oatmeal has long been a favourite food of the work-people. Now that wheat bread is more used by the labouring population than it has hitherto been, it is worthy of consideration whether more wheat, and less oats, might not be raised in Scotland. The only way I see of substituting the one crop for the other is by sowing spring wheat on lea; for spring wheat, after turnips, is as extensively cultivated as the nature of the weather in spring permits every year; and even now it is not in every season that spring wheat ripens in this country, though this remark refers only to its culture after turnips, instead of barley; and it may prove to be a fact that spring wheat will thrive better after grass than after turnips. Its culture after turnips has long been tried, and experience rather dissuades from extending it; and as that after grass is but of recent origin, experience cannot yet guide the Scottish farmer in the matter. The chief obstacle to sowing wheat in spring is the peculiar effect of the two principal classes of soil on the growth of that plant. Clay soils are too inert in this climate to mature the growth of wheat in a few months; and the lighter soils, though more promotive of quick vegetation, want stamina to support the wheat plant, which really requires a somewhat clayey soil to bring it to maturity: and the lighter soils, besides, are too easily affected by drought in early spring; and it is no uncommon circumstance to experience a severe drought in Scotland in March, in the prevalence of the E. wind in spring which causes it. 2366. As to sowing wheat on lea in autumn, several circumstances deserve consideration before such a practice, extensively at least, can be adopted. Wheat cannot safely be sown in Scotland after the end of October, which is about the time it is sown after potatoes, and that is considered as late as it can be sown in safety until spring arrives. To plough up lea before October would be to sacrifice the aftermath, which is not only good feeding for stock, but the want of it would throw the stock too early upon the turnips, and make too long a winter. One misfortune for Scotland is, that no forage plant exists fit for the use of stock in autumn but the aftermath. The only alternative, therefore, is, to devise a means to consolidate the lighter soils, so as they may be enabled to withstand the inordinate drought of spring, and support the wheat plant until it attains maturity; and the only means, it would appear, we have of doing this is the use of the presser-roller. 2367. The Presser-roller.-The chief object of the application of the presserroller is to produce consolidation in the soil over a narrow space, in which space the seeds of plants are to have root; hence its effects are applicable only to the drill system of culture, and that only under the particular circumstance of a consolidated soil whose ordinary texture is too loose and friable for the continued support of the wheat plant, and close contact in the furrow-slices of the soil on being ploughed from grass for a seed-furrow. 2368. The presser-roller is represented in its most common form by fig. 211, which is a view of the machine in perspective, and is of extremely simple construction. Fig. 211. The |