| XXX | (57) | XXX |
57 A G R I C U L T U R E. the vegetable food from the air; and confequently land, vith few flrbnes, therefore, is the only land in which ing increafes the food of plants. Ploughing likewife difit can be employed with advantage. and reduces to a ftate of putrefadion the dung, The iron plough is fubjed to another iriconveniency. folves oils, and vegetable fubftances that happen to be mixed When any thing goes wrong, it cannot be redified on with the foil, and prepares them for entering the roots the field, but muft be carried to the fmithy, which is of plants. When properly managed, ploughing deoften at a confiderable diftance. ftroys weeds, and drains the land when too wet. Hence, ploughing is one of the moft important operations in Of yoking Cattle in Ploughs. agriculture, and therefore merits the greateft attenIt is not eafy to determine whether horfes or oxen, or tion.When ploughing is defigned to enrich the land, or inboth together, are moft proper for drawing ploughs ; be- creafe the food of plants, the furface cannot be made too caufe, in this country, fuch a determination depends on becaufe the more of it is by this means expofed circumftances almoft as various as the number and.fitu- uneven; the influence of the air. ation of farms in it. If, indeed, real labour alone was to But when the intention of ploughing is to deftroy feedfufficient to determine this point, oxen would be preferweeds, the furface cannot be made too fmooth, nor the red ; becaufe they will Hand to the draught, and over- mold too much, broken ; becaufe, by this management, come a refiftance which horfes would yield to. We vegetation is promoted, and confequently they may fhall therefore confine this head to the manner of their more completely deftroyed by ploughing them in. yoking cattle, without regard to the kind of cattle em- be Again, if you plough with a view to remove wetnefs, ployed. The chief queftion on this fubjed is, Whether cattle the land muft be laid up in high ridges; for the greater fliould be yoked in pairs, or in a line before one an- the number of furrows, and the higher the ridges, the water is more expeditioufty carried off. other ? The mod common way of yoking cattle is in pairs. Thus the manner of ploughing muft always depend on Though this, upon the whole, be the beft method, yet the objedt in view. It frequently happens indeed, that it is fubjed to fome difadvantages. In ploughing the two or more of thefe objedts require our attention in furrows betwixt the ridges, the cattle go upon the ploughing the fame piece of land. But the methods aploughed land, and tread it down with their feet, which bove mentioned are perfedtly confiftent with each, and is peculiarly hurtful to wet land : When there is but as may be combined fo as to anfwer any intention that may much of the ridge unploughed as the cattle have hardly occur. room to go upon, they frequently give the plough a In ploughing, there are fome general rules to be obferwrong diredion by going into the oppofite furrow; or, ved, whatever be the objedt in view. Thus, land ftiould which is ftill worfe, they are apt to juftle the furrow- never be ploughed when it is wet, becaufe the intention of it will be fruftrated, whatever may be the nature of cattle upon the ploughed land. To remove thefe inconveniencies, yoking the cattle in the foil. A ftiff foil, when ploughed wet, dries fuda line has been recommended. But this method has denly, and becomes hard. If a light foil be ploughed wet, been attended with greater inconveniencies than thofe it the water hinders it from being reduced to fmall enough is intended to remedy. When yoked in this manner, particles. Befides thefe difadvantages, the labour bethey go all in the furrow, which makes it neceflary to comes very fevere on the cattle, and the land is much give the plough more land than ordinary, either by hurt by their treading. means of the fock or muzzle ; and confequently makes With regard to ploughing lee, or opening up grafsthe draught too heavy. Befides, when cattle are yoked grounds, the common pradtice in Scotland is to plough in a line, it gives fome of them an opportunity of throw- it as fhallow and narrow as pofiible, and to let the turf ing the chief burden upon the others. There is ftill an- upon its edge. After this fingle furrow, the land is other inconveniency attends this method. When the fown, and if it be good, a profitable crop may be excattle are all in a line, the whole force is applied to the pedted; and the turf will be completely rotten before, diredion of the traces of the hindmoft horfe; and confe- next feafon. quently it cannot have fuch an effed'on the plough as On the contrary, in breaking up of barren land, it when a part of it is in a more horizontal diredion. fhould be ploughed deep, and the turf turned on its Each of thefe methods, however, may he ufed with back. advantage in certain circumftances; yoking in pairs, as it is certainly the ftrongeft draught, fhould be preferred in Of Ridges. ploughing ftifF land. On the other hand, yoking in a line anfwers beft in wet land, which is liable to be much It was formerly obferved, that ploughing in ridges hurt by the treading of the cattle. removes wetnefs, enlarges the furface, and confequently affords more fpace for the plants to extradt nourifhment from the foil. Of Ploughing. When the foil is wet, the ridges ought to be narrow, Ploughing is the adion of the plough in ftirring and fteep; becaufe, by this means, the number of drainsand turning over the foil. By opening the foil and en- is increafed, and the water finds its way more eafily into iarging the furface, it gives it an opportunity of extrad- the furrows. They fhould Hkewife be raifed high in the Vol. I. No.3. 3 P middle
