Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/364

Rh 338 AGRICULTURE possible position for pervading the entire soil, on the first recurrence of mild weather. The consequence is, that fallows so treated are invariably found in spring more fully stocked with quickens than they were at the time of the autumn ploughing. The observation of this suggested Autumn the practice, now very common in England, of cleaning leaning, fallows in autumn before giving the first deep furrow. For this purpose, such implements as Biddle s scarifier, the broad-share paring-ploughs, or better still, the common plough, divested of its mould-board and fitted with a share a foot broad, are set to work as fast as the grain-crops are reaped, and the whole surface is rapidly pared at a depth of three or four inches. This completely loosens the yet shallow-lying roots of the couch-grass, which are then freed from the adhering earth by the Norwegian and chain- harrow, raked together and burned, or carted off. This pulverising of the surface soil in early autumn is usually followed by the springing up of an abundant crop of annual weeds and of shaken grain, which are thus got rid of by the subsequent ploughing. So great and manifold are the advantages of this modern practice, that in those districts where it is most in use, other autumn work, even wheat- sowing, is comparatively neglected until it is accomplished. When the weeds have been got rid of in this summary and inexpensive manner, deep ploughing is then resorted to with unalloyed benefit. Whenever steam-power becomes fully available for tillage operations, this autiimn cleaning and deep stirring of fallows will be accomplished rapidly and effectually, and the teams will meanwhile be set at liberty for root-storing, wheat-sowing, and other needful work, which can be well done only when accomplished during the brief season of good weather, which usually intervenes betwixt the close of harvest and beginning of winter. In the case of farms that have for a lengthened period been carefully cultivated, the stubble may be found so clean as not to require the whole area to be scarified in the manner now described. Instead of this, it may suffice to have the ground carefully examined, and such patches or stray plants of couch-grass, or other perennial weeds, as are met with, forked out. By this means the fallows are kept clean at little expense, and when spring arrives, those repeated ploughings, and other tedious and costly operations, are wholly avoided, in performing which the condition of the soil is marred and the best seed-time often missed. When fallows are thus cleaned in autumn, it is highly advantageous to cart on to them at once, and cover in with a deep furrow, all the farm-yard dung that is on hand up to the completion of their first ploughing. From the length of time which must elapse before the land can again be touched, it is quite safe, or rather it is highly advantageous, to apply all the recently made dung, although in a very rough state. In doing this, it is necessary that a person precede each plough, and trim the rank litter into the previous furrow, that it may be properly covered up and regularly distributed. Unless this precaution is observed, the ploughs are constantly cho ied and impeded, the manure is drawn together into unsightly hassocks, and the whole operation is imperfectly performed. The recommendations to this practice are First, An important saving of labour; for the manure being carted direct from the yards, &c., on to the land, and evenly spread over it, there is no forming, covering up, and turning of dunghills, or refilling and carting in spring. This heavy work is accomplished at a season when time is less pressing than in spring, and the sowing of the crop can be proceeded with more rapidly when the time for it arrives, and while weather favours. Second, There is a saving of manure by burying it at once in its rough state, instead of first fermenting it in large heaps ; and a large portion of the fallow-break can thus be dressed with home-made manure. Third, The rough dung thus ploughed in decomposes slowly, its virtues are absorbed and retained by the soil, with the whole mass of which it is thoroughly incorporated by the spring tillage, and which, in consequence, is found, after such treatment, in a peculiarly mellow and favourable con dition for receiving the seed. The advantages of autumn cleaning and manuring of land in preparation for green crops are so great that the utmost exertions should be made to secure them. Over a large portion of England the harvest is usually so early as to leave ample time for accomplishing the cleaning process before being arrested by bad weather. From the later harvest season and more humid climate of Scotland, it is there more difficult to carry it out to the whole extent of the fallow-break ; but still, with promptitude and energy, much can be done. One of her shrewd and intelligent suns, Mr Tennant, the inventor of the grubber which bears his Teiinai name, has, however, introduced a system of autumn tillage, founded upon the same principle, and accomplishing vir tually the same end, but less expensive and better adapted to the climate of Scotland than that just described. So soon as the grain crops are harvested, Mr Tennant sets his light grubbers agoing, and by working them over the whole field several times and in opposite directions, stirs the whole surface soil to the depth of six or eight inches, tears up and brings to the surface all root-weeds, where, after being knocked about and freed from adhering soil by repeated harrowings and a final grubbing, they are left for the winter. In our own practice we have latterly improved, as we imagine, on Mr Tennant s plan by broadsharing the land before using the grubbers, and also by employing the Norwegian harrow instead of the common one. The broadsharing ensures that the whole of the couch-grass and other weeds are thoroughly loosened without being buried, and the Norwegian harrow shakes out the roots from the adhering earth better than the common harrow. When it is intended to treat a field in this way, care should be taken at harvest time to reap the crop as close to the ground as possible, as rank stubble seriously encumbers the tillage implements. In setting about the grubbing of a field it is expedient also to begin with the headlands, and to work them thoroughly all round twice over, before they are trodden down by the frequent turning of the horses upon them. If this is omitted it will be found nearly impossible to have the margins of the field as well cultivated as the rest of it. A field thus treated presents for a time a singularly untidy and unpromising appearance ; but the ultimate effects of the practice, as well in the cleaning as the disintegrating of the soil, are very remarkable. When roots of couch-grass, &c., are freed from the soil, and fully exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather at a season when their vital force is at the lowest point, they are unable to resist its effects, and gra dually die. If placed in similar circumstances in spring, with their vital energy in full play, the merest point of & root embedded in, or even in contact with, pulverised soil, enables them to push down fresh fibres, to re-establish their connection with the soil, and to grow as lustily as ever. But so completely is the destruction of these pests secured by this simple process of winter exposure, that on the return of spring they may be ploughed in with impunity. Mr Tennant assures us, that ever since he adopted this practice he has been enabled to dispense with the removal of these weeds. Having had an opportunity of inspecting his farm, we are enabled to testify to its cleanness and high state of fertility. On this plan, then, the cleaning of fallows is accomplished by tillage operations alone, without any outlay for raking or hand-picking, burning, or carting off. Nor is this done at the expense of the pulverising part of the pro cess. On the contrary, Mr Tennant asserts, and we have so far verified his assertion by actual experiment, that by dis-