Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume I, A-B.pdf/88

 6o A G R I C U L T U R' E. hand gradually, that it may not fall in a heap, but be country at leaf!, wheat degenerates ; for which reafon a pr.perly fcattered and fpread. It is remarkable, that freih fupply is every year brought from the Englilh gragood fowers, by the force of habit, take their handful naries, which generally confifts of a mixture of all the out of the fheet fo very exactly, that they will fow any kinds. Now it is at leaft very probable, that thefe difquantity of feed on an acre, according as it is defigned ferent kinds of wheat require different foils; and thereto be thinner or thicker. , But this dexterity in a few fore the farmer Ihould endeavour to provide himfelf anfowers, is itfelf an objection to the method of fowing nually with a quantity of unmixed wheat, of fuch kinds by the hand; becaufe long pratfice and obfervation are as are found to fucceed bell in Scotland. neceffary to make a good lower: This remark is too well Wheat is commonly fown either upon land that has juftified by experience; for good fowers are extremely been fummer-fallowed, or after a crop of peafe. In the rare, and, in fome places of the country, hardly to be latter cafe, the feed cannot be fown till O&ober; but in got. Befides, in fowing by the hand, efpecially when the former, it is generally fown in Auguft. However, the land is uneven, the feed rebounds on the clods, falls in Scotland, we fow wheat from the beginning of Augult into the cavities, and often the greateft part of it is col- till the middle of November. Some have tried fowing ledted in the furrows. wheat in the fpring; but the plants were neither fo viDifFer-ent plants require to be fown at different depths. gorous, nor the grain fo large, as thofe that were fown The fame feeds, however, may be laid deeper in light in autumn. The fowing of oats in autumn has likewife than in ftrong foils. Wheat requires to be placed two been tried; but, though the crop was bulky, the quaninches and a half or three inches below the furface: tity of grain was not in proportion. Upon the whole, And it may be laid down as a general maxim in fowing, the month of O&ober feems to be the moft proper time that fmall feeds Ihould always be placed nearer the fur- for fowing. wheat; when it is either earlier or later, it is face than fuch as are larger. Belides the unequal di- fubjed to a number of dangers. ftribution of the feed when fown by the hand, too large The quantity ufually fown upon a Scots acre, is from a quantity of it may be ufed; for, as it is placed at dif- three to five firlots, Linlithgow meafure, which is the ferent depths, that which is too deep never comes up, meafure always meant in this treatife. The proper quanand that which lies on the furface, which may be obfer- tity, however, muft always depend upon the fituation of ved on the bell harrowed land, is eat up by the birds. the land: in proportion as it is clean and rich, a fmaller When feed is fown thin, and placed at equal diftances by quantity of feed is requifite; and in proportion as it is a drill, a lelfer quantity of it, by leaving room to fpread poor and full of weeds, a larger quantity becomes necefand branch out, will produce even a better crop than a fary. larger quantity fown irregularly by the hand. The fad A wet bed is moft proper for wheat-feed. In the has been confirmed by repeated experiments both in our month of Auguft, or even the beginning of September, it is dangerous to fow,' if there be not as much moifture in own country and in France, the land as to make the feed vegetate, efpecially if the feed has been fteeped in brine, and dried with lime. But though the danger' be great in fowing when the land is Sect. VI. Of the Culture of par- very dry, yet the belt fituation of land for receiving feed ticular Plants. is when it contains no more moifture than is fufficient to make the feed vegetate. When wheat-land is light, or well reduced by falOf the Culture of Wheat. lowing, the feed Ihould be plftughed in, or the land alto lie fome time after it is ploughed before the Though wheat be the moll: valuable grain that is lowed cultivated in Scotland, there are many places where it wheat be fown. By this the land acquires a degree of cannot be fown with advantage; for it requires not only firmnefs before the harrows go upon it, and the feet of the cattle are prevented from prefling the feed too deep a rich foil, but a warm climate. it. The Englilh writers mention about 13 or 14 different intoWheat-land Ihould be ploughed fo as to raife the kinds of wheat; but in Scotland we feldom ufe more ridges in the crown than is neceffary on other octhan two, viz. the white and the red wheat. The laft cafions,higher to prevent it from being damaged by wais reckoned the moll hardy plant, and fucceeds in fome ter : If intheorder are made narrower than ordinary, the foils and climates where the white kind fails. Bearded fame end willridges be ferved, becaufe the water finds its way wheat is ufed in fome places. This is likewife a hardy eafily to the furrows. Hence the old praftice in plant, and is not fo apt to lodge, or to be Ihaken out by more of cleaving for peafe, and gathering for wheat, the wind, as the other kinds. It fucceeds very well in Scotland, well founded. wet land, and the grain produces a great quantity of wasWhen the wheat is fown, and the land harrowed, the flour. fhould be carefully water-furrowed; and if there The white wheat moft commonly ufed in Scotland, is fieldridges at the ends for the ploughs to turn upon in not a particular fpecies, but a mixture of all the fpecies beploughing, a water-furrow fhould likewife be drawn becultivated in England. This mixture is probably occafioned by want of care in providing ourfelves with fo- twixt them and the ridges, and the communication bereign feed. It is found by experience, that, in this twixt thefe and the furrows opened up.