Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume I, A-B.pdf/90

 AGRICULTURE. common, and ufed in all the low countries ; the black is winter, it is better to delay the fowing till March. the hardieft, and is ufed in the cold hilly countries ; and The quantity of oats generally fown upon an acre, is the grey is often fown with fuccefs upon light gravel or from four to five firlots ; and fhould always get a fand. The white is again divided into two kinds, called dry bed. cold feed and hot feed. There is fcarcely any difference in appearance betwixt thefe; but the hot feed ripens Of the Culture of Peafe. eight or ten days before the cold. Experience muft determine which of them ought to be chofen for feed. The pea is a grain very different from any of thofe Though the oat be a hardy plant, and does not eafily already mentioned. A crop of it is not fo valuable, degenerate, yet the changing of feed is univerfally al- though it is much ufed in fome places for bread. lowed to be a good praftice. This change fhould always The ftraw of peafe is reckoned better for feeding horbe made from a warm foil to a cold, and from a cold to fes than the ftraw of any other grain. A crop of peafe a warm. does not require fuch a quantity of nourifnment as a crop Oats are often fown upon grafs-ground newly broken of any of the other grains mentioned above. When the up, or, which is the fame thing, upon lee once plough- crop is good, the ftraw covers the ground, and deftroys ed. They are likewife often fown after barley, fome- all the fmall weeds by depriving them of a free commutimes after wheat, fometimes upon fallotv, and fome- nication with the air. Peafe likewife minutely divide times they are repeated for leveral years fucceflively upon the particles of the foil; befides, they pufh their roots the fame land. much deeper than any of the white grains, and extraA In ploughing lea for oats, when the land is foft and part of their nOurifhment from belovv the reach of the mellow, the plough fhould go as fhallow as poffible ; and plough. the earth of the furrows fhould be fet upon its edges, to There are two kinds of peafe cultivated in Scotland, allow the harrows to have the greater impreffion in tearing the white and the grey. The white is njoft common, k. But when the land is ftiff, or the turf very tough, and confifts generally of a mixture of feverai kinds. All it is neceffary to plough deeper, and to turn the turf ful- of thefe kinds feem to be fpecies of the pea cultivated ly over, fo that the harrows may raife a kind of mold in our gardens. The grey pea feems to be a fpecies of upon its back to fill up the hollows, and to nourifh the the vetch or tare. This is the hardieft plant of the two, feeds. When oats are to be fown upon lee, the land and thrives on foils where the white pea does not fucceed. ought to be ploughed early in v/inter, that it may receive The ftraw of the grey peafe, and the peafe themthe greater benefit from the air and froft. felves, are better for horfes than thofe of the white. It is ufual to lime lea-ground intended for oats. This The farmer Ihould therefore cultivate this pea where th$ is a very good cuftom; for lime promotes the corruption other does not thrive, although the value of the grain beof the grafs-roots, by which the land is fooner reduced. inferior. It is likewife common to fpread the lime upon the fward The whke pea, like the oats, is divided into hot fome time before the land is ploughed : This is alfo very feed and cold feed. The fowing of the hot feed may be proper; for the lime is intangled in the fward, and is not delayed three weeks after the cold feed is fown, and yet io apt to penetrate too deep. the peafe will come as foon to maturity. Oats are generally fown after barley ; and the land is The time of fowing is from the firft of February to the ploughed as foon as the wheat-feed is made, and the bar- end of April. The early fown peafe have the beft chance ley-labd has got the firfl furrow. The ilifr land, and to produce a crop of corn, and the late fown to produce land in danger of being damaged by wetnefs, fhould be a crop of ftraw. However, when the land is clean and firfl: ploughed, to give the one the benefit of the winter- in good heart, the peafe may be fown early; becaufe, on frofl, and to put the other out of danger. It is likewife fuch land, a good crop both of corn and ftraw may be an advantage to light and dry land to be ploughed early expedled. But if the land be foul or wet, the fowing in the.feafon, as it makes the flubble rot fooner, and ex- of peafe ftiould be delayed, as long as poffible; becaufe pofes the foil longer to the air. on fuch land the crop is more precarious, and the failing It was formerly obferved, that oats are fometimes fown of a crop of peafe gives fuch encouragement to weeds, upon fallow. In the hilly countries, they often fallow the as to endanger the following crops likewife. In fuch a land that has been rin lea for fome years ; and they find cafe, to prevent the bad confequences that may follow, that this pradlice does better than giving it only one the crop ftiould be ploughed in; for when a bad crop of ploughing in the winter before the feed is fown. In the peafe is allowed to ftand, it does more harm to the land low countries, this praftice of fallowing for oats is found than all the value of the crop. to fucceed very well. The fallow for oats fhould be ma- The quantity of peafe fown upon an acre, is from 4 naged through the fummer in the fame manner as if for to 5' firlots. If the intention of fowing peafe be to obbarley or wheat. Before winter, it ought to get the tain ftraw, and" enrich the land, they Ihould be thick laft furrow, and be laid up in proper ridges, to preferve fown; becaufe in that cafe they have a better chance to it dry during the winter. deftroy the weeds, and to cover the furface. But when Oats may be fown in any of the winter-months, or in the principal defign is to have a crop of corn, they ftiould the month of March. Some people have fown oats fo be thinner fown ; for, when thin fown, they have more early as the beginning of November, and have had air, and fill better. good crops. But, if the land be properly laid up in Peafe are commonly fown after oats or barley, and fometimes