Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume I, A-B.pdf/91

 63 A G R I C 1 r L T U R E. fbmetimes after wheat. Seldom more than one plough- fo necefTary, when the rye-grafs is fown along with oats ; the land on which oats are fown is generally ing is given to peafe, and they are ufually fov/n imme- becaufe diately after it. The reafon of this practice is, that firmer, the fowing feafon is earlier, and confequently the feed may be better covered; for the fooner that a- not fo liable to be too dry. ny grain is fown after ploughing, it is always the deep- This grafs feldom hurts the crop of corn. On the er covered. If rain fails foon after peafe are fown, it contrary, when the foil is loofe and open, it makes it makes them fwell and come above-ground, and then they firm, and prevents the corn from lodging. are in danger of fplitting, and of being deftroyed by Though the common method is to fow rye-grafs with corn, yet, when the land is poor, it is better to fow it vermin. Sometimes peafe are fov/n and ploughed in. This an- by itfelf, and Hill better to fummer-fallow, and fow it fwers very well in light land, particularly'after a crop in autumn. But, as the land by fallowing is made open 'and loofe, and as the ploughing and fowing are near the pf barley, the culture of which opens the foil. Land deligned for peafe is generally cloven. This is rainy feafon, cattle ought not -to be allowed to paflure it during the winter, except in the time of hard a good pradlice when the ridges are-fteep, as ail of them upon were formerly. As,wheat or barley are commonly fown froll. Even when fown in the fpring, the farmer fliould after peafe, the land mull be ploughed before winter. Ga- not allow much pailuring on it, efpecially in wet weather. thering is the moll proper way of ploughing before win- But, if fown by itfelf, cattle may fafely pallure upon it ter, and this follows belt after cleaving. But if the ridges in the winter, as the roots, having nothing to obilrudt be not high, calling is die belt method of ploughing for their progrefs, penetrate deeper, and fpread wider, than peafe ; or, if the ridges be flat and narrow', the land may when any other grain grows along with it. This pracbe ploughed in the ordinary way, reverflng the former tice, however, can only be followed with fafety in very ploughing^ and turning the furrows into the crowns. clean land ; otherwife weeds are apt to rife along with Though peafe are generally the lowell-priced grain, yet it, and prevent the furface from being covered; which, fometimes they rife to a great price, when the prices of of courfe will keep the foil open. other grains are moderate. This makes the faring of Rye-grafs is fometimes fown for hay, and fometimes feed an article of great importance. By fowing in drills, for paflure. When for hay, from two to four firlots are one firlot will ferve for an acre as compleatly as four in Commonly fawn upon an acre. the bread call-way: But the advantages of drilling fall Rye-grafs rifes very early in the fpring, and, if ths foil be dry and warm, affords good paflure all the winto be conlidered afterwards. ter. It is very hardy. Hands the frofl, and, if continued in paflure, does not weir out in many years. The bell Of the Culture of Beat:?. way of managing it is, to eat it down in the fpring and What has been faid with regard to die culture of beginning of fummer, and then to let it reft till autumn. peafe, may be applied to beans. However, it is necef- When allowed to get up in fummer, it runs to feed, £ary to pbferve, that the bean pulhes its roots further and becomes difagreeable to the cattle. Befides, by this down than the pea; and therefore requires a deeper method of managing rye-grafs, a good crop may be ex-, foil. The lands in Scotland, wdiere beans are moll com- pe&ed in autumn. monly fown, and where they fucceed bell, are deep and When propei ly managed, rye-grafs makes very good wet clays. there is fuch a demand for the feed, that tho In fome lands, the crops of beans are very great, and hay ; - andis often tempted to let it ftand till the feed is almoll as valuable as any grain. There is no crop fuc- farmer perfefted, then to threfh it. When this is done, ceeds better in the drill-hulbandry than a crop of beans. the hay canandnever be good; becaufe the fap is cxhaufled, the ftalk becomes dry and withered, and affords little Bourifhment to cattle. The hay ought therefore to be Of the Culture of Rye-grafs. always cut before the. feed ripens. This pradtice not onRye-grass is the moll common of all the artificial ly makes the heft hay, but is likewife of great advantage grades cultivated in Scotland, and not the Icall valuland; for, when plants are allowed to perfect able. It is a fibrous-rooted plant, and binds the foil ; to thefeeds, the land is much more exhaufted, than when this circurnflance has led many to think, that it greatly their they are cut before that period. impoverilhes land. However, the culture of this grafa is attended with feveral peculiar advantages. It deltroys Of the Culture of Clover. weeds, particularly the quickening-grafs, and grows upon foils which w'ill not anfwer for any of the other arti- Though clover be ufed for the fame purpofes as ryeficial grafles. A fliallow, wet, Ipungy foil, or one grafs, it is, however, plant of a very different nature. which has a mixture of mofs in it, is unfit for clover of It has a large tap-root,awhich the foil perpenevery kind ; but experience fliows, that rye-grafs, when dicularly downward, and openspenetrates earth and makes it unmixed with clover, will fucceed upon any of thefe foils. free : The roots of clover cannotthepenetrate foil, unRye-grafs is ufually fown along with a crop of barley lefs it be free and open. Hence, a dry, the open, deep or oats. When fown along with barley, the field fhould foil, be rolled, or well harrowed, to preferve the fap at the plant.free from quicken-grafs, is the moll proper for this dry feafon of the barley-feed. This precaution is not There arc feveral kinds of clover cultivated in Scotland,