amount of work may be done rapidly, is therefore indispensable, as well on this account, as with reference to its superior economy, and other considerations. To turn over an acre per day, is considered fair work for a pair of horses with the plough; but to dig the same quantity of land with the spade, would occupy a man from fifteen to twenty days. Twenty men might, it is true, do the same quantity of work in one day; but where are the requisite number of labourers to be found for doing this, when wanted?-and if they could be found at that particular time, how are they to be occupied in those periods of the year, when such digging is not required ? The spade is therefore chiefly available upon small farms-cottage farms, as they are termed, and which are too small to afford labour for a pair of horses. It may also be occasionally available as an aid to ordinary tillage where there is a redundancy of manual labour at hand; in which case, if the land be a deep sandy loam, it will prove advantageous to trench it with the spade, to bury the exhausted topsoil, and bring the lower stratum of fresh soil to the surface. This practice prevails on the small farms and light soils of Flanders, where manual labour is cheap, and where green crops are raised for the feeding of cattle. Moreover, in wet seasons, you may often dig, when you cannot plough; and in turning up stiff clay lands in autumn, and exposing the soil to the weather, the spade may sometimes be useful, if it is not often preferable. By double-digging or trenching, foul and exhausted soil may be thrown to the bottom, and clean fresh soil brought to the surface. In old gardens this may be done with great advantage. In planting trees, deep trenching is the most certain mode of forwarding their growth. When planted on grass land, unless it be trenched, and the sward cast down, it often happens that the young tree will not strike root or flourish, and this applies to fruit as well as forest-trees. It requires a farm of forty or fifty acres to give full employment to a pair of horses; and therefore if a small farmer ploughs in partnership with another, as may often be desirable, he ought to have twenty or twentyfive acres. Those farmers are here spoken of, who have no other employment for their horses than what the cultivation of the farm affords: but there are cases where the distance of fuel and manure and other circum make a horse necessary, when it would not stances may The stubbles are too commonly left unturned till spring, for the sake of allowing the cattle to pick up a few scanty morsels during winter. This is contrary to all sound principles of agriculture; for nothing fertilises land more than exposure to sun and air, and the frosts of winter, have also a most beneficial effect upon the soil. As soon as the crops are off, therefore, you ought to plough down the stubble, in preparation for the next crop. If turned with a spade, and if very clean, which, with ordinary attention, all spade-dug land ought to be, it may be manured at the same time, to be ready for potatoes in spring: but on farms of any considerable size, ploughing must of course be resorted to. If the small farmer cannot dig all his land, he must have recourse to the plough; and whichever way the land is worked, the ridges should be formed about sixteen feet in breadth, in straight lines, and raised slightly at the centre, to let the surface water run off. Plough the land for green crops as deep as you can, that fresh soil may be exposed, and the surface deepened. The drills for potatoes or turnips may angle your field, so that, when ploughed again in the usual way for barley, the manure will be equally diffused, and not appear in the lines of the past year's drills. Leave a head ridge all round the field, and plough it carefully, leaving no edges untouched, as a nursery for weeds. However winding the head ridge may be, if the others be straight, your field will have a neat and workmanlike appearance. If the plough cannot be worked into the corners, let them be turned up with the spade. The best ploughing is that which comes nearest to trenching, that is, which exposes the greatest quantity of fresh soil; and the best plough is that which is most easily drawn. As to the depth, four inches may be considered light, six inches middling, and nine inches deep ploughing. In general the ground in this country is only scratched, and fresh mould is rarely brought to the surface. This is a very important consideration, for in all light soils, much of the manure filters downwards, and it is necessary to bring it again into action, by mixing the under with the upper soil, which can only be done by deep ploughing, or trenching with the spade. For subsoil ploughing, see p. 21. The importance of this operation can hardly be over estimated by the practical agriculturist. FALLOWING. Generally speaking, if the land be well managed, and if due attention be paid to the rotation of the crops, an open or naked fallow is unnecessary. But whenever the land gets foul from neglect or bad management, and the farmer is thereby compelled to resort to fallowing, it should be borne in mind, that the three great objects to be attained by a well conducted fallow, are, first, the destruction of seed and root weeds-secondly, a perfect pulverisation of the soil-and thirdly, its exposure to the ameliorating influences of the sun and air: and in proportion as these important objects are secured, the cultivator knows that he increases the productive powers of his land. The regular cultivation of fallow crops, as drilled potatoes, turnips, mangel wurzel, &c., is generally sufficient to effect these beneficial purposes, and to supersede the necessity for a naked summer fallow. On loose friable loams, and on those soils denominated" turnip soils," the frequent disturbance of the land during the summer months, in the operations of hoeing and moulding, opens it to the influence of the sun and air, and at the same time reduces it to the requisite degree of friability; but on foul soils of a tough adhesive kind, it is sometimes found necessary to give a naked fallow, in order to keep the land clean and in a state of fertility. Although a naked summer fallow would generally subject the cultivator to the loss of a crop, yet in some cases an effective fallow may be had on light soils, in time for the Norfolk or white stone turnip, which may be sown as late as at the end of July, or the beginning of August. In favourable seasons, a fallow crop of drilled turnips will generally be found sufficient to clean and ameliorate the land; and this crop, and barley the year following, will probably pay better than a crop of wheat. The last ploughing for turnips ought to be deep, in order to increase the quantity of fresh soil; but the upper soil should first be well cleaned and pulverised.bart Land fallowed under potatoes in drill, or under any other drilled crop that will admit of the intervals being horse-hoed, must be tolerably clean at the time the crop is put in, or it will be difficult to keep down root weeds during its growth. Beans are also considered a fallow crop, but as they must be planted in March, if the land should require a good summer cleaning, the drills ought to be not less than two feet six inches asunder, in order that the intervals may be well worked with the horsehoe, and for the weeds to be carried off without injuring the bean-stalks. The process of naked fallowing, when resorted to on strong land, is as follows, viz. :Winter plough as deep as the roots of couch or rooted weeds have penetrated, and let the land lie in narrow ridges until February or March; then cross cut the sods at the same depth, leaving them as open as possible on the surface. When the land becomes dry in spring, either scuffle it, or break it down with a heavy harrow, and leave it in a rough state for a fortnight, until the seed weeds have vegetated. The land should then be rolled flat, and again well harrowed, observing not to roll more of it than what can be harrowed and well cleaned during the same day; for, should showery weather succeed after the land is rolled, it will be more difficult to work it afterwards. After this operation, wait until more seed weeds appear, when the land should receive the third ploughing, about an inch deeper than the first, and so remain until fit to go through the same process again. The fourth ploughing is to be given at the period of putting in the crop; but should the season prove favourable for the destruction of weeds, and for the pulverisation of the soil, no more than three ploughings be necessary. This system of fallowing is very different from the may natural fallow, or "rest," so commonly practised in this country; where the land, exhausted by over-cropping, is left to lie waste for two, three, or even four years, throwing up weeds and rubbish, and only yielding a little stunted herbage for the half-starved cattle which are turned upon it. Nothing can be worse than such practice, and it is earnestly hoped that it will be forthwith abandoned by the Irish farmer. SOWING. Sowing, though most commonly done broadcast, may yet be done more advantageously by drilling, and on small farms even dibbling may be resorted to with advantage, the saving of seed often more than compensating for the additional labour. Females and children may be profitably employed in dropping in two or three grains of corn in each hole after the dibbling stick; and the produce will generally be greater than where double the quantity of seed has been scattered broadcast. The rows or drills may be one foot distant; and the holes, four inches apart and one to two inches deep, are to be filled up as the seed is dropped in, or it may be done afterwards, by raking, harrowing, or rolling. If the soil be light, rolling will be the best. A prejudice sometimes exists against early sowing, because the straw is said not to be so bulky as when sown later; but if we observe the practice of those farmers who are most successful, it will be found that the man who is backward in his operations, who sows late, and consequently reaps late, is always poor; whilst there is no surer sign of prosperity in any case, than seeing farm labour in advance of the ordinary practice. Spain enjoys the advantage of a genial climate, but the peasant may there be seen in actual want, his maize unripe and uncut, exposed to the storms of winter, owing to his indolence and late sowing. The first object with corn crops of every description, should be, to produce the greatest weight of grain from the seed sown; and if fodder for the cattle be wanted, hay, clover, and turnips should be cultivated for that purpose. Every agricultural operation, and every article |