In order to make a Comparison between the Hoeing-Husbandry, and the old Way, there are Four Things, whereof the Differences ought to be very well considered.

The Profit or Loss arising from Land, is not to be computed, only from the Value of the Crop it produces; but from its Value, after all Expences of Seed, Tillage, &c. are deducted.

Thus, when an Acre brings a Crop worth Four Pounds, and the Expences thereof amount to Five Pounds, the Owner’s Loss is One Pound; and when an Acre brings a Crop which yields Thirty Shillings, and the Expence amounts to no more than Ten Shillings, the Owner receives One Pound, clear Profit, from this Acre’s very small Crop, as the other loses One Pound by his greater Crop.

The usual Expences of an Acre of Wheat, sown in the old Husbandry, in the Country where I live, is, in some Places, for Two Bushels and an half of Seed; in other Places Four Bushels and an half; the least of these Quantities at Three Shillings per Bushel, being the present Price, is Seven Shillings and Six-pence. For Three Plowings, Harrowing, and Sowing, Sixteen Shillings; but if plow’d Four times, which is better, One Pound. For Thirty Load of Dung, to a Statute Acre, is Two Pounds Five Shillings. For Carriage of the Dung, according to the Distance, from Two Shillings to Six-pence the Load, One Shilling being the Price most common, is One Pound Ten Shillings. The Price for Weeding is very uncertain; it has sometimes cost Twelve Shillings, sometimes Two Shillings per Acre.

Folding of Land with Sheep is reckoned abundantly cheaper than Cart-dung; but this is to be questioned, because much Land must lie still for keeping a Flock (unless there be Downs); and for their whole Year’s keeping, with both Grass and Hay, there are but Three Months of the Twelve wherein the Fold is of any considerable Value; this makes the Price of their Manure quadruple to what it would be, if equally good all the Year, like Cart-dung: And folding Sheep yield little Profit, besides their Dung; because the Wool of a Flock, except it be a large one, will scarce pay the Shepherd and the Shearers. But there is another thing yet, which more inhances the Price of Sheep-Dung; and that is, the dunging the Land with their Bodies, when they all die of the Rot, which happens too frequently in many Places; and then the whole Crop of Corn must go to purchase another Flock, which may have the same Fate the ensuing Year, if the Summer prove wet; and so may the Farmer be served for several more successive Years, unless he should break, and another take his Place, or that dry Summers come in time to prevent it. To avoid this Misfortune, he would be glad to purchase Cart-dung at the highest Price, for supplying the Place of his Fold; but ’tis only near Cities, and great Towns, that a sufficient Quantity can be procured.

But, supposing the Price of Dunging to be only Two Pounds Ten Shillings, and the general Expence of an Acre of Wheat, when sown, at Three Shillings per Bushel, to be Four Pounds Ten Shillings, with the Year’s Rent of the Fallow;

The Expences of planting an Acre of Wheat in the Hoeing-Husbandry, is Three Pecks of[226] Seed, at Three Shillings per Bushel, is Two Shillings and Three-pence. The whole Tillage, if done by Horses, would be Eight Shillings; because our Two Plowings, and Six Hoeings[227], are equal to Two Plowings; the common Price whereof is Four Shillings each; but this we diminish half, when done by Oxen kept on St. Foin, in this manner; viz. Land worth Thirty Shillings Rent, drill’d with St. Foin, will well maintain an Ox a Year[228], and sometimes Hay will be left to pay for the Making: We cannot therefore allow more than One Shilling a Week for his Work, because his Keeping comes but to Seven-pence a Week round the Year.

In plain Plowing, Six Feet contains Eight Furrows; but we plow a Six-feet Ridge at Four Furrows, because in this there are Two Furrows cover’d in the Middle of it, and one on each Side of it lies open. Now what we call one Hoeing, is only Two Furrows of this Ridge, which is equal to a Fourth Part of one plain Plowing; so that the Hoeing of Four Acres requires an equal Number of Furrows with one Acre that is plow’d plain, and equal Time to do it in (except that the Land, that is kept in Hoeing, works much easier than that which is not).

All the Tillage we ever bestow upon a Crop of Wheat that follows a ho’d Crop, is equal to Eight Hoeings[229]; Two of which may require Four Oxen each, One of them Three Oxen, and the other Five Hoeings Two Oxen each. However, allow Three Oxen to each single Hoeing, taking them all one with another, which is Three Oxen more than it comes to in the Whole.

Begin at Five in the Morning, and in about Six Hours you may hoe Three Acres, being equal in Furrows to Three Rood; i. e. Three Quarters of an Acre. Then turn the Oxen to Grass, and after resting, eating, and drinking, Two Hours and an half, with another Set of Oxen begin Hoeing again; and by or before half an Hour after Seven at Night, another like Quantity may be ho’d. These are the Hours the Statute has appointed all Labourers to work, during the Summer Half-year.

To hoe these Six Acres a Day, each Set of Oxen draw the Plough only Eight Miles and a Quarter, which they may very well do in Five Hours; and then the Holder and Driver will be at their Work of Plowing Ten Hours, and will have Four Hours and an half to rest, &c.

The Expence then of hoeing Six Acres in a Day, in this manner, may be accounted, at One Shilling the Man that holds the Plough, Six-pence the Boy that drives the Plough, One Shilling for the Six Oxen, and Six-pence for keeping the Tackle in Repair. The whole Sum for hoeing these Six Acres is Three Shillings, being Six-pence per Acre[230].

They who follow the old Husbandry cannot keep Oxen so cheap, because they can do nothing without the Fold, and Store-sheep will spoil the St. Foin. They may almost as well keep Foxes and Geese together, as Store-sheep and good St. Foin. Besides, the sowed St. Foin cost Ten times as much the Planting as drill’d St. Foin does, and must be frequently manured, or else it will soon decay; especially upon all sorts of chalky Land, whereon ’tis most commonly sown.

The Expence of drilling cannot be much; for as we can hoe Six Acres a Day, at Two Furrows on each Six-feet Ridge, so we may drill Twenty-four Acres a Day, with a Drill that plants Two of those Ridges at once; and this we may reckon a Peny Half-peny an Acre. But because we find it less Trouble to drill single Ridges, we will set the Drilling, at most, Six-pence per Acre.

As every successive Crop (if well managed) is more free from Weeds than the preceding Crop; I will set it all together at Six-pence[231] an Acre for Weeding[232].

For a Boy or a Woman to follow the Hoe-plough, to uncover the young Wheat, when any Clods of Earth happen to fall on it, for which Trouble there is seldom necessary above once[233] to a Crop, Two-pence an Acre. One Peny is too much for Brine and Lime for an Acre.

Reaping this Wheat is not worth above half as much as the Reaping of a sown Crop of equal Value; because the drill’d standing upon about a Sixth Part of the Ground, a Reaper may cut almost as much of the Row at one Stroke, as he could at Six, if the same stood dispersed all over the Ground, as the sowed does; and because he who reaps sowed Wheat, must reap the Weeds along with the Wheat; but the drilled has no Weeds; and besides, there go a greater Quantity of Straw, and more Sheaves, to a Bushel of the sowed, than of the drilled[234]. And since some Hundred Acres of drilled Wheat have been reaped at Two Shillings and Six-pence per Acre, I will count that to be the Price.

The whole Expence of an Acre of drilled Wheat.

If I have reckoned the Expence of the drilled at the lowest Price, to bring it to an even Sum; I have also abated in the other more than the whole Expence of the drilled amounts unto.

And thus the Expence of a drilled Crop of Wheat is but the Ninth Part of the Expence of a Crop sown in the common Manner.

’Tis also some Advantage, that less Stock is required where no Store-sheep are used.

II. Of the different Goodness of a Crop.

The Goodness of a Crop consists in the Quality of it, as well as the Quantity; and Wheat being the most useful Grain, a Crop of this is better than a Crop of any other Corn, and the ho’d Wheat has larger Ears (and a fuller Body) than sow’d Wheat. We can have more of it, because the same Land will produce it every Year, and even Land, which, by the Old Husbandry, would not be made to bear Wheat at all: So that, in many Places, the New Husbandry can raise Ten Acres of Wheat for One that the Old can do: because where Land is poor, they sow but a Tenth Part of it with Wheat.

We do not pretend, that we have always greater Crops, or so great as some sown Crops are, especially if those mention’d by Mr. Houghton be not mistaken.

The greatest Produce I ever had from a single Yard in Length of a double Row, was Eighteen Ounces: The Partition of this being Six Inches, and the Interval Thirty Inches, was, by Computation, Ten Quarters (or Eighty Bushels) to an Acre.

I had also Twenty Ounces to a like Yard of a Third successive Crop of Wheat; but this being a treble Row, and the Partitions and Interval being wider, and supposed to be in all Six Feet, was computed to Six Quarters to an Acre. And if these Rows had been better order’d than they were, and the Earth richer, and more pulveriz’d, more Stalks would have tillered out, and more Ears would have attained their full Size, and have equall’d the best, which must have made a much greater Crop than either of these were.

But to compare the different Profit, we may proceed thus: The Rent and Expence of a drill’d Acre being One Pound, and of a sow’d Acre Five Pounds; One Quarter of Corn, produced by the drill’d, bears an equal Proportion in Profit to the One Pound, as Five Quarters, produced by the other, do to the Five Pounds. As suppose it be of Wheat, at Two Shillings and Six-pence a Bushel, there is neither Gain nor Loss in the one nor the other Acre, though the former yield but One Quarter, and the other Five; but if the drill’d Acre yield Two Quarters, and the sow’d Acre Four Quarters at the same Price, the drill’d brings the Farmer One Pound clear Profit, and the sown, by its Four Quarters, brings the other One Pound Loss. Likewise suppose the drilling Farmer to have his Five Pounds laid out on Five Acres of Wheat, and the other to have his Five Pounds laid put on One dung’d Acre; then let the Wheat they produce be at what Price it will, if the Five Acres have an equal Crop to the one Acre, the Gain or Loss must be equal: But when Wheat is cheap, as we say it is when sold at Two and Six-pence a Bushel, then if the Farmer, who follows the old Method, has Five Quarters on his Acre, he must sell it all to pay his Rent and Expence; but the other having Five Quarters on each of his Five Acres, the Crop of One of them will pay the Rent and Expence of all his Five Acres[235], and he may keep the remaining Twenty Quarters, till he can sell them at Five Shillings a Bushel, which amounts to Forty Pounds, wherewith he may be able to buy Four of his Five Acres at Twenty Years Purchase, out of One Year’s Crop, whilst the Farmer who pursues the old Method, must be content to have only his Labour for his Travel; or if he pretends to keep his Wheat till he sells it at Five Shillings a Bushel, he commonly runs in Debt to his Neighbours, and in Arrear of his Rent; and if the Markets do not rise in time, or if his Crops fail in the Interim, his Landlord seizes on his Stock, and then he knows not how it may be sold; Actions are brought against him; the Bailiffs and Attorneys pull him to Pieces; and then he is undone[236].

III. The Certainty of a Crop.

The Certainty of a Crop is much to be regarded; it being better to be secure of a moderate Crop, than to have but a mere Hazard of a great one. The Farmer who adheres to the old Method is often deceiv’d in his Expectation, when his Crop at coming into Ear is very big, as well as when ’tis in Danger of being too little. Our hoeing Farmer is much less liable to the Hazard of either of those Extremes; for when his Wheat is big, ’tis not apt to lodge or fall down, which Accident is usually the utter Ruin of the other; he is free from the Causes which make the contrary Crop too little.

A very effectual Means to prevent the failing of a Crop of Wheat, is to plow the pulveriz’d Earth for Seed early, and when ’tis dry. The early Season also is more likely to be dry than the latter Season is.

Our Hoeing Husbandry is different in all of the fore-mentioned Particulars.

1. We can plow the Two Furrows whereon the next Crop is to stand, immediately after the present Crop is off.

2. We have no Use of the Fold; because our Ground has annually a Crop growing on it, and it must lie still a Year, if we would fold it, and that Crop would be lost; and all the Good the Fold could do to the Land, would be only to help to pulverize it for one single Crop; its Benefit not lasting to the Second Year. And so we should be certain of losing one Crop for the very uncertain Hopes of procuring one the ensuing Year by the Fold; when ’tis manifest by the adjoining Crops, that we can have a much better Crop every Year, without a Fold, or any other Manure.

3. We can plow dry, and drill wet, without any manner of Inconvenience.

4. He fears the Weeds will grow, and destroy his Crop: We hope they will grow, to the end we may destroy them[237].

5. We do not fear to plant our Wheat early (so that we plow dry), because we can help the Hardness or Staleness of the Land by Hoeing.

6. The Two Furrows of every Ridge whereon the Rows are to be drilled, we plow dry; and if the Weather prove wet before these are all finished, we can plow the other Two Furrows up to them, until it be dry enough to return to our plowing the first Two Furrows; and after finishing them, let the Weather be wet or dry, we can plow the last Two Furrows. We can plow our Two Furrows in the Fourth Part of the Time they can plow their Eight, which they must plow dry all of them, in every Six Feet; for they cannot plow part dry, and the rest when ’tis wet, as we can.

7. We never plant our Seed under Furrow, but place it just at the Depth which we judge most proper; and that is pretty shallow, about Two Inches deep; and then there is no Danger of burying it.

8. We not only plow a deep Furrow, but also plow to the Depth of Two Furrows; that is, we trench-plow where the Land will allow it[238]; and we have the greatest Convenience imaginable for doing this, because there are Two of our Four Furrows always lying open; and Two plowed Furrows (that is, one plowed under another) are as much more advantageous for the nourishing a Crop, as Two Bushels of Oats are better than one for nourishing an Horse: Or if the Staple of the Land be too thin or shallow, we can help it by raising the Ridges prepared for the Rows the higher above the Level.

9. We also raise an high Ridge in the Middle of each Interval above the Wheat before Winter, to protect it from the cold Winds, and to prevent the Snow from being driven away by them. And the Furrows or Trenches, from whence the Earth of these Ridges is taken, serve to drain off the Water from the Wheat, so that, being drier, it must be warmer than the harrowed Wheat, which has neither Furrows to keep it dry, nor Ridges to shelter it[239], as every Row of ours has on both Sides of it.

IV. The Condition in which the Land is left after a Crop.

The different Condition the Land is left in after a Crop[240], by the one and the other Husbandry, is not less considerable than the different Profit of the Crop.

A Piece of Eleven Acres of a poor, thin, chalky Hill was sown with Barley in the common Manner, after a hoed Crop of Wheat; and produced full Five Quarters and an half to each Acre (reckoning the Tythe); which was much more than any Land in all the Neighbourhood yielded the same Year; tho’ some of it be so rich, as that One Acre is worth Three Acres of this Land: And no Man living can remember, that ever this produced above half such a Crop before, even when the best of the common Management has been bestowed upon it.

A Field, that is a sort of an Heath-ground, used to bring such poor Crops of Corn, that heretofore the Parson carried away a whole Crop of Oats from it, believing it had been only his Tythe. The best Management that ever they did or could bestow upon it, was to let it rest Two or Three Years, and then fallow and dung it, and sow it with Wheat, next to that with Barley and Clover, and then let it rest again; but I cannot hear of any good Crop that it ever produced by this or any other of their Methods; ’twas still reckoned so poor, that nobody cared to rent it. They said Dung and Labour were thrown away upon it, then immediately after Two sown Crops of black Oats had been taken off it, the last of which was scarce worth the mowing, it was put into the Hoeing Management; and when Three hoed Crops[241] had been taken from it, it was sown with Barley, and brought a very good Crop, much better than ever it was known to yield before; and then a good Crop of hoed Wheat succeeded the Barley, and then it was again sown with Barley, upon the Wheat-stubble; and that also was better than the Barley it used to produce.

Now all the Farmers of the Neighbourhood affirm, that it is impossible but that this must be very rich Ground, because they have seen it produce Six Crops in Six Years, without Dung or Fallow, and never one of them fail. But, alas! this different Reputation they give to the Land, does not at all belong to it, but to the different Sorts of Husbandry; for the Nature of it cannot be altered but by that, the Crops being all carried off it, and nothing added to supply the Substance those Crops take from it, except (what Mr. Evelyn calls) the celestial Influences; and that these are received by the Earth, in proportion to the Degrees of its Pulveration.

A Field was drilled with Barley after an hoed Crop; and another adjoining to it on the same Side of the same poor Hill, and exactly the same Sort of Land, was drilled with Barley also, Part of it after the sown Crop, the same Day with the other; there was only this Difference in the Soil, that the former of these had no manner of Compost on it for many Years before, and the latter was dunged the Year before: Yet its Crop was not near so good as that which followed the hoed Crop[242]; tho’ the latter had twice the Plowing that the former had before drilling, and the same Hoeings afterwards; viz. Each was hoed Three times.

A Field of about Seventeen Acres was Summer-fallowed, and drilled with Wheat; and with the Hoeing brought a very good Crop (except Part of it, which being eaten by trespassing Sheep in the Winter, was somewhat blighted); the Michaelmas after that was taken off, the same Field was drilled again with Wheat, upon the Stubble of the former, and hoed: This Second Crop was a good one, scarce any in the Neighbourhood better. A Piece of Wheat adjoining to it, on the very same Sort of Land (except that this latter was always reckoned better, being thicker in Mould above the Chalk), sown at the same time on dunged Fallows, and the Ground always dunged once in Three Years; yet this Crop failed so much, as to be judged, by some Farmers, not to exceed the Tythe of the other: That the hoed Field has received no Dung or Manure for many Years past, is because it lies out of the Reach for carrying of Cart-Dung, and no Fold being kept on my Farm: But I cannot say, I think there was quite so much Odds betwixt this Second undunged hoed Crop and the sown; yet this is certain, that the former is a good, and the latter a very bad Crop.

I could give many more Instances of the same Kind, where hoed Crops and sown Crops have succeeded better after hoed Crops than after sown Crops, and never yet have seen the contrary; and therefore am convinced, that the Hoeing[243] (if it be duly performed) enriches the Soil more than Dung and Fallows, and leaves the Land in a much better Condition for a succeeding Crop. The Reason I take to be very obvious: The artificial Pasture of Plants is made and increased by Pulveration only; and nothing else there is in our Power to enrich our Ground, but to pulverize it[244], and keep it from being exhausted by Vegetables[245]. Superinductions of Earth are an Addition of more Ground, or changing it, and are more properly purchasing than cultivating.

Their One Year’s Tillage, which is but Two Plowings before Seed-time, commonly makes but little Dust; and that which it does make, has but a short time to lie exposed for Impregnation; and after the Wheat is sown, the Land lies unmoved for near Twelve Months, all the while gradually losing its Pasture, by subsiding, and by being continually exhausted in feeding a treble Stock of Wheat-plants, and a Stock of Weeds, which are sometimes a greater Stock. This puts the Advocates for the old Method upon a Necessity of using of Dung, which is, at best, but a Succedaneum of the Hoe; for it depends chiefly on the Weather, and other Accidents, whether it may prove sufficient by Fermentation to pulverize in the Spring, or no: And it is a Question whether it will equal Two additional[246] Hoeings, or but one; tho’, as I have computed it, one Dunging costs the Price of One hundred Hoeings.