Hoeing is the breaking or dividing the Soil by Tillage, whilst the Corn or other Plants are growing thereon.
It differs from common Tillage (which is always perform’d before the Corn or Plants are sown or planted) in the Times of performing it; ’tis much more beneficial; and ’tis perform’d by different Instruments.
Land that is before Sowing tilled never so much (tho’ the more ’tis till’d the more it will produce) will have some Weeds, and they will come in along with the Crop for a Share of the Benefit of the Tillage, greater or less, according to their Number, and what Species they are of.
But what is most to be regarded is, that as soon as the Ploughman has done his Work of plowing and harrowing, the Soil begins to undo it, inclining towards, and endeavouring to regain, its natural specific Gravity; the broken Parts by little and little coalesce, unite, and lose some of their Surfaces; many of their Pores and Interstices close up during the Seed’s Incubation and Hatching in the Ground; and, as the Plants grow up, they require an Increase of Food proportionable to their increasing Bulk; but on the contrary, instead thereof, that internal Superficies, which is their artificial Pasture, gradually decreases.
The Earth is so unjust to Plants, her own Off-spring, as to shut up her Stores in proportion to their Wants; that is, to give them less Nourishment when they have need of more: Therefore Man, for whose Use they are chiefly design’d, ought to bring in his reasonable Aid for their Relief, and force open her Magazines with the Hoe, which will thence procure them at all times Provisions in Abundance, and also free them from Intruders; I mean, their spurious Kindred, the Weeds, that robb’d them of their too scanty Allowance.
There’s no Doubt, but that one third Part of the Nourishment raised by Dung and Tillage, given to Plants or Corn at many proper Seasons, and apportion’d to the different Times of their Exigencies, will be of more Benefit to a Crop, than the Whole apply’d, as it commonly is, only at the time of Sowing. This old Method is almost as unreasonable as if Treble the full Stock of Leaves, necessary to maintain Silk-worms till they had finished their Spinning, should be given them before they are hatched, and no more afterwards.
Next to Hoeing, and something like it, is Transplanting, but much inferior; both because it requires a so much greater Number of Hands, that by no Contrivance can it ever become general, nor does it succeed, if often repeated; but Hoeing will maintain any Plant in the greatest Vigour ’tis capable of, even unto the utmost Period of Age. Besides, there is Danger in removing a whole Plant, and Loss of Time before the Plant can take Root again, all the former Roots being broken off at the Ends in taking up (for ’tis impossible to do it without), and so must wait until by the Strength and Virtue of its own Sap (which by a continual Perspiration is daily enfeebled) new Roots are form’d, which, unless the Earth continue moist[38], are so long in forming, that they not only find a more difficult Reception into the closing Pores; but many Times the Plant languishes and dies of an Atrophy, being starv’d in the midst of Plenty; but whilst this is thus decaying, the hoed Plant obtains a more flourishing State than ever, without removing from the same Soil that produc’d it.
[38]But when the Earth doth continue moist, many transplanted Vegetables thrive better than the same Species planted in Seeds, because the former, striking Root sooner, have a greater Advantage of the fresh-pulverized Mould, which loses some of its artificial Pasture before the Seeds have Roots to reach it. The same Advantage also have Seeds by soaking till ready to sprout before they are planted. To both these the Moisture of the Earth is necessary.
’Tis observ’d that some Plants are the worse for Transplanting[39]. Fenochia removed is never so good and tender as that which is not, it receives such a Check in Transplanting in its Infancy; which, like the Rickets, leaves Knots that indurate the Parts of the Fennel, and spoil it from being a Dainty.
[39]As most long Tap-rooted Plants are; for I have often try’d the Transplanting of Plants, of St. Foin and Luserne; and could never find, that any ever came near to the Perfection that those will do which are not removed, being equally single.
Tap-rooted Grasses and Turneps are always injured by Transplanting; their long Root once broken off never arrives at the Depth it would have arriv’d unbroken; as for this Reason they cut off the Tap-root of an Apple-tree, to prevent its running downward, by which it would have too much Moisture.
Hoeing has most of the Benefits without any Inconveniences of Transplanting; because it removes the Roots by little and little, and at different Times; some of the Roots remaining undisturb’d, always supply the moved Roots with Moisture, and the whole Plant with Nourishment sufficient to keep it from fainting, until the moved Roots can enjoy the Benefit of their new Pasture, which is very soon.
Another extraordinary Benefit of the new Hoeing[40] Husbandry is, that it keeps Plants moist in dry Weather, and this upon a double Account.
[40]Hoeing may be divided into Deep, which is our Horse-hoeing, and Shallow, which is the English Hand-hoeing; and also the Shallow Horse-hoeing, used in some Places betwixt Rows, where the Intervals are very narrow, as sixteen or eighteen Inches; this is but an Imitation of the Hand-hoe, or a Succadaneum to it; and can neither supply the Use of Dung, nor of Fallow, and may be properly called Scratch-hoeing.
First, as they are better nourished by Hoeing, they require less Moisture, as appears by Dr. Woodward’s Experiment, that those Plants which receive the greatest Increase, having most terrestrial Nourishment, carry off the least Water in Proportion to their Augment: So Barley or Oats, being sown on a Part of a Ground very well divided by Dung and Tillage, will come up and grow vigorously without Rain, when the same Grains, sown at the same Time, on the other Part, not thus enriched, will scarce come up; or, if they do, will not thrive till Rain comes.
Secondly, The Hoe, I mean the Horse-hoe (the other goes not deep enough), procures Moisture to the Roots from the Dews, which fall most in dry Weather; and those Dews (by what Mr. Thomas Henshaw has observ’d) seem to be the richest Present the Atmosphere gives to the Earth; having, when putrefy’d in a Vessel, a black Sediment like Mud at the Bottom. This seems to cause the darkish Colour to the upper Part of the Ground. And the Sulphur, which is found in the Sediment of the Dew, may be the chief Ingredient of the Cement of the Earth; Sulphur being very glutinous, as Nitre is dissolvent. Dew has both these.
These enter in proportion to the Fineness and Freshness of the Soil, and to the Quantity that is so made fine and fresh by the Hoe. How this comes to pass, and the Reason of it, are shewn in the Chapter of Tillage.
To demonstrate that Dews moisten the Land when fine, dig a Hole in the hard dry Ground, in the driest Weather, as deep as the Plough ought to reach: Beat the Earth very fine, and fill the Hole therewith; and, after a few Nights Dews, you’ll find this fine Earth become moist at the Bottom, and the hard Ground all round will continue dry.
Till a Field in Lands; make one Land very fine by frequent deep Plowings; and let another be rough by insufficient Tillage, alternately; then plow the whole Field cross-ways in the driest Weather, which has continued long; and you will perceive, by the Colour of the Earth, that every fine Land will be turn’d up moist; but every rough Land will be dry as Powder, from Top to Bottom.
Altho’ hard Ground, when thoroughly soak’d with Rain, will continue wet longer than fine till’d Land adjoining to it; yet this Water serves rather to chill, than nourish the Plants standing therein, and to keep out the other Benefits of the Atmosphere, leaving the Ground still harder when ’tis thence exhaled; and being at last once become dry, it can admit no more Moisture, unless from a long-continued Deluge of Rain, which seldom falls till Winter, which is not the Season for Vegetation.
As fine hoed Ground is not so long soaked by Rain, so the Dews never suffer it to become perfectly dry: This appears by the Plants, which flourish and grow fat in this, whilst those in the hard Ground are starved, except such of them, which stand near enough to the hoed[41] Earth, for the Roots to borrow Moisture and Nourishment from it.
[41]As when Wheat is drill’d late in very poor Land, so that in the Spring the young Plants look all very yellow; let your Hoe-plough, making a crooked Line, like an Indenture, on one Side of a strait Row of this poor Wheat in the Spring, turn a Furrow from it; and in a short time you will see all those yellow Plants, that are contiguous to this Furrow, change their yellow Colour to a deep Green; whilst those Plants of the same Row, which stand farthest off from this indented Furrow, change not their Colour till afterwards; and all the Plants change or retain their Colour sooner or later gradually, as they stand nearer to, or farther from it; and the other Rows, which have no Furrow near them, continue their yellow, after all this Row is become green and flourishing: But this Experiment is best to be made in poor sandy Ground, when the Mould is friable; else perhaps the different Colour may not appear until the Furrow be turn’d back to the Row, having lain some time to be somewhat pulveriz’d (or impregnated) by the Weather, &c.
This Experiment I often made on Wheat drill’d on the Level before I drill’d any on Ridges.
The plowing one Furrow in sandy or mellow Ground makes a Pulveration, which is enjoy’d first by these Plants that are the nearest to it; and also delivers them from the Weeds, which, though there may be very few, yet there is a vast difference between their robbing the Wheat of its Pasture in the Row, and the Wheat’s enjoying both that and the whole Pasture of the Furrow also.
I never remember to have seen a Plant poor, that was contiguous to a well-hoed Interval, unless overpower’d by a too great Multitude of other Plants; and the same Exception must be made, if it were a Plant that required more or less Heat or Moisture, than the Soil or Climate afforded.
And I have been informed by some Persons, that they have often made the like Observations; that, in the driest of Weather, good Hoeing[42] procures Moisture to Roots; tho’ the Ignorant and Incurious fansy, it lets in the Drought; and therefore are afraid to hoe their Plants at such Times, when, unless they water them, they are spoil’d for Want of it.
[42]When Land is become hard by lying too long unho’d, the Plough in turning a deep Furrow from each Side of a single Row of young Plants (suppose of Turneps) may crack the Earth quite through the Row, and expose the Roots to the open Air and Sun in very dry Weather; but if the Earth wherein the Plants stand be fine, there will be no Cracks in it: ’Tis therefore the delaying the Hoeing too long that occasions the Injury. But to hoe with Advantage against dry Weather, the Ground must have been well tilled or hoed before, that the Hoe may go deep, else the Dews, that fall in the Night, will be exhal’d back in the Heat of the Day.
There is yet one more Benefit Hoeing gives to Plants, which by no Art can possibly be given to Animals: For all that can be done in feeding an Animal is, what has been here already said of Hoeing; that is, to give it sufficient Food, Meat and Drink, at the times it has occasion for them; if you give an Animal any more, ’tis to no manner of Purpose, unless you could give it more Mouths, which is impossible; but in hoeing a Plant the additional Nourishment thereby given, enables it to send out innumerable additional Fibres and Roots, as in one of the Glasses with a Mint in it, is seen; which fully demonstrates, that a Plant increaseth its Mouths, in some Proportion to the Increase of Food given to it: So that Hoeing, by the new Pasture it raises, furnishes both Food and Mouths to Plants; and ’tis for Want of Hoeing, that so few are brought to their Growth and Perfection[43].
[43]A Ground was drill’d with Ray-grass and Barley, in Rows at Five Inches Distance from each other; it produced a pretty good Crop of Ray-grass the second Year as is usual; there was adjoining to it a Ground of Turneps, that were in Rows, with wide Intervals Horse-ho’d; they stood for Seed; and amongst them there was, in Room of a Turnep, a single Plant of Ray-grass, which, being hoed as the Turneps were, had (in every one’s Opinion that saw it) acquired a Bulk at least equal to a Thousand Plants of the same Species in the other Ground; tho’ that vast Plant had no other Advantage above the other, except its Singleness, and the deep Hoeing.
I have seen a Chickweed, by the same means, as much increas’d beyond its common Size; and a Plant of Mustard-seed, whose collateral Branches were much bigger than ever I saw a whole Plant of that Sort; it was higher than I could reach its Top, and indeed more like a Tree than an Herb; many other sorts of Plants have I seen thus increased beyond what I had ever observ’d before, but none so much as those.
In what Manner the Sarrition of the Antients was performed in their Corn, is not very clear: This seems to have been their Method; viz. When the Plants were some time come up, they harrowed the Ground, and pull’d out the Weeds by Hand. The Process of this appears in Columella, where he directs the Planting of Medica to be but a Sort of Harrowing or Raking amongst the young Plants, that the Weeds might come out the more easily: Ligneis Rastris statim jacta Semina obruantur. Post Sationem Ligneis Rastris Jarriendus, & identidem runcandus est Ager, ne alterius generis Herba invalidam Medicam perimat.
They harrowed and hoed Rastris; so that their Occatio and Sarritio were performed with much the same Sort of Instrument, and differed chiefly in the Time: The first was at Seed-time, to cover the Seed, or level the Ground; the other was to move the Ground after the Plants were up.
One Sort of their Sarrition was, Segetes permota Terra debere adobrui, ut fruticare possint. Another Sort was thus: In Locis autem frigidis sarriri nec adobrui, sed Plana Sarritione Terram permoveri.
For the better Understanding of these two Sorts of Sarrition, we must consider, that the Antients sowed their Corn under Furrow; that is, when they had harrowed the Ground, to break the Clods, and make it level, they sowed the Seed, and then plowed it in: This left the Ground very uneven, and the Corn came up (as we see it does here in the same Case) mostly in the lowest Places betwixt the Furrows, which always lay higher: This appears by Virgil’s Cum Sulcos æquant Sata. Now, when they used Plana Sarritio, they harrowed Length-ways of the Furrows, which being somewhat harden’d, there could be little Earth thrown down thence upon the young Corn.
But the other Sort of Sarrition, whereby the Corn is said Adobrui, to be cover’d, seems to be perform’d by Harrowing cross the Furrows; which must needs throw down much Earth from the Furrows, which necessarily fell upon the Corn.
How this did contribute to make the Corn fruticare, is another Question: I am in no doubt to say, it was not from covering any Part of it (for I see that has a contrary Effect), but from moving much Ground, which gave a new Pasture to the Roots: This appears by the Observation of the extraordinary Frutication of Wheat ho’d without being cover’d; and by the Injury it receives by not being uncover’d when any Earth falls on the Rows.
The same Author saith, Faba, & cætera Legumina, cum quatuor Digitis à Terra extiterint, recte farrientur, excepto tamen Lupino, cujus Semini contraria est Sarritio; quoniam unam Radicem habet, quæ sive Ferro succisa feu vulnerata est, totus Frutex emoritur.
If they had ho’d it only betwixt Rows, there had been no Danger of killing the Lupine, which is a Plant most proper for Hoeing. What he says of the Lupine’s having no need of Sarrition, because it is able of itself to kill Weeds, shews the Antients were ignorant of the chief Use of Hoeing; viz. to raise new Nourishment by dividing the Earth, and making a new Internal Superficies in it.
Sarrition scratched and broke so small a Part of the Earth’s Surface, amongst the Corn and Weeds, without Distinction, or favouring one any more than the other, that it was a Dispute, whether the Good it did in facilitating the Runcation (or Hand-weeding) was greater, than the Injury it did by bruising and tearing the Corn: And many of the Antients chose rather to content themselves with the Use of Runcation only, and totally to omit all Sarrition of their Corn.
But Hoeing is an Action very different from that of Sarrition, and is every Way beneficial, no-way injurious to Corn, tho’ destructive to Weeds. Therefore some modern Authors shew a profound Ignorance, in translating Sarritio, Hoeing: They give an Idea very different from the true one: For the Antients truly hoed their Vineyards, but not their Corn; neither did they plant their Corn in Rows, without which they could not give it the Vineyard-hoeing; Their Sarculation was used but amongst small Quantities of sown Corn, and is yet in Use for Flax; for I have seen the Sarculum (which is a Sort of a very narrow Hoe) used amongst the Plants of Flax standing irregularly: But this Operation is too tedious and too chargeable, to be apply’d to great Quantities of irregular Corn.
If they ho’d their Crops sown at Random, one would think they should have made mad Work of it; since they were not at the Pains to plant in Rows, and hoe betwixt them with their Bidens; being the Instrument with which they tilled many of their Vineyards, and enters as deep as the Plough, and is much better than the English Hoe, which indeed seems, at the first Invention of it, to be designed rather to scrape Chimneys, than to till the Ground.
The highest and lowest Vineyards are ho’d by the Plough; first the high Vineyards, where the Vines grow (almost like Ivy) upon great Trees, such as Elms, Maples, Cherry-trees, &c. These are constantly kept in Tillage, and produce good Crops of Corn, besides what the Trees do yield; and also these great and constant Products of the Vines are owing to this Sort of Hoe-tillage; because neither in Meadow or Pasture Grounds can Vines be made to prosper; tho’ the Land be much richer, and yet have a less Quantity of Grass taken off it, than the Arable has Corn carried from that.
The Vines of low Vineyards[44], ho’d by the Plough, have their Heads just above the Ground, standing all in a most regular Order, and are constantly plowed in the proper Season: These have no other Assistance, but by Hoeing; because their Head and Roots are so near together, that Dung would spoil the Taste of the Wine they produce, in hot Countries.
[44]From these I took my Vineyard Scheme, observing that indifferent Land produces an annual Crop of Grapes and Wood without Dung; and though there is annually carried off from an Acre of Vineyard, as much in Substance as is carried off in the Crop of an Acre of Corn produced on Land of equal Goodness; and yet the Vineyard Soil is never impoverished, unless the hoeing Culture be denied it: But a few annual Crops of Wheat, without Dung in the common Management, will impoverish and emaciate the Soil.
The Vine indeed has the Advantage of being a large perennial Plant, and of receiving some Part of its Nourishment below the Staple; but it has also Disadvantages: The Soil of the Vineyard never can have a true Summer Fallow, tho’ it has much Summer Hoeing; for the Vines live in it, and all over it all the Year: neither can that Soil have Benefit from Dung, because though by increasing the Pulveration, it increases the Crop, yet it spoils the Taste of the Wine; the Exhaustion of that Soil is therefore supply’d by no artificial Help but Hoeing: And by all the Experience I have had of it, the same Cause will have the same Effect upon a Soil for the Production of Corn, and other Vegetables, as well as upon the Vineyard.
All Vineyards must be ho’d one Way or other[45], or else they will produce nothing of Value; but Corn-Fields without Hoeing do produce something, tho’ nothing in Comparison to what they would do with it.
[45]Vines, that cannot be ho’d by the Ploughs, are ho’d by the Bidens.
Mr. Evelyn says, that when the Soil, wherein Fruit-Trees are planted, is constantly kept in Tillage, they grow up to be an Orchard in half the Time they would do, if the Soil were not till’d; and this keeping an Orchard-Soil in Arable, is Horse-hoeing it.
In some Places in Berkshire they have used, for a long time to Hand-hoe most Sorts of Corn, with very great Success; and I may say this, that I myself never knew, or heard, that ever any Crop of Corn was properly so ho’d, but what very well answer’d the Expence, even of this Hand-work; but be this never so profitable, there are not a Number of Hands to use it in great Quantities; which possibly was one Reason the Antients were not able to introduce it into their Corn-Fields to any Purpose; tho’ they should not have been ignorant of the Effect of it, from what they saw it do in their Vineyards and Gardens.
In the next Place I shall give some general Directions, which by Experience I have found necessary to be known, in order to the Practice of this Hoeing-Husbandry.
| I. | Concerning the Depth to plant at. |
| II. | The Quantity of Seed to plant. |
| III. | And the Distance of the Rows. |
I. ’Tis necessary to know how deep we may plant our Seed, without Danger of burying it; for so ’tis said to be, when laid at a Depth below what ’tis able to come up at.
Different Sorts of Seeds come up at different Depths; some at six Inches, or more; some at not more than half an Inch: The Way to know for certain the Depth any Sort will come up at is, to make Gauges in this Manner: Saw off 12 Sticks of about 3 Inches Diameter: Bore a Hole in the End of each Stick, and drive into it a taper Peg; let the first Peg be half an Inch long, the next an Inch, and so on; every Peg to be half an Inch longer than the former, till the last Peg be six Inches long; then in that sort of Ground where you intend to plant, make a Row of Twenty Holes with the half-Inch Gauge; put therein Twenty good Seeds; cover them up, and stick the Gauge at the End of that Row; then do the like with all the other Eleven Gauges: This will determine the Depth, at which the most Seeds will come up[46].
[46]In the common way of Sowing tis hard to know the proper Depth, because some Seeds lying deep, and others shallow, it is not easy to discover the Depth of those that are buried: But I have found in drilling of black Oats, that when the Drill-Plough was set a little deeper for Trial, very few came up: Therefore ’tis proper for the Driller to use the Gauges for all Sorts of Seeds; for, if he drills them too deep, he may lose his Crop; or, if too shallow, in dry Weather, he may injure it, especially in Summer Seeds; but for those planted against Winter, there is the most Damage by planting too deep.
When the Depth is known, wherein the Seed is sure to come up, we may easily discover, whether the Seed be good or not, by observing how many will fail: For in some Sorts of Seeds the Goodness cannot be known by the Eye; and there has been often great Loss by bad Seed, as well as by burying good Seed; both which Misfortunes might be prevented by this little Trouble; besides ’tis not convenient to plant some sorts of Seed at the utmost Depth they will come up at; for it may be so deep, as that the Wet may rot or chill the first Root, as in Wheat in moist Land.
The Nature of the Land, the Manner how it is laid, either flat, or in Ridges, and the Season of Planting, with the Experience of the Planter, acquired by such Trials, must determine the proper Depths for different Sorts of Seeds.
II. The proper Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre, is much less than must be sown in the common Way; not because Hoeing will not maintain as many Plants as the other; for, on the contrary, Experience shews it will, cæteris paribus, maintain more; but the Difference is upon many other Accounts: As that ’tis impossible to sow it so even by Hand, as the Drill will do; for let the Hand spread it never so exactly (which is difficult to do some Seeds, especially in windy Weather), yet the Unevenness of the Ground will alter the Situation of the Seed; the greatest Part rebounding into the Holes, and lowest Places; or else the Harrows, in Covering, draw it down thither; and tho’ these low Places may have Ten Times too much, the high Places may have little or none of it: This Inequality lessens, in Effect, the Quantity of the Seed; because Fifty Seeds, in Room of One, will not produce so much as One will do; and where they are too thick, they cannot be well nourished, their Roots not spreading to near their natural Extent, for Want of Hoeing to open the Earth. Some Seed is buried (by which is meant the laying them so deep, that they are never able to come up, as Columella cautions, Ut absque ulla Resurrectionis Spe sepeliantur): Some lies naked above the Ground; which, with more uncovered by the first Rain, feeds the Birds and Vermin.
Farmers know not the Depth that is enough to bury their Seed, neither do they make much Difference in the Quantity they sow on a rough, or a fine Acre; tho’ the same that is too little for the one, is too much for the other; ’tis all mere Chance-work, and they put their whole Trust in good Ground, and much Dung, to cover their Errors.
The greatest Quantity of Seed I ever heard of to be usually sown, is in Wiltshire, where I am informed by the Owners themselves, that on some Sorts of Land they sow Eight Bushels of Barley to an Acre; so that if it produce four Quarters to an Acre, there are but four Grains for one that is sown, and is a very poor Increase, tho’ a good Crop; this is on Land plowed once, and then double-dung’d, the Seed only harrow’d into the stale and hard Ground[47]; ’tis like not two Bushels of the eight will enter it to grow; and I have heard, that in a dry Summer an Acre of this scarce produces four Bushels at Harvest.
[47]Stale Ground is that which has lain some considerable time after Plowing, before it is sown, contrary to that which is sown immediately after plow’d; for this last is generally not so hard as the former.
But, in Drilling, Seed lies all the same just Depth, none deeper, nor shallower, than the rest; here’s no Danger of the Accidents of burying, or being uncover’d, and therefore no Allowance must be made for them; but Allowance must be made for other Accidents, where the Sort of Seed is liable to them; such as Grub, Fly, Worm, Frost, &c.
Next, when a Man unexperienced in this Method has proved the Goodness of his Seed, and Depth to plant at it, he ought to calculate what Number of Seeds a Bushel, or other Measure or Weight, contains: For one Bushel or one Pound of small Seed, may contain double the Number of Seeds, of a Bushel, or a Pound, of large Seed of the same Species.
This Calculation is made by weighing an Ounce, and counting the Number of Seeds therein; then weighing a Bushel of it, and multiplying the Number of Seeds of the Ounce, by the Number of Ounces of the Bushel’s Weight; the Product will shew the Number of Seeds of a Bushel near enough: Then, by the Rule of Three, apportion them to the Square Feet of an Acre; or else it may be done, by divideing the Seeds of the Bushel by the Square Feet of an Acre; the Quotient will give the Number of Seeds for every Foot: Also consider how near you intend to plant the Rows, and whether Single, Double, Treble, or Quadruple; for the more Rows, the more Seed will be required[48].
[48]The narrow Spaces (suppose seven Inches) betwixt Double, Treble, or Quadruple Rows, the Double having One, the Treble Two, and the Quadruple Three of them, are called Partitions.
The wide Space (suppose of near five Feet) betwixt any Two of these Double, Treble, or Quadruple Rows, is call’d an Interval.
Examine what is the Produce of one middle-siz’d Plant of the Annual, but the Produce of the best and largest of the perennial Sort; because that by Hoeing will be brought to its utmost Perfection: Proportion the Seed of both to the reasonable Product; and, when ’tis worth while, adjust the Plants to their competent Number with the Hand-hoe, after they are up; and plant Perennials generally in single Rows: Lastly, Plant some Rows of the Annual thicker than others, which will soon give you Experience (better than any other Rule) to know the exact Quantity of Seed to drill.
III. The Distances of the Rows are one of the most material Points, wherein we shall find many apparent Objections against the Truth; of which, tho’ full Experience be the most infallible Proof, yet the World is by false Notions so prejudiced against wide Spaces between Rows, that unless these common (and I wish I could say, only vulgar) Objections be first answer’d, perhaps no-body will venture so far out of the old Road, as is necessary to gain the Experience; without it be such as have seen it.
I formerly was at much Pains, and at some Charge, in improving my Drills, for planting the Rows at very near Distances; and had brought them to such Perfection, that One Horse would draw a Drill with Eleven Shares, making the Rows at three Inches and half Distance from one another; and at the same Time sow in them Three very different Sorts of Seeds, which did not mix; and these too, at different Depths; as the Barley-Rows were seven Inches asunder, the Barley lay four Inches deep; a little more than three Inches above that, in the same Chanels, was Clover; betwixt every Two of these Rows was a Row of St. Foin, cover’d half an Inch deep.
I had a good Crop of Barley the first Year; the next Year, Two Crops of Broad-Clover, where that was sown; and where Hop-Clover was sown, a mix’d Crop of That and St. Foin, and every Year afterwards a Crop of St. Foin; but I am since, by Experience, so fully convinced of the Folly of these, or any other such mix’d Crops, and more especially of narrow Spaces, that I have demolish’d these Instruments (in their full Perfection) as a vain Curiosity, the Drift and Use of them being contrary to the true Principles and Practice of Horse-Hoeing.
Altho’ I am satisfied, that every one, who shall have seen as much of it as I have, will be of my Mind in this Matter; yet I am aware, that what I am going to advance, will seem shocking to them, before they have made Trials.
I lay it down as a Rule (to myself) that every Row of Vegetables, to be Horse-ho’d, ought to have an empty Space or Interval of thirty Inches on one Side of it[49] at least, and of near five Feet in all Sorts of Corn.
[49]Note, We call it one Row, tho’ it be a Double, Treble, or Quadruple Row; because when they unite in the Spring, they seem to be all single; even the Quadruple then is but as one single Row.
Observe, that as wide Intervals are necessary for perfect Horse-hoeing, so the largest Vegetables have generally the greatest Benefit by them; tho’ small Plants may have considerable Benefit from much narrower Intervals than Five Feet.
The Intervals may be somewhat narrower for constant annual Crops of Barley, than of Wheat; because Barley does not shut out the Hoe-Plough so soon, nor require so much Room for Hoeing, nor so much Earth in the Intervals, it being a lesser Plant, and growing but about a Third-part of the Time on the Ground; but he that drills Barley, must resolve to reap it, and bind it up in Sheaves; for if he mows it, or does not bind it, a great Part will be lost among the Earth in the Intervals: But ’tis now found, that in a wet Harvest the best Way is not to bind up drill’d Barley or Oats; but instead thereof, to make up the Grips into little Heaps by Hands, laying the Ears upon one another inwards, and the Stubble-ones outwards; so that with a Fork that hath Two Fingers, and a Thumb, ’tis very easy to pitch such Heaps up the Waggons without scattering, or wasting any of the Corn.
’Tis also seen, that when the Reapers take Care to set their Grips with the But-ends in the Bottoms of the Intervals, and the Ears properly on the Stubble, they will so stand up from the Ground, as to escape much better from sprouting, than mow’d Corn.
In Hand-hoeing there is always less Seed, fewer Plants, and a greater Crop, cæteris paribus, than in the common Sowing: Yet there, the Rows must be much nearer together, than in Horse-hoeing; because as the Hand moves many times less Earth than the Horse, the Roots will be sent out in like Proportion; and if the Spaces or Intervals, where the Hand-hoe only scratches a little of the upper Surface of them, should be wide, they would be so hard and stale underneath, that the Roots of perennial Plants would be long in running thro’ them; and the Roots of many annual Plants would never be able to do it.
An Instance which shews something of the Difference between Hand-hoeing and Deep-hoeing is, That a certain poor Man is observ’d to have his Cabbages vastly bigger than any-body’s else, tho’ their Ground be richer, and better dung’d: His Neighbours were amaz’d at it, till the Secret at length came out, and was only this: As other People ho’d their Cabbages with a Hand-hoe, he instead thereof dug his with a Spade: And nothing can more nearly equal[50] the Use of the Horse-hoe than the Spade does.
[50]The Hoe-plough exceeds the Spade in this Respect, that it removes more of the Roots, and cuts off fewer; which is an Advantage when we till near to the Bodies of Plants that are grown large.
And when the Plants have never so much Pabulum near them, their fibrous Roots cannot reach it all, before the Earth naturally excludes them from it; for, to reach it all, they must fill all the Pores[51], which is impossible: So far otherwise it is, that we shall find it probable, that they can only reach the least Part of it, unless the Roots could remove themselves from Place to Place, to leave such Pores as they had exhausted, and apply themselves to such as were unexhausted; but they not being endow’d with Parts necessary for local Motion (as Animals are), the Hoe-Plough suplies their Want of Feet; and both conveys them to their Food, and their Food to them, as well as provides it for them; for by transplanting the Roots, it gives them Change of the Pasture, which it increases by the very Act of changing them from one Situation to another, if the Intervals be wide enough for this Hoeing Operation to be properly perform’d.
[51]The Roots of a Mint, set a whole Summer in a Glass, kept constantly replenished with Water, will, in Appearance, fill the whole Cavity of the Glass; but by compressing the Roots, or by observing how much Water the Glass will hold when the Roots are in it, we are convinc’d, that they do not fill a Fourth-part of its Cavity; tho’ they are not stopp’d by Water, as they are by Earth.
The Objections most likely to prepossess Peoples Minds, and prevent their making Trials of this Husbandry, are these:
First, they will be apt to think, that these wide, naked Spaces, not being cover’d by the Plants, will not be sufficient to make a good Crop.
For Answer, we must consider, that tho’ Corn, standing irregular and sparsim, may seem to cover the Ground better than when it stands regular in Rows; this Appearance[52] is a mere Deceptio visus; for Stalks are never so thick on any Part of the Ground as where many come out of one Plant, or as when they stand in a Row; and a ho’d Plant of Corn will have Twenty or Thirty Stalks[53], in the same Quantity of Ground where an unho’d Plant, being equally single, will have only Two or Three Stalks. These tillered ho’d Stalks, if they were planted sparsim all over the Interval, it might seem well cover’d, and perhaps thicker than the sown Crop commonly is; so that tho’ these ho’d Rows seem to contain a less Crop, they may contain, in reality, a greater Crop than the sown, that seems to exceed it; and ’tis only the different Placing that makes one seem greater, and the other less, than it really is; and this is only when both Crops are young.
[52]For the Eye to make a Companion betwixt a sown Crop and such a ho’d Crop, it ought, when ’tis half grown, to look on the ho’d Crop across the Rows; because in the other it does so, in Effect, which way soever it looks; but whatever Appearance the ho’d Crop of Vegetables (of as large a Species as Wheat) makes when young, it surely, if well managed, appears more beautiful at Harvest than a sown Crop.
[53]I have counted Fifty large Ears on one single ho’d Plant of Barley.
The next Objection is, That the Space or Interval not being planted, much of the Benefit of that Ground will be lost; and therefore the Crop must be less than if it were planted all over.
I answer, It might be so, if not Horse-ho’d; but if well Horse-ho’d, the Roots can run through the Intervals; and, having more Nourishment, make a greater Crop.
The too great Number of Plants, plac’d all over the Ground in common sowing, have, whilst it is open, an Opportunity of wasting, when they are very young, that Stock of Provision, for Want of which the greatest Part of them are afterwards starv’d; for their irregular Standing prevents their being relieved with fresh Supplies from the Hoe: Hence it is, that the old Method exhausting the Earth to no Purpose, produces a less Crop; and yet leaves less Pabulum behind for a succeeding one, contrary to the Hoeing-Husbandry, wherein Plants are manag’d in all Respects by a quite different Oeconomy.
In a large Ground of Wheat it was prov’d, that the widest ho’d Intervals brought the greatest Crop of all: Dung without Hoeing did not equal Hoeing without Dung. And what was most remarkable, amongst Twelve Differences of wider and narrower Spaces, more and less ho’d, dung’d and undung’d, the Hand-sow’d was considerably the worst of all; tho’ all the Winter and Beginning of the Spring, that made infinitely the most promising Appearance; but at Harvest yielded but about One-fifth Part of Wheat of that which was most hoed; there was some of the most hoed, which yielded Eighteen Ounces of clean Wheat in a Yard in Length of a double Row, the Intervals being thirty Inches, and the Partition Six Inches[54].
[54]The same Harvest, a Yard in Length of a double Row of Barley, having Six Inches Partition, produc’d Eight hundred and Eighty Ears in a Garden; but the Grains happened to be eaten by Poultry before ’twas ripe, so that their Produce of Grains could not be known: One like Yard of a ho’d Row of Wheat, in an undung’d Field, produc’d Four hundred Ears of Lammas-Wheat.
A Third Objection like the two former is, that so small a Part of the Ground, as that whereon the Row stands, cannot contain Plants or Stalks sufficient for a full Crop.
This some Authors endeavour to support by Arguments taken from the perpendicular Growth of Vegetables, and the Room they require to stand on; both which having answer’d elsewhere, I need not say much of them here; only I may add, that if Plants could be brought to as great Perfection, and so to stand as thick all over the Land, as they do in the ho’d Rows, there might be produced, at once, many of the greatest Crops of Corn that ever grew.
But since Plants thrive, and make their Produce, in Proportion to the Nourishment they have within the Ground, not to the Room they have to stand upon it, one very narrow Row may contain more Plants than a wide Interval can nourish, and bring to their full Perfection, by all the Art that can be used; and ’tis impossible a Crop should be lost for want of room to stand above the Ground, tho’ it were less than a Tenth-part of the Surface[55].