CHAP. XVII.
Of Differences between the Old and the New Husbandry.
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.
| [I.] | The Expence | } | of a Crop. |
| [II.] | The Goodness | ||
| [III.] | The Certainty | ||
| [IV.] | The Condition in which the Land is left after a Crop. | ||
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.
| l. | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Seed and Tillage, nothing can be abated of | 01 | 03 | 06 |
| For the Weeding, one Year with another, is more than | 00 | 02 | 00 |
| For the Rent of the Year’s Fallow | 00 | 10 | 00 |
| For the Dung; ’tis in some Places a little cheaper, neither do they always lay on quite so much; therefore abating 15s. in that Article, we may well set Dung and Carriage at | 02 | 10 | 00 |
| Reaping commonly 5s. sometimes less | 00 | 04 | 06 |
| Total | 04 | 10 | 00 |
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.