[226]Sometimes half a Bushel is the most just Quantity of Seed, to drill on an Acre.
[227]But we sometimes plow our Six-feet Ridges before Drilling, at Five or Six Furrows, which is a Furrow or Two more than I have reckoned: But we do not always hoe Six times afterwards. But it is better for successive Wheat-crops to bestow the Labour of as many Hoeings as amount to three plain Plowings in a Year, it being a greater Damage to omit one necessary Hoeing, than is the Expence of several Hoeings.
[228]Or an Ox may be well kept Nine Months, with an Acre of indifferent Horse-ho’d Turneps; and if we value them only at the Expence and Rent of the Land, this will be a yet cheaper Way of maintaining Oxen. Upon more Experience it is found, that St. Foin Hay alone, or with a small Quantity of Turneps, is best for working Oxen in the Winter; but a Plenty of Turneps with the same Hay is better for fatting Oxen that do not work.
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.
[229]But the Number of Oxen required will be according to their Bigness and Strength, and to the Depth and Strength of the Soil, which also will be the easier Draught for the Oxen, the oftener the Intervals are hoed.
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].
[230]But where there is not the Convenience of keeping Oxen, the Price of Hoeing with Horses is One Shilling each time.