We are not so exact as to the Weather in the First Hoeing; for if the Earth be wet, the Hoe-plough may go nearer to the Row, without burying the Wheat; and the Frost of the Winter will pulverize that Part of the[116] Furrow, which is to be thrown to the Wheat in the Spring, altho’ it was hoed wet.
[116]The Word Furrow signifies the Earth that is thrown out, as well as the Trench from whence it is thrown by the Plough.
Neither is it necessary to be very exact as to Time; but it must never be till the Wheat has more than One Blade; and it may be soon enough, when it has Four or Five Leaves, so that it is done before[117], or in the Beginning of Winter.
[117]But if the Wheat is planted very late, it may not be hoeable before the Winter is past; nor is there such a Necessity of hoeing the late planted before the great Frosts are over, as there is of the early-planted; for the later ’tis planted, the less time the Earth has to subside, and grow hard.
Note, By Winter we do not mean only those Months that are properly so reckoned, but also such other Months as have hard Frosts in them, as January, February, and sometimes the Beginning of March.
The greatest Fault you can commit in Hoeing, is the First Time, when the Furrow is turned from the Row, not to go near enough to it, nor deep enough. You cannot then go too near it, unless you plow it out, or bury it with Mould, and do not uncover it; nor too deep, unless you go below the Staple of the Ground.
Servants are apt to hoe too far from the Rows, going backwards and forwards, in the Middle of the Intervals, without coming near the Rows: This loses most of the Benefit of Hoeing, and is very injurious to the present Crop, and also to the Two succeeding Crops; for then there will be a Deficiency of pulverized Earth; and nobody can suppose, that the hoed Earth can be of any Benefit to the Rows, before the Roots reach into it; and when ’tis far off, few of the Roots reach it at all; and those that do reach, come there too late to bring the Plants to their full Perfection: Therefore, if the First Furrow was not near enough, nor deep enough, plow a Second Furrow at the Bottom of the former, which will go deeper than the First, and break the Earth more; besides taking away from the Rows such unmoved Ground, which the First Plowing may possibly have missed. If this can’t be conveniently done soon after the First Hoeing, do it before the Ridge is turned back in the Spring.
Always leave the Furrows turned up, to make[118] Ridges in the Middle of the Intervals during the Winter; and then the hollow Furrows, or Trenches next the Rows, being enriched by the Frost[119] and Rains[120], the Wheat will have the Benefit of them earlier in the Spring, than if the Trenches had been left open in the Middle of the Intervals.
[118]Tho’ the Ridge in the Middle of the Interval should, for Want of sufficient Mould, or otherwise, be too low to give Shelter, yet there is generally some Earth falls to the Left of the Hoe-plough, and lodges upon that Part which is left on the Outside of the Row; which, notwithstanding that Part be very narrow (as suppose Two or Three Inches), yet a small Quantity of Earth lying thereon, so near to the outside Row, gives an extraordinary Shelter to the young Wheat plants that grow in it.
Shelter is a great Benefit to Wheat; but yet Nourishment is more: for in the Winter I see the Wheat-plants upon the most exposed Part of the Ridge flourish, when single Plants in the Bottom of the Furrow are in a very poor languishing Condition, without any Annoyance of Water, they being upon a Chalk Bottom.