The Master ought to compute the Quantity of Seed, due to each Perch, at the Rate of Five or Six Gallons to an Acre, by Weighing, &c. as I have shewn in my [Essay].
I cannot commend more than Two Partitions in a Row, or more than One, when the Intervals are narrow; because the broader the Row is, the more Earth will remain unpulverized, under the Partitions; too much of which Earth being whole, will disappoint, at least, one of the Differences mentioned in my [xviith Chapter].
Indifferent Land I think most proper whereon to make the Experiment, and the most improper for Corn is barren Land, as the best brings the largest Crops.
To ascertain the Quantity of the Crop, take a Yard in the Middle of a Ridge, and weigh its Produce.
Every Year leave one Interval unhoed, to prove the Difference of that Side of a double or treble Row next to it, from the other Side next to the hoed Interval.
But it must be noted, that the Spade doth not always pulverize so much as the Plough, or Hoe-plough; therefore there may be occasion for more Diggings than there would be of Horse-hoeings.
One of the Observations that put me upon Trials of wide Intervals, and Horse work for Corn, was the following; viz. One Half of a poorish Field was sown with Barley; the other Half drilled with Turneps, the Rows Thirty Inches asunder, at the proper Season, and twice hoed with a Sort of Horse-hoe contrived for that Purpose (but nothing like that I have described); the Drill, beginning next to the Barley, left an Interval of the same (30 Inches) Breadth between the First Row of Turneps and the Barley, which, being sown on large Furrows, came up in a sort of Rows, as is common for Barley to come when sown on such wide Furrows. This Interval between the Barley and the Turneps had the same Hoeings as the rest, and had this Effect on the broad Row of Barley next to it; viz. Each Plant had many Stalks; it was of a very deep flourishing Colour, grew high, the Ears very long, and, in all respects, the Barley was as good as if it had been produced by the richest Land. The next Row of Barley had some little Benefit on the Side next to the strong Row; but all the rest of the Barley, either by the too late Sowing of it, the Poverty of the Soil (not being in any manner dunged), or else by the Coldness of the Land, or Coldness of the Summer, or by all of these Causes, though pretty free from Weeds, was exceeding poor, yellow, low, thin, and the Ears were very short and small.
I intended to have taken the exact Difference there was between the Produce of this outside Row, and one of those that stood out of the Reach of the hoed Interval: But I was disappointed by my Neighbour’s Herd of Cows, that in the Night broke in just before Harvest, and eat off almost all the Ears of the rich Row, doing very little Damage to the rest, except by treading it. It must be from the different Tastes, the one being sweet, and the other bitter, that they make their Election to eat the one, and refuse the other.
This accidental Observation was sufficient to demonstrate the Efficacy of deep Hoeing, which I look upon as synonymous to Horse-hoeing.
I immediately set about contriving my limbered Hoe, finding all other Sorts insufficient for the Exactness required in this hoeing Operation: Those drawn in any other manner, when they went too far from the Row, and the Holder went to lift the Plough nearer, it would fly back again, like the Sally of a Bell, and go at no Certainty not being subject to the Guidance of the Holder, as the limber Hoe-plough is. The Michaelmas following I began my present Horse-hoeing Scheme; which has never yet deceived my Expectations, when performed according to the Directions I have given my Readers. And the Practice of this Scheme proves the Advantage of deep Hoeing, by the Ends of the Ridges and Intervals; for there, whilst the drawing Cattle go on the Headland that is higher, the Furrows are shallower, and the Corn of the Rows is always there visibly poorer in proportion to that Shallowness.