Chapter II: Preface (2)

Can any thing more plainly shew the Intent of Nature, than this his Remark does? _viz._ That the Air is most necessary to the Tree above ground, to purify the Sap by the Leaves, as the Blood of Animals is depurated by their Lungs: And that Roots seek the Earth for their Food, and shun the Air, which would dry up and destroy them.

No one Truth can possibly contradict or interfere with any other Truth; but one Error may contradict and interfere with another Error, _viz._

Mr. _Bradley_, and all Authors, I think, are of Opinion, that Plants of different Natures are fed by a different Sort of Nourishment; from whence they aver, that a Crop of Wheat takes up all that is peculiar to that Grain; then a Crop of Barley all that is proper to it; next a Crop of Pease, and so on, ’till each has drawn off all those Particles which are proper to it; and then no more of these Grains will grow in that Land, till by Fallow, Dung, and Influences of the Heavens, the Earth will be again replenish’d with new Nourishment, to supply the same Sorts of Corn over again. This, if true (as they all affirm it to be), would prove, that the Air is not the Food of Vegetables. For the Air being in itself so homogeneous as it is, could never afford such different Matter as they imagine; neither is it probable, that the Air should afford the Wheat Nourishment more one Year, than the ensuing Year; or that the same Year it should nourish Barley in one Field, Wheat in another, Pease in a Third; but that if Barley were sown in the Third, Wheat in the First, Pease in the Second, all would fail: Therefore this Hypothesis of Air for Food interferes with, and contradicts this Doctrine of Necessity of changing Sorts.

I suppose, by Air, they do not mean dry Particles of Earth, and the Effluvia which float in the Air: The Quantity of these is too small to augment Vegetables to that Bulk they arrive at. By that way of speaking they might more truly affirm this of Water, because it must be like to carry a greater Quantity of Earth than Air doth, in proportion to the Difference of their different specific Weight; Water, being about 800 times heavier than Air, is likely to have 800 times more of that terrestrial Matter in it; and we see this is sufficient to maintain some Sort of Vegetables, as Aquatics; but the Air, by its Charge of Effluvia, _&c._ is never able to maintain or nourish any Plant; for as to the Sedums, Aloes, and all others, that are supposed to grow suspended in the Air, ’tis a mere Fallacy; they seem to grow, but do not; since they constantly grow lighter; and tho’ their Vessels may be somewhat distended by the Ferment of their own Juices which they received in the Earth, yet suspended in Air, they continually diminish in Weight (which is the true Argument of a Plant) until they grow to nothing. So that this Instance of Sedums, _&c._ which they pretend to bring for Proof of this their Hypothesis, is alone a full Confutation of it.

Yet if granted, that Air could nourish some Vegetables by the earthy Effluvia, _&c._ which it carry’d with it [6]; even that would be against them, not for them.

[6] This is meant of dry Earth, by its Lightness (when pulveriz’d
extremely fine) carried in the Air without Vapour: For the
Atmosphere, consisting of all the Elements, has Earth in it in
considerable Quantity, mix’d with Water; but a very little Earth is
so minutely divided, as to fly therein pure from Water, which is its
Vehicle there for the most Part.

They might as well believe, that _Martins_ and _Swallows_ are nourish’d by the Air, because they live on Flies and Gnats, which they catch therein; this being the same Food, which is found in the Stomach of the Chameleon.

If, as they say, the Earth is of little other Use to Plants, but to keep them fix’d and steady, there would be little or no Difference in the Value of rich and poor Land, dung’d or undung’d; for one would serve to keep Plants fix’d and steady, very near, if not quite as well as the other.

If Water or Air was the Food of Plants, I cannot see what Necessity there should be of Dung or Tillage.

4. _Fire_. No Plant can live without Heat, tho’ different Degrees of it be necessary to different Sorts of Plants. Some are almost able to keep Company with the _Salamander_, and do live in the hottest Exposures of the hot Countries. Others have their Abode with Fishes under Water, in cold Climates: for the Sun has his Influence, tho’ weaker, upon the Earth cover’d with Water, at a considerable Depth; which appears by the Effect the Vicissitudes of Winter and Summer have upon subterraqueous Vegetables.

Tho’ every Heat is said to be a different Degree of Fire; yet we may distinguish the Degrees by their different Effects. Heat warms; but Fire burns: The first helps to cherish, the latter destroys Plants.

5. _Earth_. That which nourishes and augments a Plant is the true Food of it.

Every Plant is Earth, and the Growth and true Increase of a Plant is the Addition of more Earth.

_Nitre_ (or other Salts) prepares the Earth, Water and Air move it, by conveying and fermenting it in the Juices; and this Motion is called Heat.

When this additional Earth is assimilated to the Plant, it becomes an absolute Part of it.

Suppose Water, Air, and Heat, could be taken away, would it not remain to be a Plant, tho’ a dead one?

But suppose the Earth of it taken away, what would then become of the Plant? Mr. _Bradley_ might look long enough after it, before he found it in the Air among his specific or certain Qualities.

Besides, too much _Nitre_ (or other Salts) corrodes a Plant; too much Water drowns it; too much Air dries the Roots of it; too much Heat (or Fire) burns it; but too much Earth a Plant never can have, unless it be therein wholly buried; and in that Case it would be equally misapply’d to the Body, as Air or Nitre would be to the Roots.

Too much Earth, or too fine, can never possibly be given to Roots; for they never receive so much of it as to surfeit the Plants, unless it be depriv’d of Leaves, which, as Lungs, should purify it.

And Earth is so surely the Food of all Plants, that with the proper Share of the other Elements, which each Species of Plants requires, I do not find but that any common Earth will nourish any Plant.

The only Difference of Soil[7] (except the Richness) seems to be the different Heat and Moisture it has; for if those be rightly adjusted, any Soil will nourish any Sort of Plant; for let _Thyme_ and _Rushes_ change Places, and both will die; but let them change their Soil, by removing the Earth wherein the _Thyme_ grew, from the dry Hill down into the watry Bottom, and plant _Rushes_ therein; and carry the moist Earth, wherein the _Rushes_ grew, up to the Hill; and there _Thyme_ will grow in the Earth that was taken from the _Rushes_; and so will the _Rushes_ grow in the Earth that was taken from the _Thyme_; so that ’tis only more or less Water that makes the same Earth fit either for the Growth of _Thyme_ or _Rushes_.

[7] As I have said in my _Essay_, That _a Soil being once proper to a
Species of Vegetables, it will always continue to be so_; it must be
supposed, that there be no Alteration of the _Heat_ and _Moisture_ of
it; and that this Difference I mean, is of its Quality of nourishing
different Species of Vegetables, not of the Quantity of it; which
Quantity may be alter’d by Diminution or Superinduction.

So for Heat; our Earth, when it has in the Stove the just Degree of Heat that each Sort of Plants requires, will maintain Plants brought from both the _Indies_.

Plants differ as much from one another in the Degrees of Heat and Moisture they require, as a Fish differs from a Salamander.

Indeed _Misletoe_, and some other Plants, will not live upon Earth, until it be first alter’d by the Vessels of another Plant or Tree, upon which they grow, and therein are as nice in Food as an Animal.

There is no need to have Recourse to Transmutation; for whether Air or Water, or both, are transform’d into Earth or not, the thing is the same, if it be Earth when the Roots take it; and we are convinced that neither Air nor Water alone, as such, will maintain Plants.

These kind of Metamorphoses may properly enough be consider’d in Dissertations purely concerning Matter, and to discover what the component Particles of Earth are; but not at all necessary to be known, in relation to the maintaining of Vegetables.

CHAP. III.

_Of_ PASTURE _of_ PLANTS.

Cattle feed on Vegetables that grow upon the Earth’s external Surface; but Vegetables themselves first receive, from within the Earth, the Nourishment they give to Animals.

The Pasture of Cattle has been known and understood in all Ages of the World, it being liable to Inspection; but the Pasture of Plants, being out of the Observation of the Senses, is only to be known by Disquisitions of Reason; and has (for ought I can find) pass’d undiscover’d by the Writers of Husbandry[8].

[8] When Writers of Husbandry, in discoursing of Earth and
Vegetation, come nearest to the Thing, that is, the _Pasture_
of _Plants_, they are lost in the Shadow of it, and wander in a
Wilderness of obscure Expressions, such as _Magnetism, Virtue, Power,
Specific Quality, Certain Quality_, and the like; wherein there is no
manner of Light for discovering the real Substance, but we are left
by them more in the Dark to find it, than Roots are when they feed on
it: And when a Man, no less sagacious than Mr. _Evelyn_, has trac’d
it thro’ all the _Mazes_ of the _Occult Qualities_, and even up to
the _Metaphysics_, he declares he cannot determine, whether the Thing
he pursues be _Corporeal_ or _Spiritual_.

The Ignorance of this seems to be one principal Cause, that Agriculture, the most necessary of all Arts, has been treated of by Authors more superficially than any other Art whatever. The Food or _Pabulum_ of Plants being prov’d to be Earth, where and whence[9] they take that, may properly be called their Pasture.

[9] By the _Pasture_ is not meant the _Pabulum_ itself; but the
_Superficies_ from whence the _Pabulum_ is taken by Roots.

This Pasture I shall endeavour to describe.

’Tis the inner or (internal) Superficies[10] of the Earth; or which is the same thing, ’tis the Superficies of the Pores, Cavities, or Interstices of the divided Parts of the Earth, which are of two Sorts, viz. _Natural_ and _Artificial_.

[10] This Pasture of Plants never having been mentioned or described
by any Author that I know of, I am at a loss to find any other Term
to describe it by, that may be synonymous, or equipollent to it:
Therefore, for want of a better, I call it the inner, or internal
Superficies of the Earth, to distinguish it from the outer or
external Superficies, or Surface, whereon we tread.

Inner or internal Superficies may be thought an absurd Expression,
the Adjective expressing something within, and the Substantive
seeming to express only what is without it; and indeed the Sense of
the Expression is so; for the Vegetable Pasture is within the Earth,
but without (or on the Outsides of) the divided Parts of the Earth.

And, besides, Superficies must be joined with the Adjective Inner (or
Internal) when ’tis used to describe the Inside of a thing that is
hollow, as the Pores and Interstices of the Earth are.

The Superficies, which is the Pasture of Plants, is not a bare
Mathematical Superficies; for that is only imaginary.

By Nature, the whole Earth (or Soil) is composed of Parts; and, if these had been in every Place absolutely joined, it would have been without Interstices or Pores, and would have had no internal Superficies, or Pasture for Plants: but since it is not so strictly dense[11], there must be Interstices at all those Places where the Parts remain separate and divided.

[11] For were the Soil as dense as Glass, the Roots or Vegetables
(such as our Earth produces) would never be able to enter its Pores.

These Interstices, by their Number and Largeness, determine the specific Gravity (or true Quantity) of every Soil: The larger they are, the lighter is the Soil; and the inner Superficies is commonly the less.

The Mouths, or Lacteals, being situate, and opening, in the convex Superficies of Roots, they take their _Pabulum_, being fine Particles of Earth, from the Superficies of the Pores, or Cavities, wherein the Roots are included.

And ’tis certain, that the Earth is not divested or robb’d of this _Pabulum_, by any other Means, than by actual Fire, or the Roots of Plants.

For, when no Vegetables are suffer’d to grow in a Soil, it will always grow richer. Plow it, harrow it, as often as you please, expose it to the Sun in Horse-Paths all the Summer, and to the Frost of the Winter; let it be cover’d by Water at the Bottom of Ponds, or Ditches; or if you grind dry Earth to Powder, the longer ’tis kept exposed, or treated by these or any other Method possible (except actual Burning by Fire); instead of losing, it will gain the more Fertility.

These Particles, which are the _Pabulum_ of Plants, are so very minute[12] and light, as not to be singly attracted to the Earth, if separated from those Parts to which they adhere[13], or with which they are in Contact (like Dust to a Looking-Glass, turn it upwards, or downwards, it will remain affixt to it), as these Particles do to those Parts, until from thence remov’d by some Agent.

[12] As to the Fineness of the _Pabulum_ of Plants, ’tis not
unlikely, that Roots may insume no grosser Particles, than those on
which the Colours of Bodies depend; but to discover the greatest
of those Corpuscles, Sir _Isaac Newton_ thinks, it will require a
Microscope, that with sufficient Distinctness can represent Objects
Five or Six hundred times bigger, than at a Foot Distance they appear
to the naked Eye.

My Microscope indeed is but a very ordinary one, and when I view with
it the Liquor newly imbibed by a fibrous Root of a Mint, it seems
more limpid than the clearest common Water, nothing at all appearing
in it.

[13] Either Roots must insume the Earth, that is their _Pabulum_,
as they find it in whole Pieces, having intire Superficies of their
own, or else such Particles as have not intire Superficies of their
own, but want some Part of it, which adheres to, or is Part of the
Superficies of larger Particles, before they are separated by Roots.
The former they cannot insume (unless contained in Water); because
they would fly away at the first Pores that were open: _Ergo_ they
must insume the latter.

A Plant cannot separate these Particles from the Parts to which they adhere, without the Assistance of Water, which helps to loosen them.

And ’tis also probable, that the Nitre of the Air may be necessary to relax this Superficies, to render the prolific Particles capable of being thence disjoin’d; and this Action of the Nitre seems to be what is call’d, Impregnating the Earth.

Since the grosser Vegetable Particles, when they have pass’d thro’ a Plant, together with their moist Vehicle, do fly up into the Air invisibly; ’tis not likely they should, in the Earth, fall off from the Superficies of the Pores, by their own Gravity: And if they did fall off, they might fly away as easily before they enter’d Plants, as they do after they have pass’d thro’ them; and then a Soil might become the poorer[14] for all the Culture and Stirring we bestow upon it; tho’ no Plants were in it; contrary to Experience.

[14] But we see it is always the richer by being frequently turned
and exposed to the Atmosphere: Therefore Plants must take all their
_Pabulum_ from a Superficies of Parts of Earth; except what may
perhaps be contained in Water fine enough to enter Roots intire with
the Water.

It must be own’d, that Water does ever carry, in its Interstices, Particles of Earth fine enough to enter Roots; because I have seen, that a great Quantity of Earth (in my Experiments) will pass out of Roots set in Rain-water; and tis found that Water can never be, by any Art, wholly freed from its earthy Charge; therefore it must have carry’d in some Particles of Earth along with it: But yet I cannot hence conclude, that the Water did first take these fine Particles from the aforesaid Superficies: I rather think, that they are exhal’d, together with very small Pieces to which they adhere, and in the Vapour divided by the Aereal Nitre; and, when the Vapour is condens’d, they descend with it to replenish the Pasture of Plants; and that these do not enter intire into Roots, neither does any other of the earthy Charge that any Water contains; except such fine Particles which have already pass’d thro’ the Vegetable Vessels, and been thence exhal’d.

This Conjecture is the more probable, for that Rain-Water is as nourishing to Plants set therein as Spring-Water, tho’ the latter have more Earth in it; and tho’ Spring-water have some Particles in it that will enter intire into Roots, yet we must consider, that even that Water may have been many times exhal’d into the Air, and may have still retain’d a great Quantity of Vegetable Particles, which it received from Vegetable Exhalations in the Atmosphere; tho’ not so great a Quantity as Rain-water, that comes immediately thence.

These, I have to do with, are the Particles which Plants have from the Earth, or Soil; but they have also fine Particles of Earth from Water, which may impart some of its finest Charge to the Superficies of Roots, as well as to the Superficies of the Parts of the Earth[15] which makes the Pasture of Plants.

[15] If Water does separate, and take any of the mere _Pabulum_ of
Plants from the Soil, it gives much more to it.

Yet it seems, that much of the Earth, contain’d in the clearest Water, is there in too large Parts to enter a Root; since we see, that in a short time the Root’s Superficies will, in the purest Water, be cover’d with Earth, which is then form’d into a terrene Pasture, which may nourish Roots; but very few Plants will live long in so thin a Pasture, as any Water affords them. I cannot find one as yet that has liv’d a Year, without some Earth have been added to it.

And all Aquatics, that I know, have their Roots in the Earth, tho’ cover’d with Water.

The Pores, Cavities, or Interstices of the Earth, being of two Sorts, _viz._ _Natural_ and _Artificial_; the one affords the Natural, the other the Artificial Pasture of Plants.

The natural Pasture alone will suffice, to furnish a Country with Vegetables, for the Maintenance of a few Inhabitants; but if Agriculture were taken out of the World, ’tis much to be fear’d, that those of all populous Countries, especially towards the Confines of the frigid Zones (for there the Trees often fail of producing Fruit), would be oblig’d to turn _Anthropophagi_, as in many uncultivated Regions they do, very probably for that Reason.

The artificial Pasture of Plants is that inner Superficies which is made from dividing the Soil by Art.

This does, on all Parts of the Globe, where used, maintain many more People than the natural Pasture[16]; and in the colder Climates, I believe, it will not be extravagant to say, ten times as many: Or that, in Case Agriculture were a little improved (as I hope to shew is not difficult to be done), it might maintain twice as many more yet, or the same Number, better.

[16] The extraordinary Increase of St. Foin, Clover, and natural
Grass, when their Roots reach into pulveriz’d Earth, exceeding the
Increase of all those other Plants of the same Species (that stand
out of the Reach of it) above One hundred Times, shew how vastly the
artificial Pasture of Plants exceeds the natural. A full Proof of
this Difference, (besides very many I have had before) was seen by
two Intervals in the middle of a poor Field of worn-out St. Foin,
pulveriz’d in the precedent Summer, in the manner describ’d in a
Note on the latter Part of Chap. XII. relating to _St. Foin_. Here
not only the _St. Foin_ adjoining to these Intervals recover’d its
Strength, blossom’d, and seeded well, but also the natural Grass
amongst it was as strong, and had as flourishing a Colour, as if
a Dung-heap had been laid in the Intervals; also many other Weeds
came out from the Edges of the unplow’d Ground, which must have lain
dormant a great many Years, grew higher and larger than ever were
seen before in that Field; but above all, there was a Weed amongst
the St. _Foin_, which generally accompanies it, bearing a white
Flower; some call it _White Weed_, others _Lady’s Bedstraw_: Some
Plants of this that stood near the Intervals, were, in the Opinion of
all that saw them, increased to a thousand Times the Bulk of those
of the same Species, that stood in the Field three Feet distant from
such pulveriz’d Earth.

_Note_, These Intervals were each an Hundred Perch long, and had
each in them a treble Row of Barley very good. The Reason I take
to be this, That the Land had lain still several Years after its
artificial Pasture was lost; whereby all the Plants in it having only
the natural Pasture to subsist on, became so extremely _small_ and
_weak_, that they were not able to exhaust the Land of so great a
Quantity of the (vegetable) nourishing Particles as the Atmosphere
brought down to it.

And when by Pulveration the artificial Pasture came to be added
to this natural Pasture (not much exhausted), and nothing at all
suffered to grow out of it for above Three Quarters of a Year, it
became rich enough, without any Manure, to produce this extraordinary
Effect upon the Vegetables, whose Roots reached into it. How long
this Effect may continue, is uncertain: but I may venture to say, it
will continue until the Exhaustion by Vegetables doth over-balance
the Descent of the Atmosphere, and the Pulveration.

And what I have said of any one Species of Plants in this Respect may
be generally apply’d to the rest.

The natural Pasture is not only less than the artificial, in an equal Quantity of Earth; but also, that little consisting in the Superficies of Pores, or Cavities, not having a free Communication[17] with one another, being less pervious to the Roots of all Vegetables, and requiring a greater Force to break thro’ their Partitions; by that Means, Roots, especially of weak Plants, are excluded from many of those Cavities, and so lose the Benefit of them.

[17] None of the natural Vegetable Pasture is lost or injured by the
artificial; but on the contrary, ’tis mended by being mix’d with it,
and by having a greater Communication betwixt Pore and Pore.

But the artificial Pasture consists in Superficies of Cavities, that are pervious to all Manner of Roots, and that afford them free Passage and Entertainment in and thro’ all their Recesses. Roots may here extend to the utmost, without meeting with any Barricadoes in their Way.

The internal Superficies, which is the natural Pasture of Plants, is like the external Superficies or Surface of the Earth, whereon is the Pasture of Cattle; in that it cannot be inlarg’d without Addition of more Surface taken from Land adjoining to it, by inlarging its Bounds or Limits.

But the artificial Pasture of Plants may be inlarg’d, without any Addition of more Land, or inlarging of Bounds, and this by Division only of the same Earth.

And this artificial Pasture may be increas’d in proportion to the Division of the Parts of Earth, whereof it is the Superficies, which Division may be mathematically infinite; for an Atom is nothing; neither is there a more plain Impossibility in Nature, than to reduce Matter to nothing, by Division or Separation of its Parts.

A Cube of Earth of One Foot has but Six Feet of Superficies. Divide this Cube into Cubical Inches, and then its Superficies will be increas’d Twelve times, _viz._ to Seventy-two Superficial Feet. Divide these again in like Manner and Proportion; that is, Divide them into Parts that bear the same Proportion to the Inches, as the Inches do to the Feet, and then the same Earth, which had at first no more than Six Superficial Feet, will have Eight hundred Sixty-four Superficial Feet of artificial Pasture; and so is the Soil divisible, and this Pasture increasable _ad Infinitum_.

The common Methods of dividing the Soil are these; _viz._ by _Dung_, by _Tillage_, or by both[18].

[18] For _Vis Unita Fortior_.

CHAP. IV.

_Of DUNG._

ALL Sorts of Dung and Compost contain some Matter, which, when mixt with the Soil, ferments therein; and by such Ferment dissolves, crumbles, and divides the Earth very much: This is the chief, and almost only Use of Dung: For, as to the pure earthy Part, the Quantity is so very small, that, after a perfect Putrefaction, it appears to bear a most inconsiderable Proportion to the Soil it is design’d to manure: and therefore, in that respect, is next to nothing.

Its fermenting Quality is chiefly owing to the Salts wherewith it abounds; but a very little of this Salt applied alone to a few Roots of almost any Plant, will (as, in my Mint Experiments, it is evident common Salt does) kill it.

This proves, that its Use is not to nourish, but to dissolve; _i. e._ Divide the terrestrial Matter, which affords Nutriment to the Mouths of Vegetable Roots.

It is, I suppose, upon the Account of the acrimonious fiery Nature of these Salts, that the Florists have banish’d Dung from their Flower-Gardens.

And there is, I’m sure, much more Reason to prohibit the Use of Dung in the Kitchen-Garden, on Account of the ill Taste it gives to esculent Roots and Plants, especially such Dung as is made in great Towns.

’Tis a Wonder how delicate Palates can dispense with eating their own and their Beasts Ordure, but a little more putrefied and evaporated; together with all Sorts of Filth and Nastiness, a Tincture of which those Roots must unavoidably receive, that grow amongst it.

Indeed I do not admire, that learned Palates, accustom’d to the _Goût_ of _Silphium_, _Garlick_, _la Chair venee_, and mortify’d Venison, equalling the Stench and Rankness of this Sort of City-Muck, should relish and approve of Plants that are fed and fatted by its immediate Contact.

People who are so vulgarly nice, as to nauseate these modish Dainties, and whose squeamish Stomachs even abhor to receive the Food of Nobles, so little different from that wherewith they regale their richest Gardens, say that even the very Water, wherein a rich Garden Cabbage is boil’d, stinks; but that the Water, wherein a Cabbage from a poor undung’d Field is boil’d, has no Manner of unpleasant Savour; and that a Carrot, bred in a Dunghill, has none of that sweet Relish, which a Field-Carrot affords.

There is a like Difference in all Roots, nourish’d with such different Diet.

Dung not only spoils the fine Flavour of these our Eatables, but inquinates good Liquor. The dung’d Vineyards in _Languedoc_ produce nauseous Wine; from whence there is a Proverb in that Country, That poor People’s Wine is best, because they carry no Dung to their Vineyards.

Dung is observ’d to give great Encouragement to the Production of Worms; and Carrots in the Garden are much worm-eaten, when those in the Field are free from Worms.

Dung is the Putrefaction of Earth, after it has been alter’d by Vegetable or Animal Vessels. But if Dung be thoroughly ventilated and putrefy’d before it be spread on the Field (as I think all the Authors I have read direct) so much of its Salts will be spent in fermenting the Dung itself, that little of them will remain to ferment the Soil; and the Farmer who might dung One Acre in Twenty, by laying on his Dung whilst fully replete with vigorous Salts, may (if he follows these Writers Advice to a Nicety) be forced to content himself with dunging one Acre in an Hundred.

This indeed is good Advice for Gardeners, for making their Stuff more palatable and wholesome; but would ruin the Farmer who could have no more Dung than what he could make upon his Arable Farm.

For every Sort of Dung, the longer Time it ferments without the Ground, the lesser Time it has to ferment in it, and the weaker its Ferment will be.

The Reason given for this great Diminution of Dung is, that the Seeds of Weeds may be rotted, and lose their vegetating Faculty; but this I am certain of by Demonstration, that let a Dunghil remain Three Years unmov’d, though its Bulk be vastly diminish’d in that Time, and its best Quality lost, Charlock-seed will remain found in it, and stock the Land whereon it is laid: For that Ferment which is sufficient to consume the Virtue of the stercoreous Salts, is not sufficient to destroy the vegative Virtue of Charlock-seeds, nor (I believe) of many other Sorts of Weeds.

The very Effluvia of animal Bodies, sent off by Perspiration, are so noxious as to kill the Animal that emits them, if confin’d to receive them back in great Quantity, by breathing in an Air replete with them; which appears from the soon dying of an Animal shut up in a Receiver full of Air. Yet this seems to be the most harmless of all sorts of animal Excrements the Air can be infected with. How noxious then must be the more fetid Steams of Ordure!

If a Catalogue were publish’d of all Instances from Charnel-houses (or Cœmeteries) and of the pestiferous Effects, which have happen’d from the Putrefaction of dead Bodies, after great Battles, even in the open Air, no body, I believe, would have a good Opinion of the Wholsomeness of Animal Dung; for if a great Quantity do so infect the Air, ’tis likely a less may infect it in proportion to that less Quantity.

In great Cities the Air is full of these Effluvia, which in hot Climes often produce the Pestilence; and in cold Climes People are generally observ’d to live a less time, and less healthfully, in Cities, than in the Country; to which Difference, ’tis likely, that the eating unwholsome Gardenage may contribute.

This Dung is a fitter Food for venomous Creatures[19] than for edible Plants; and ’tis (no doubt) upon Account of this, that dung’d Gardens are so much frequented by Toads, which are seldom or never seen in the open undung’d Fields.

[19] Mr. _Evelyn_ says, that Dung is the Nurse of Vermin.

What can we say then to the Salubrity of those Roots themselves, bred up and fatten’d among these Toads and Corruption? The Leaves indeed are only discharging some of the Filth, when we eat them; but the Roots have that unsavoury infected Food in their very Mouths, when we take them for our Nourishment.

But tho’ _Dung_ be, upon these and other Accounts, injurious to the Garden, yet a considerable Quantity of it is so necessary to most Corn-fields, that without it little Good can be done by the old Husbandry.

_Dung_ is not injurious to the Fields[20] being there in less Proportion: And the Produce of Corn is the Grain. When the Leaves have done their utmost to purify the Sap, the most refin’d Part is secern’d to be yet further elaborated by peculiar Organs; then, by the Vessels of the Blossoms, ’tis become double-refin’d, for the Nourishment of the Grain; which is therefore more pure from Dung, and more wholsome, than any other Part of the Plant that bears it.

[20] Such Plants as _Cabbages_, _Turneps_, _Carrots_, and _Potatoes_,
when they are designed only for fatting of Cattle, will not be
injured by Dung, Tillage, and Hoeing all together, which will make
the Crops the greater, and the Cattle will like them never the worse.

And common Tillage alone is not sufficient for many Sorts of Corn, especially Wheat, which is the King of Grains.

Very few Fields can have the Conveniency of a sufficient Supply of Dung, to enable them to produce half the Wheat those will do near Cities, where they have Plenty of it.

The Crop of 20 Acres will scarce make Dung sufficient for one Acre, in the common Way of laying it on.

The Action of the Dung’s Ferment affords a Warmth[21] to the Infant-plants, in their most tender State, and the most rigorous Season.

[21] But though Dung in fermenting may have a little Warmth, yet
it may sometimes, by letting more Water enter its Hollowness, be
in a Frost much colder than undung’d pulverized Earth; for I have
seen Wheat-plants in the Winter die in the very Spits of Dung, when
undung’d drill’d Wheat, adjoining to it, planted at the same Time,
has flourish’d all the same Winter; and I could, not find any other
Reason for this, but the Hollowness of the Dung; and yet it seemed to
be well rotted.

But ’tis hard to know how long the Warmth of this Ferment lasteth, by reason of the great Difficulty to distinguish the very least Degree of Heat from the very least Degree of Cold.

Under the Name of Dung we may also understand whatever ferments with the Earth (except Fire); such as green Vegetables cover’d in the Ground, _&c._

As to the Difference of the Quantity of artificial Pasture made by _Dung_ without Tillage, and that made by Tillage without _Dung_; the latter is many Times greater, of which I had the following Proof. An unplow’d Land, wherein a Dunghil had lain for two or three Years, and being taken away, was planted with _Turneps_; at the same time a till’d Land, contiguous thereto, was drill’d with _Turneps_, and Horse-ho’d; the other, being Hand-ho’d, prospered best at the first; but at last did not amount to the Fifth Part of the Till’d and Horse-ho’d, in Bigness, nor in Crop. The Benefit of the Dung and Hand-hoe was so inconsiderable, in comparison of the Plough and Hoe-plough; the little Quantity of artificial Pasture raised to the other, was only near the Surface, and did not reach deep enough to maintain the _Turneps_, till they arrived at the Fifth Part of the Growth of those, whose artificial Pasture reach’d to the Bottom of the Staple of the Land.

A like Proof is; that several Lands of _Turneps_, drill’d on the Level, at three Foot Rows, plow’d, and doubly dung’d, and also Horse-ho’d, did not produce near so good a Crop of _Turneps_, as Six Foot Ridges adjoining, Horse-ho’d, tho’ no Dung had been laid thereon for many Years: There was no other Difference, than that the three Foot Rows did not admit the Hoe-plough to raise half the artificial Pasture, as the Six Foot Rows did. The Dung plow’d into the narrow Intervals, before drilling, could operate no further, with any great Effect, than the Hoe-plough could turn it up, and help in its Pulveration.

_Dung_, without Tillage, can do very little; with some Tillage doth something; with much Tillage pulverizes the Soil in less Time, than Tillage alone can do; but the Tillage alone, with more Time, can pulverize as well: This the Experiments of _artificially_ pulverizing of the poorest Land, as they are related by Mr. _Evelyn_, fully prove.

And these Experiments are the more to be depended on, as they are made both in _England_ and _Holland_ by Persons of known Integrity.

This Truth is also further confirmed by those Authors who have found, that High-way Dust alone is a Manure preferable to Dung: And all these Pulverations being made by Attrition or Contusion, why should not our Instruments of Pulveration, in Time, reduce a sufficient Part of the Staple of a dry friable Soil, to a Dust equal to that of a Highway?

The common Proportion of Dung used in the Field pulverizes only a small Part of the Staple: but how long a time may be required for our Instruments to pulverize an equal Part, it depending much upon the Weather, and the Degree of Friability of the Soil, is uncertain.

I have seen surprising Effects from Ground, after being kept unexhausted, by plowing with common Ploughs for Two whole Years running: And I am confident, that the Expence of this extraordinary Tillage and Fallow will not, in many Places, amount to above half the Expence of a dressing with Dung; and if the Land be all the Time kept in our Sort of little Ridges of the Size most proper for that Purpose, the Expence of plowing will be diminished one half; besides the Advantage the Earth of such Ridges hath, of being friable in Weather which is too moist for plowing the same Land on the Level.

I have made many Trials of fine _Dung_ on the Rows; and, notwithstanding the Benefit of it, I have, for these several Years last past, left it off, finding that a little more Hoeing will supply it at a much less Expence, than that of so small a Quantity of Manure, and of the Hands necessary to lay it on, and of the Carriage.

CHAP. V.

_Of_ TILLAGE.

Tillage is breaking and dividing the Ground by Spade, Plough, Hoe, or other Instruments, which divide by a Sort of Attrition (or Contusion) as Dung does by Fermentation[22].

[22] _Neque enim aliud est Colere quam Resolvere, & Fermentare
Terram._ Columella.

And since the artificial Pasture of Plants is made and increas’d by
Pulveration, ’tis no Matter whether it be by the Ferment of _Dung_,
the Attrition of the _Plough_, the Contusion of the _Roller_, or
by any other Instrument or Means whatsoever, except by Fire, which
carries away all the Cement of that which is burnt.

By Dung we are limited to the Quantity of it we can procure, which in most Places is too scanty: But by Tillage, we can inlarge our Field of subterranean Pasture without Limitation, tho’ the external Surface of it be confin’d within narrow Bounds: Tillage may extend the Earth’s internal Superficies, in proportion to the Division of its Parts; and as Division is infinite, so may that Superficies be.

Every Time the Earth is broken by any Sort of Tillage, or Division, there must arise some new Superficies of the broken Parts, which never has been open before. For when the Parts of Earth are once united and incorporated together, ’tis morally impossible, that they, or any of them, should be broken again, only in the same Places; for to do that, such Parts must have again the same numerical Figures and Dimensions they had before such Breaking, which even by an infinite Division could never be likely to happen: As the Letters of a Distichon, cut out and mixt, if they should be thrown up never so often, would never be likely to fall into the same Order and Position with one another, so as to recompose the same Distich.

Although the internal Superficies may have been drain’d by a preceding Crop, and the next Plowing may move many of the before divided Parts, without new-breaking them; yet such as are new-broken, have, at such Places where they are so broken, a new Superficies, which never was, or did exist before; because we cannot reasonably suppose, that any of those Parts can have in all places (if in any Places) the same Figure and Dimensions twice.

For as Matter is divisible _ad infinitum_, the Places or Lines whereat ’tis so divisible, must be, in relation to Number, infinite, that is to say, without Number; and must have at every Division Superficies of Parts of infinite Variety[23] in Figure and Dimensions.

[23] Their Variety is such, that ’tis next to impossible, any two
Pieces, or Clods, in a Thousand Acres of till’d Ground, should have
the same Figure, and equal Dimensions, or that any Piece should
exactly tally with any other, except with that from whence it was
broken off.

And because ’tis morally impossible, the same Figure and Dimensions should happen twice to any one Part, we need not wonder, how the Earth, every time of Tilling, should afford a new internal Superficies (or artificial Pasture); and that the till’d Soil has in it an inexhaustible Fund, which by a sufficient Division (being capable of an infinite one) may be produc’d.

Tillage (as well as Dung) is beneficial to all Sorts of Land[24]. Light Land, being naturally hollow, has larger Pores, which are the Cause of its Lightness: This, when it is by any Means sufficiently divided, the Parts being brought nearer together, becomes, for a time, Bulk for Bulk, heavier; _i. e._ The same Quantity will be contain’d in less Room, and so is made to partake of the Nature and Benefits of strong Land, _viz._ to keep out too much Heat and Cold, and the like.

[24] ’Tis of late fully prov’d, by the Experience of many Farmers,
that two or three additional Plowings will supply the Place of Dung,
even in the old Husbandry, if they be perform’d at proper Seasons:
and the hiring Price of three Plowings, after Land has been thrice
plow’d before, is but Twelve Shillings, whereas a Dunging will cost
three Pounds: This was accidentally discovered in my Neighbourhood,
by the Practice of a poor Farmer, who, when he had prepared his Land
for Barley, and could not procure Seed to sow it, plow’d it on till
Wheat Seed-Time, and (by means of such additional Plowing) without
Dung, had so good a Crop of Wheat, that it was judg’d to be more than
the Inheritance of the Land it grew on.

The same Effect follows when they prepare Land for Turneps, since
they are come in Fashion, and sow them several Times upon several
Plowings, the Fly as often taking them off; they have from such
extraordinary Tillage a good Crop of Wheat, instead of the lost
Turneps, without the Help of Dung; hence double-plowing is now become
frequent in this Country.

The Reason why Land is enrich’d by lying long unplow’d, is that so
very few Vegetables are carried off it, very little being produc’d;
the Exhaustion is less than what is added by the Atmosphere, Cattle,
_&c._ But when ’tis plow’d, a vastly greater Quantity of Vegetables
is produc’d, and carried off, more than by the old Husbandry is
return’d to it.

But strong Land, being naturally less porous, is made for a Time lighter (as well as richer) by a good Division; the Separation of its Parts makes it more porous, and causes it to take up more Room than it does in its natural State; and then it partakes of all the Benefits of lighter Land.

When strong Land is plow’d, and not sufficiently, so that the Parts remain gross, ’tis said to be rough, and it has not the Benefit of Tillage; because most of the artificial Pores (or Interstices) are too large; and then it partakes of the Inconveniences of the hollow Land untill’d.

For when the light Land is plow’d but once, that is not sufficient to diminish its natural Hollowness (or Pores;) and, for Want of more Tillage, the Parts into which ’tis divided by that once (or perhaps twice) Plowing, remain too large; and consequently the artificial Pores are large also, and, in that respect, are like the ill-till’d strong Land.

Light-land, having naturally less internal Superficies, seems to require the more Tillage[25] or Dung to enrich it; as when the poor, hollow, thin Downs have their upper Part (which is the best) burnt, whereby all, (except a _Caput Mortuum_) is carried away; yet the Salts of this spread upon that barren Part of the Staple, which is unburnt, divide it into so very minute Particles, that their Pasture will nourish two or three good Crops of Corn: But then the Plough, even with a considerable Quantity of Dung, is never able afterwards to make a Division equal to what those Salts have done; and therefore such burnt Land remains barren.

[25] As for puffy Land, which naturally swells up, instead of
subsiding, tho’ its Hollowness is much abated by Tillage, yet it is
thought little better than barren Land, and unprofitable for Corn:
But what we usually call Light-land, is only comparatively so, in
Respect of that which is heavier and stronger. And this Sort of Light
land becomes much lighter by being ill-till’d; the unbroken Pieces
of Turf underneath undissolved, forming large Cavities, increase
its Hollowness, and consequently its Lightness: I have often known
this Sort of Land despis’d by its Owners, who fear’d to give it due
Tillage, which they thought would make it so light, that the Wind
would blow it away; but whenever such has been thoroughly till’d, it
never fail’d to become much stronger than before; and considering
that ’tis till’d with less Expence than very strong Land, it is,
for several Sorts of Corn, found to be more profitable than Land of
greater Strength and Richness, that is more difficult to be till’d.

And I am apt to think, that this Sort of Light-land acquires more
Cement, by having its _external_ Superficies often changed, and
exposed to the Dews, and other Benefits of the Atmosphere, as well as
by the Increase of (its _internal_ Superficies, which is the Surfaces
of all the divided Parts of Earth, or) the Pasture of Plants; the one
being augmented by the other; _i. e._, that into the more Parts the
Earth is broken, the more Cement will it attain, from the Sulphur,
which is brought by the Dews.

Artificial Pores cannot be too small, because Roots may the more easily enter the Soil that has them, quite contrary to natural Pores; for these may be, and generally are, too small, and too hard for the Entrance of all weak Roots, and for the free Entrance of strong Roots.

Insufficient Tillage leaves strong Land with its natural Pores too small, and its artificial ones too large. It leaves Light-land, with its natural and artificial Pores both too large.

Pores that are too small in hard Ground, will not easily permit Roots to enter them.

Pores that are too large in any Sort of Land, can be of little other Use to Roots, but only to give them Passage to other Cavities more proper for them; and if in any Place they lie open to the Air, they are dry’d up, and spoil’d, before they reach them.

For fibrous Roots (which alone maintain the Plant; the other Roots serve for receiving the Chyle from them, and convey it to the Stem) can take in no Nourishment from any Cavity, unless they come into Contact with[26], and press against, all the Superficies of that Cavity, which includes them; for it dispenses the Food to their Lacteals by such Pressure only: But a fibrous Root is not so press’d by the Superficies of a Cavity whose Diameter is greater than that of the Root.

[26] Roots cannot have any Nourishment from Cavities of the Earth
that are too large to press against them, except what Water, when
’tis in great Quantity, brings to them, which is imbibed by the
gentle Pressure of the Water; but when the Water is gone, those large
Cavities being empty, the Pressure ceases; and this is the Reason,
that when Land has few other but such large Cavities, the Plants in
it always suffer more by dry Weather, than in Land which by Dung or
Tillage has more minute and fewer large Cavities.

There may be some Moisture on the Superficies of large Cavities; but
without Pressure the fibrous Roots cannot reach it; and very little
or no Pressure can be made to one Part of the Root’s Superficies,
unless the Whole that is included be pressed.

If it be objected that a Charlock-Plant, when pulled up, and thrown
upon the Ground, will grow thereon; this proves nothing against the
Necessity of Pressure, _&c._ for the Weight of that Plant presses
some of its Roots so closely against the Ground, that they send out
(unless the Weather be very dry) new Fibres into the Earth; and there
they are pressed in all their Superficies; without which Fibres the
Plant doth not grow.

The Surfaces of great Clods form Declivities on every Side of them, and large Cavities, which are as Sinks to convey, what Rain and Dew bring, too quickly downwards to below the plow’d Part.

The first and second Plowings with common Ploughs scarce deserve the Name of Tillage; they rather serve to prepare the Land for Tillage.

The third, fourth, and every subsequent Plowing, may be of more Benefit, and less Expence, than any of the preceding ones.

But the last Plowings will be more advantageously perform’d by Way of Hoeing, as in the following Chapters will appear.

For the finer Land is made by Tillage, the richer will it become, and the more Plants it will maintain.

It has been often observ’d, that when Part of a Ground has been better till’d than the rest, and the whole Ground constantly manag’d alike afterwards for six or seven Years successively; this Part that was but once better till’d, always produc’d a better Crop than the rest, and the Difference remain’d very visible every Harvest.

One Part being once made finer, the Dews did more enrich it; for they penetrate within and beyond the Superficies, whereto the Roots are able to enter: The fine Parts of the Earth are impregnate, throughout their whole Substance, with some of the Riches carried in by the Dews, and there reposited; until, by new Tillage, the Insides of those fine Parts become Superficies; and as the Corn drains them, they are again supply’d as before; but the rough large Parts cannot have that Benefit; the Dews not penetrating to their Centres, they remain poorer.

I think nothing can be said more strongly to confirm the Truth of this, than what is related by the Authors quoted by Mr. _Evelyn_[27], to this Effect, _viz._

[27] In Pag. 17, 18, and 19, of his _Phil. Discourse of Earth_.

‘Take of the most barren Earth you can find, pulverize it well, and expose it abroad for a Year, incessantly agitated[28]; it will become so fertile as to receive an exotic Plant from the furthest _Indies_; and to cause all Vegetables to prosper in the most exalted Degree, and to bear their Fruit as kindly with us as in their natural Climates.’

[28] _i. e._ Stirr’d often.

This artificial Dust[29], he says, will entertain Plants which refuse Dung, and other violent Applications; and that it has a more nutritive Power than any artificial Dungs or Compost whatsoever: And further, that by this Toil of pulverizing, “’tis found, that Soil may be so strangely alter’d from its former Nature, as to render the harm and most uncivil Clay[30] obsequious to the Husbandmen, and to bring forth Roots and Plants, which otherwise require the lighted and hollowest Mould[31].”

[29] Tho’ it may be impossible for the Plough to reduce the whole
Staple into so fine Powder, yet the more internal Superficies it
makes, the more Dust will be made by the Atmosphere in Proportion;
and great Clods perhaps are of no Use to Plants, but by that Dust
they let fall, being thence extricated by the insensible Ferment
of the nitrous Air; and the Surfaces of this artificial Dust must
receive such Operations from the Air, before the utmost Fertility be
obtain’d.

[30] But I take harsh uncivil Clay to be the least profitable of any
to keep in Tillage.

[31] To this Dust, _Namque hoc imitamur arando_ ought to be apply’d,
and not to _Putre Solum_, which itself needs Tillage, as well as
strong Land: But it seems the Antients did not observe the Difference
between natural Pores (or Hollowness) and artificial ones, tho’ it is
very great; as is shewn in Chap. of _Pasture of Plants_: ’Tis easier
indeed to imitate this artificial Dust in _hollow_ than in _strong_
Land.

’Tis to be suppos’d, that the _Indian_ Plants had their due Degrees of Heat and Moisture given them; and I should not chuse to bestow this Toil upon the poorest of Earth in a Field or Garden, tho’ that be the most sure wherein to make the Experiment[32].