[247] And they have oftener less than Sixteen Bushels; and in the Harvest 1735, a substantial experienced Farmer had no more than Four Bushels of Wheat to an Acre throughout a Field of Forty Acres, being robbed by Poppies; and I have known a Crop that has amounted to do more than Two Bushels to an Acre, and some Crops less, tho’ dunged and fallowed; so that, taking the common sown Crops of Wheat one with another, they are thought not to amount to Sixteen Bushels to an Acre, _communibus annis_. They are obliged to sow this great Quantity of Seed, to the end that the Wheat, by the great Number of Plants, may be the better able to contend with the Weeds; and yet, too often, at Harvest, we see a great Crop of Weeds, and very little Wheat among them. Therefore this Pasture, being insufficient to maintain the present Crop, without starving the greatest Part of its Plants, is likely to be less able to maintain a subsequent Crop, than that Pasture which is not so much exhausted. When their Crop of Wheat is much less than ours, their Vacancies, if computed all together, may be greater than those of our Partitions and Intervals; theirs, by being irregular, serve chiefly for the Protection of Weeds; for they cannot be plow’d out, without destroying the Corn, any more than Cannons firing at a Breach, whereon both Sides are contending, can kill Enemies, and not Friends. Their Plants stand on the Ground in a confused manner, like a Rabble; ours like a disciplin’d Army: We make the most of our Ground; for we can, if we please, cleanse the Partitions with a Hand-hoe[248]; and for the rest, if the Soil be deep enough to be drill’d on the Level[249], in treble Rows, the Partitions at Six Inches[250], the Intervals Five Feet; Five Parts in Six of the whole Field may be pulveriz’d every Year, and at proper times all round the Year. [248] Of all annual Weeds. [249] This is only put as a Supposition; for I have for these several Years left off drilling on the Level, and do advise against it; because altho’ Mould should not be wanting for the Partitions in deep rich Land, yet it is much more difficult to hoe on the Level than on Ridges. [250] But when it is drilled upon Ridges, the Proportion is less, by how much the Partitions, being thicker in Mould, contain more than a Sixth-part of the whole Six Feet of Earth, and the Proportion of unexhausted Earth will be alter’d likewise; and I only mention these Distances to avoid Fractions.