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. [119] Frost, if it does not kill the Wheat, is of great Benefit to it; Water or Moisture, when it is frozen in the Earth, takes up more Room than in its natural State; this Swelling of the Ice (which is Water congealed) must move and break the Earth wherewith it is mixt; and when it thaws, the Earth is left hollow and open, which is a kind of Hoeing to it. This Benefit is done chiefly to and near the Surface; consequently the more Surface there is, by the Unevenness of the Land, the more Advantage the Soil has from the Frost.