Note 122 — CHAP. IX. Of Wheat.
Reading edition
’Tis an errant Mistake of the Vulgar, when they imagine that the immediate Benefit of fresh Earth to Plants is from that Part which remains uppermost; for ’tis from turning the impregnated pulverized Side downwards, to be fed on by the Roots, that gives the Pabulum or Nourishment of the fresh Earth to Plants: The other Side, being turned upwards, becomes impregnate also in a little time.
[123]But note, that when we see Weeds coming up near the Row in the Spring, we plow again from the Rows (and sometimes can plow within one Inch of the Row) before we turn down the Mould from the Middle of the Interval.
[124]If at the next Hoeing we turn another Furrow towards the Row (which is seldom done), then ’tis the next that moves the remaining Earth, left in the Middle of the Interval: But if the next Hoeing be from the Row (as it generally is), then that covers the Middle of the Interval; and then ’tis the next Hoeing after that, that turns all the Earth clean out of the Middle of the Interval toward the Rows.