FALLO ING, in agriculture, the practice of preparing lands by repeated ploughing, harrowing, &c. so as to render them fit for the growth of grain. Though by the frequent turning of land, and exposing new surfaces of the soil to the operation and influence of the atmos phere, various changes are effected in the earthy particles, yet one great purpose in fallowing is, to destroy more effectually the weeds, which, in consequence of pre vious mismanagement, and of over-crop ping, have increased to such a degree as to render cultivation for grain no longer profitable. Land being allowed to rest for a season from yielding a crop, and be ing repeatedly ploughed, the soil expos ed to the influence of the different sea sons, and at the same time completely pulverized, its fertility is again somewhat restored, so that, by the application of a smaller portion of manure than would be otherwise necessary, it is rendered fit for again producing valuable crops of grain or grass. It is universally acknow ledged, that all soils, even those naturally the most fertile, are capable of being rendered unproductive by constant and severe cropping, and that the more im proper the modes of cropping are, the sooner, and the more certainly, will a com parative barrenness ensue. Hence the propriety of fallowing, where imperfect modes of culture are adopted. Fallowing, in what may be called the infancy of im provements in agriculture, is also essen tially necessary. If land be greatly ex hausted, no matter by what sort of pre vious mismanagement, fallowing is the most expeditious, the most effectual, and, every thing considered, the least expen sive method that can be adopted, for re storing its fertility, and rendering it pro ductive. It is the most expeditious, be cause it is completely done in the course of one season ; whereas several years of culture, and a great additional quantity of manure, would be requisite, were any other less effectual mode of tillage adopt ed. It is the most effectual, because the
farmer has it in his power to destroy every weed, to turn over and expose the soil to the influence of the weather in the differ ent seasons, and also to level and straight en the ridges, drain the land, and remove every obstruction to the introduction of better modes of husbandry, none of which could be so conveniently or effectually performed between the harvest of one year and the seed time of the next. Fal lowing is also the least expensive method by which the fertility of land greatly ex hausted can be restored, and the only one that can be adopted with a certainty of success, for the removal of every obsta cle to the introduction of more perfect agriculture. Manure operates more pow erfully, when applied to a field that has he en properly summer-fallowed, than when laid on one that has been long under an improper course of cropping. The re turns, after fallowing, will be to a certainty greater ; and therefore, although the ac tual expense of fallowing is considerable, yet the crop that succeeds is so much greater as to counterbalance that ex pense, while those that follow, if pro perly adapted to the soil, will yield the farmer a proper compensation for his extra trouble and expense. Such is the opinion of Mr. Donaldson, to which Mr. A. Young does not assent ; he thinks every advantage is to be obtained by judicious cropping. See AGRICULTURE.