[contracted form of EDDISH.]
a. 1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 85. Eat etch er ye plow, with hog, sheepe and cow.
1669. [see EDDISH 2].
b. 1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Corn, Let the Dung be laid upon the Etch, and sow it with Barley.
1795. Scots Mag., LVII. 817/1. We observe wheat sowing after wheat, and likewise upon weak barley and oat etches.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., II. 209. Left foul after a crop of white grain … the stubble or etch is shallow ploughed.
2. attrib., as etch-crop (see quots.).
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 36 (J.). When they sow their etch Crops, they sprinkle a pound or two of Clover on an Acre.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Corn, The next Crop, which they call the Etch-crop, [they sow it] with Oats, Beans, Pease, &c.
1806–7. A. Young, Agric. Essex (1813), I. 206. Every where you hear a condemnation of all etch or after crops, such as clover, pease, beans, tares, or oat.
