No. 63.] 317 



ing, became of much service; or to add that I at least attempted to 

 pursue a better course. In marking out that course, I had special re- 

 ierence to these four cardinal principles — all of which it was intend- 

 ed to embrace: System^ method^ order and eco7iomy. How far I suc- 

 ceeded is not for me to say. To reduce therefore the whole routine 

 of my farm management and farming operations to one uniform sys- 

 tem, in which the several parts should be adjusted according to a gi- 

 ven rule, was my first design. This rule, or the principles of econo- 

 my adopted as such, was that which allows the greatest amount of 

 immediate profit from the least expenditure of means — at the same 

 time securing the moderate, but certain and constantly progressive 

 improvement of the soil. In the application of this principle, refer- 

 ence must of course be had to various relative circumstances, such as 

 the natural quality, previous management, and present condition of 

 the soil; the available means likely to be at command in carrying the 

 system into effect; the proximity and peculiarities of the market, and 

 the necessity which may or may not exist, for the appropriation of 

 the nett proceeds to the liqui<lation of debts, or to other foreign pur- 

 poses, &c. That in all these respects I have been entirely success- 

 ful, is not presumed. Error of judgment and discrimination in adapt- 

 ing means to a required end have undoubtedly occurred. This ad- 

 mission, however, does not affect the general principles on which the 

 system is based. So far as it relates to the science of agriculture, 

 my system makes no pretension to originality; it develops no new 

 principle of agricultural science; but simply adopts such as are al- 

 ready ascertained. Some of the more important or leading features 

 of my system are the following: 



Jl systematic rotation of crops. — In such rotation the selection of 

 crops and their disposition with reference to each other, should be 

 judicious, and properly adapted to the soil. In the course which I 

 have adopted, the 



First — Or greensward crop, is Oats — on a recently inverted sod to 

 which plaster is applied, but no other manure. 



Second — Com, potatoes or other roots. To this crop is applied all 

 the manures raised on the farm, in an unfermented state; spread on 

 and plowed under in the spring. Plaster and ashes, leached or un- 

 leached, are also applied to the hill. 



Third — Wheat, without plaster or any other manure. 



Fourth — Oats, seeded with clover and timothy. 



Fifth, sixth and seventh — Grass, to which plaster is annually appli- 

 ed, at from 50 to 100 pounds to the acre. 



Next in importance to a rotation of crops, as pertaining especially 

 to the permanent improvement of the soil, are 



Surface Draining, effected by plowing in narrow lands, and al- 

 ways leaving the " dead furrows" deep and clear; and 



Increasing the depth of the tilth; by late and deep fall plowing, 

 combined with a free use of sand, refuse straw, leaves ot forest 

 trees, chip dirt, saw dust, or other strawy or ligneous materials. 



To the above may be added as features of this system scarcely less 



