No. 85.] 125 



in the profits of cultivation where no interval is allowed in the suc- 

 cession of grain, roots and grasses, and where every third or fourth 

 year is lost to a crop, but at the same time demands an equal or in- 

 deed extraordinary outlay of labor. 



The more the principles which recommend the substitution of a ro- 

 tation in which corn and wheat constitute the principal items of pro- 

 duct, are considered and contrasted with the system of fallows, the 

 more they will recommend themselves to the practical farmer. The 

 roots and summer grains can be considered only as accessaries to 

 the outline ; the one to be grown to the extent demanded for the use 

 of the farm, or perhaps taking in part the place of corn, where the 

 soil is not so suitable to the growth of that plant, and the other to 

 serve as a medium in which the clover seeds so essential to the fer- 

 tility of the soil, can best be committed to the earth. It is true, bar- 

 ley, spring wheat, and oats, as well as roots, are of the greatest neces- 

 sity and utility on the farm, but whether the system of rotation or fal- 

 lows be adopted, the farmer must rely for his sales, and consequently 

 his profits, on his wheat and corn. We shall of course be understood 

 in these remarks, as speaking of what are called grain farms exclu- 

 sively. Dairy farms, or those in which a more mixed husbandry pre- 

 vails, are a different matter, and their profits are derived from more 

 varied, but perhaps not less certain sources. 



If it be objected to the substitution of constant cropping with ro- 

 tation, for summer fallowing, that it is not possible except on clean 

 soils, then the answer is ready, make your soils clean. One of the 

 greatest recommendations of the system that dispenses with fallows, 

 is the very necessity it imposes on the farmer of cleaning and keeping 

 clean his soils, and the ample means it furnishes him for doing this. 

 If it should be the object of the farmer to combine the greatest 

 amount of produce, with an increasing fertility of the soil, and the 

 least expenditure of labor, we think the method that prevents the loss 

 of one year in every four, both of time and labor, should commend 

 itself to his notice and approval. But in this case as in others, let 

 each one experiment for himself ; for in no situation in life is the ad- 

 vice to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good," more 

 necessary or appropriate than in that of cultivating the soil. 



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