^90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



average produce of all the grain crops has increased in ten years 

 between thirty and forty per cent.; the extent of land on this farm 

 in wheat, having during- that period annually increased till it has 

 now (1850-51) become one-third greater than it was then." 



In Great Britain, Germany, and other European countries, you 

 will find in many localities very complicated systems of rotation. 

 I saw the other day, in a book which I was looking into for some 

 statistics, a long and curious calculation, showing the various 

 materials — lime, potash, phosphoric acid, &c. — taken off and put 

 on a farm, which was divided into ten equal fields, and each of 

 these fields, went through successively with the same ten years' 

 rotation; which was: 1, Summer Fallow, manured. 2, Winter 

 Coleseed. 3, Wheat and Rye. 4, Legumes, manured. 5, Rye. 

 6, Potatoes. 7, Clover and grass. 8, Clover hay. 9, Pasture 

 till 1st July, then summer fallow. 10, Rye and Wheat, "half 

 manured." 



It is a great advantage, in the conduct of a large estate of four 

 or five hundred acres, to have the whole system of cropping made 

 up beforehand, so that the men can tell just what is to be done 

 from year to year. The management of farm labor is simplified 

 by this arrangement. That is one of the reasons why such com- 

 plicated rotations are adopted. 



It should be well borne in mind that while there are circum- 

 stances in which rotation is extremely advantageous there are 

 other circumstances under which it is comparatively unimportant. 

 Certain conditions make rotation necessary, and others make it 

 unnecessary. There are two kinds of agriculture, which have 

 been defined as " extensive " and "intensive." The "extensive" 

 is where land is cheap, and where capital, labor and manure are 

 scarce. There the farmer must go over a great deal of surface, and 

 depend chiefly upon the natural resources of his farm, — getting out 

 of it what he can, " by hook or by crook." "Intensive" agricul- 

 ture is where the circumstances are such that the farmer uses 

 a comparatively small quantity of land and a large amount of 

 capital, is able to get fertilizers in abundance, and sells his crop 

 quickly and at a good price. He puts a great deal more into the 

 soil and gets a great deal more from it than his "extensive" 

 brother. He works in a more intense way. That is, his labor, 

 instead of being spread over two hundred acres, is concentrated 

 on fifty, and he is able to make his fifty acres more profitable than 

 the other farmer can make his two hundred. In "extensive" 



