SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. Oil 



" It would be folly to deny such statements on my knowledge of 

 what is probable; I will look into the matter, and satisfy myself 



by my own trials. I am living 1 here on the ground, and 1 can 

 make the experiments, and if it be true, that taking off two crops 

 of clover leaves the soil in better condition for wheat than when 

 one crop is taken off', if I examine the soil when one crop has been 

 taken off" and when two crops have been taken off, I ought to find 

 more available nitrogen and more available phosphoric acid in a 

 given quantity of soil in the latter case %han in the first case ; and 

 if it be true, that where the plant has been allowed to go to seed, 

 the preparation for wheat is still better than in the other two 

 cases, I ought to find still more of those materials." He made 

 the investigation, and actually found that the quantity of those 

 nutritive materials left in the surface soil after the clover seed had 

 been taken oft' was greater than when two crops of clover hay 

 had been cut, and greater when two hay crops had been removed 

 than when only one had been taken off'.* That is due to the fact, 

 which I have already insisted upon, that the clover plant, after 

 producing its seed, is still able, when the character of the soil is 

 adapted to it, to continue its growth and bring up to the surface- 

 soil those materials which the wheat plant cannot reach. We 

 cannot, from cases of this sort deduce rules of universal applica- 

 tion, and this English experience may not apply to the Genesee 

 valley or to the lands of this vicinity, because of differences of 

 soil, but these results of Dr. Voelcker are of very great impor- 

 tance. They enable us to make the experience of those Cotswold 

 farmers of general value, by showing us the reason of their result. 

 They furnish us a grand contribution to our knowledge of the ca- 

 pacities of the clover plant. If the farmers of Genesee do not 

 find the rule to hold good with them, we shall find, by study, the 

 reason for it. 



Question. It is often asked, What is to be done with our side- 

 hill pastures in New England, that are too rough and hard or too 

 steep to plow and get manure on ? I have a pasture of this kind. 

 It is naturally moist land, pretty stony, and it has begun to be 

 covered with moss. Forty years ago, one acre of it produced 

 more feed than two do now. What shall I do with that land ? It 

 is considerably steep, and it would be very unprofitable to under- 

 take to plow, manure, and cultivate it. I have been thinking of 



* Dr. Voelcker's researches on this subject oan be found in detail in the Report for 

 1869, pago 457 et seq., and are commended to careful perusal. s. l. g. 



