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attention as regards manure and trenching; but as a general thing, if proper rotation 

 is practiced, several crops may be taken oft' the same piece with one application of the 

 fertilizing material ; and a well considered plan of action in advance will enable the 

 operator so to arrange and prepare the various plots, that the fall (which is the best) 

 or early spring manuring will suffice, without the necessity of having to litter over 

 the irarden during the summer saason. 



The rotation of crops, or growing different kinds in succession, is a practice that 

 every person who is acquainted with cultivation, acknowledges to be essentially 

 required. Although correct chemical analyses shows that all plants are composed of 

 the same elements, with very slight differences, yet these minute variations are suf- 

 ficient to act very powerfully ; enough so to be in many cases a mystery. Agricul- 

 tural chemists often give us truthful accounts of the integral parts of different 

 plants, and we might infer that if the soil contains something like relative pro- 

 portions of these materials, that success must be certain. This, it is true, is an 

 index, by which we may in part be guided. We must, however, recollect that a living 

 plant is somewhat of chemical laboratory, and it is not yet determined in what pro- 

 portions the different parts as found in the structucture, are taken up, or whether 

 some of them are not manufactured by the plant itself from more simple elements. 

 There is yet much need of investigation on this point, notwithstanding the great 

 advancement that has been made of late years. In the mean time, it is well for us 

 to leave all such weighty experiments to those who have time and opportunity to 

 carry them out, and fall back upon established facts. It is well known that plants 

 decompose carbonic acid by the leaves, and assimilate the carbon in their structure, 

 and we may with propriety suggest that, as this gas is heavier than the atmosphere, 

 those vegetables which have a great amount of succulent leaf and near the ground, 

 are capable of absorbing a large quantity, and very likely more than they really 

 require, consequently a portion of this may be given out by the roots, and remain as 

 nutriment for future crops of a less absorbing character. After a very careful obser- 

 vation for many years, I am led to believe in this theory, and constantly make use of 

 it in my own practice, with success. To make the matter more plain, a crop of 

 Turnips or Beets may be succeeded by Peas, and Spinach by Corn, &c. It may be 

 admitted that the manuring between crops, will in some cases appear to counteract 

 this presumption, but I have always found the manure when so applied, to act more 

 powerfully if the above kind of rotation has been observed. 



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