240 On the Cultivation of Lucerne. 



effected by the extensive use of the Finlayson harrow, a process 

 necessary every second or third year, if upon soils inclined to 

 grass : the only manure used upon this crop has been soot, at about 

 30 bushels per acre, applied twice since the sowing in 1838. It 

 would be unnecessary for me to offer any comment upon the prac- 

 tical utility of this valuable grass, further than by urging its cul- 

 tivation to all ; and merely to add, that in every case in which the 

 land has been again returned to its ordinary culture of vegetable 

 and corn produce, after having lain from eight to ten or twelve 

 years in lucerne, it has invariably been more congenial to 

 production. 



Alderton, near TFoodbrid^e^ 

 Feb. 28, 1842. 



Lucerne has been cultivated, at Audley End for many years upon a 

 limited scale, and I regret that no sufficiently accurate account of the crops 

 has been kept to enable me to furnish the particulars. The result has, how- 

 ever, been very satisfactory, leaving no doubt that the profit of the cultiva- 

 tion of this plant has averaged for seven years 10/. per acre, after deducting 

 rent and all other outgoings and expenses. The soil is a rich loam over 

 gravel, — Braybrooke. 



XIX. — Agriculture of the Netherlands. Part II. By the 

 Rev. W. L. Rham. 



The necessity of a succession of different crops to ensure success 

 is fully understood in the Netherlands, and especially in Flanders 

 and in the provinces bordering upon France. The rotations 

 which have been long established are not founded on any theory 

 of vegetation, but the simple result of long experience and obser- 

 vation. It is gratifying to find how nearly they accord with what 

 sound theory, founded on experiments in vegetation, has laid down 

 as a rule, viz. that plants of different natural families should suc- 

 ceed each other as far as is practicable ; and where any marked 

 deviation occurs from this rule it is not difficult to explain the 

 cause, if not to justify the exception. These rotations were evi- 

 dently the result of gradual improvements in the mode of cropping 

 suggested by the failures which an irregular system necessarily 

 brings along with it. On the light soils the system of a fallow 

 preceding two crops of grain never has had any influence on the 

 succession, for there fallows are unknown ; but the necessity of a 

 good supply of manure and the want of natural meadows have 

 made the cultivation of roots and green crops a matter of neces- 



