52 
SYSTEMATIC. ROTATION OF CROPS. 
A thorough system of crop-rotation is found in but few counties of 
New England, and in these the routine varies. The large number of 
towns and cities creates a demand for dairy and market-garden pro- 
ducts which do not admit of any rotation. In some counties systematic 
rotation, and, in fact, systematic farming of any kind is pronounced 
“out of the question.” Farming is here pursued upon too small a scale, 
or in subordination to some other calling, such as manufacturing, lum- 
bering, &c. A tendency to indefinite repetition of the same crop is 
strongly developed in many localities. A few small farmers repeat corn 
and small grain, as they allege, with good results, but such cases are 
exceptional. Others plant potatoes every year. In Coos County, New 
Hampshire, India wheat is said to produce twenty successive good 
crops where the land has been annually manured. In Hampshire 
County, Massachusetts, tobacco has been raised for twenty years on the 
same land, highly fertilized. In Hartford County, Connecticut, this 
crop has been treated with domestic and commercial fertilizers to the 
amount of $200 to $300 per acre, securing returns of $600 to $1,200 per 
acre. In Rhode Island field-crops of onions are repeated from five to 
eight years, or until the smut destroys them. 
The high prices of hay, averaging $25 per ton in the Boston market, 
keep a large area of land in grass. Very frequently the sod is broken 
up only at long intervals, either for reseeding in timothy or clover, or 
for a brief alternation of root or grain crops, to rest the land and pre- 
pare it for anew departure in grass-cropping. The period is length- 
ened by heavy annual top-dressing with barn-yard manure and plaster. 
In Newport County, Rhode Island, meadows are kept growing for 
ten or twelve years, by a liberal application of sea-weed every year. 
Here, however, the white worm, a larva of the May beetle, frequently 
destroys the grass in two or three years from seeding. 
In some counties a three years’ course—l. corn; 2. potatoes; 3. 
wheat—is practiced. In others cornis followed by small grain, and 
subsequently by several crops of grass, extending the course to 6 or 8 
years, as in some localities in Rhode Island. The sod is sometimes top- 
dressed with manure before breaking for root or grain crops. Grass 
seed is commonly sown with small grain. 
Systematic manuring is reported as the rule in three counties in M aine 
two in New Hampshire, one in Massachusetts, two in Rhode Island, 
and two in Connecticut. The periods range from three to ten years, 
Generally sod is broken for corn or potatoes, which are followed by 
small grain and then by grass for several years. In these counties cul- 
tivation is generally very thorough, the land being sometimes plowed 
to the depth of 6 inches and subsoiled 12 inches. Unprogressive 
farmers sharply criticise the subsoil process, but its results are stated 
to be very satisfactory, retaining the strength of the manure and saving 
subseqnent cultivation. 
In the Middle States systematic rotation is pursued to a greater extent 
and with more marked results than in any other part of the country, 
yet here special industries very largely interfere with the routine. 
About a third of the reported counties in New York pursue a regular 
and uniform system; another third pursue a partial rotation, while the 
remainder seem to ignore it entirely. The following remarks of our 
correspondent in Seneca will give some idea of the first class: 
Comparatively few ignore rotation and practice slip-shod farming; that class soon 
drops out. Two general courses are pursued by intelligent farmers: the first is to 
