ROTATION OF CROPS. 115 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 



VINCINT REEVES, CHAMPI.IN, 



I merely give you my experience of thirty years of practical 

 work, and it might not agree with a great deal of theory that often- 

 times is presented in various journals. There are very few tillers of 

 the soil who have any knowledge of analyzing the soil ; that is within 

 the power of the chemist. Practice and science have combined to 

 show us how all soils may be raised to the highest state of fertility, 

 and a knowledge of the composition of crops and manures shows 

 how we may best maintain its good conditions. Sometimes condi- 

 tions occur with the market gardener so that his second crop does 

 not reach that proper state of perfection for the labor bestowed upon 

 it. Its cause may be traced in not having sufficient fertilizer, the sol- 

 uble portion having been absorbed by the first crop. These remarks 

 apply to the market gardener who is trying to obtain two or three 

 crops the same season. Perhaps he has commenced the career of a 

 market gardener on a soil deficient of plant food for such vegetables 

 as he may have a desire to grow ; therefore he is liable to have a few 

 seasons of disappointment until the manure gets thoroughly incor- 

 porated into the soil. There is another thing to be considered, and 

 that is, quality as well as quantity of manure. 



Many years ago Mr. Joseph Harris, of Moreton Farm, a prac- 

 tical agriculturist, endeavored to impress on the minds of American 

 agriculturists that the value of animal excrement depended on the 

 food that was fed. He was extremely cautious in his experiments. 

 We find wheat bran more valuable than corn; clover hay more 

 valuable than timothy. 



When I commenced gardening I had what is called virgin soil, 

 composed of hazel brush and scrub oaks. When the land was par- 

 tially subdued, I commenced using manure, at the rate of forty or 

 fifty tons per acre, on the portion I desired to grow vegetables on. 

 While I do not claim any credit to myself, for I certainly was indebted 

 to Mr. Peter Henderson for the knowledge imparted to me, as well 

 as to thousands of others engaged in the same business, I followed 

 his teachings as far as practicable, with due consideration of the 

 market to dispose of my produce, while the farmers traveling on the 

 road thought I was slightly afifected with lunacy in dressing land so 

 heavily. They said my crops would all burn up. It was not many 

 years after they commenced playing the same game. 



My soil being thus highly dressed with reasonably good manure, 

 I found it contained a complete fertilizer for any vegetables I de- 



