ROTATION OF CROPS. 113 



harvested in October. The ground is then plowed again, harrowed once, sown in November 

 with wheat, which is harrowed in. The soil about Milan is easy to work, only one pair of 

 oxen being required to draw the plow, while toward Mantua, on account of the stiffness of 

 the clay, five pairs are required. 



In the rich rice district of Verceil a three-years course is the more common, but the best 

 cultivators, including Mr. Malinverni, follow a six-years rotation, as follows: First year, 

 wheat (which was sown the preceding October, after the harvest of rice, and after deep cul 

 ture and manuring at the rate of one cwt. of guano per acre.) Clover having been sown in 

 the wheat in the spring, a fair crop of this is cut in August, after the wheat crop. Second 

 year, the clover is liberally manured, irrigated, and cut three times. Third year, Indian corn 

 manured with guano. Fourth, fifth, and sixth years, rice. The rice-fields are inundated five 

 months. There is a depth of 4 inches of water till the grain is up, then the quantity of 

 water is lessened. Some sorts of rice grow to a height of 4 feet, others less. It costs 20,000 

 francs a year to supply a rice-farm of 600 acres with water. The rice-crop is gathered in 

 September, the harvest sometimes running into October. 



In the country above Turin it is a practice to plow twice after a crop of wheat once at 

 the time of manuring and again at the time of sowing and but once after a crop of Indian 

 corn. In preparing the soil for hemp, it is usual there in the autumn to cover the ground 

 with heaps of stubble and brush, in such number as 300 heaps to an acre, and to burn them 

 slowly. This is called half manuring. In spring some manure is added, the ground plowed, 

 and the hemp sown in April. Among the smaller farmers on hilly land, the rotation is. 

 wheat two years, manured each year with stable-manure ; the third year, rye, with clover to 

 a part of it. Timothy is not used in the Po Valley.&quot; 



In this country, it is generally deemed desirable to have grass for one of the principal 

 crops in the rotation system. It is thought by many farmers that wheat succeeds better after 

 peas and corn than after any of the other crops. The following rotation, practiced by Mr. 

 Waring, is considered by those that have followed it a desirable one for some sections: Grass 

 is followed by corn ; the next year the land is occupied by either potatoes, carrots, or sugar beets ; 

 then follows green forage crops (generally oats or corn), and when the land is cleared of these, 

 winter rye is sown in the fall. The next year the rye is sometimes cut while green, for fodder, 

 and other forage crops are grown upon the land which are ready to be cut earliest. In the 

 fall of the same year wheat is sown, and the land seeded with timothy and clover. When the 

 grain is harvested the following season, the grass remains and soon shows a vigorous growth. 



Peas or clover plowed under is thought to be one of the best preparations for wheat; 

 and old pastures, plowed under in the fall, are generally considered precursors of fine crops of 

 corn, while corn-fields are, in turn, followed by good pastures. 



Grass followed by corn, then a green fodder crop, and this followed by wheat, and after 

 ward grass again, is recommended by some agriculturists as a good rotation for the Northern 

 and Middle States. Of course, as a general rule, each crop should have its liberal supply of 

 manure, in some form. 



The following systems have been adopted by many in this country and found admirably 

 adapted to certain soils: Grass is followed by corn, the land being heavily manured, and 

 ashes and lime added, if suited to the soil. Gypsum is applied to the corn-plants after the 

 first hoeing, which is as soon as it is well out of the ground; the second year, some kind of 

 root crop occupies the ground; the third year, either wheat, barley, rye, or oats, with grass 

 or clover; the fourth year, grass or clover, as the case may be. A rest is often given such 

 lands by pasturing for a year or two. 



Another: Grass followed by corn, or a root crop of some kind; second year, oats or 

 barley; third year, peas or beans, removed early, and sown in the autumn with wheat; fourth 

 year, wheat, which can be followed by grass or clover, or both. 



