174 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



known rye sowed, year after year, on the same land, for a length 

 of time, with a constantly-improving product ; but in this case, 

 clover was always sowed with the rye ; and this clover, in a state 

 of luxuriance, was always turned in by the plough with the rye 

 stubble, or, as it is here termed, &quot; smothered,&quot; preparatory to the 

 land s being again sown with rye. 



One great object in any rotation of crops, which might be 

 adopted, should be to make the intermediate crop, which is sup 

 posed to be fed upon the land, prepare the land for the crop, 

 which is to follow. Thus it is that a green crop, which is ma 

 nured, will itself do much in manuring the land for a white crop. 

 While the amount of manure which is applied to a green crop 

 can hardly be excessive, the same manure, if applied to a white 

 crop, would be likely to increase the straw at the expense of the 

 grain, and render its growth so luxuriant, or, if the term be allow 

 able, so plethoric, that it would be liable to disease or blight, or 

 to perish by being lodged. 



The course of crops varies in different localities, according to 

 the nature of the soil and the climate ; and the kinds of crops 

 grown depend likewise much upon local circumstances, such as 

 the vicinity of a market, and the demand which that market 

 creates. The most common rotation, and that which goes, by 

 way of eminence, by the name of the Norfolk system, is called a 

 fourshift rotation, and consists of, 1st year, turnips ; 2d, barley ; 

 3d, clover ; 4th, wheat. In this case, there is usually but one 

 manuring or dunging for the course, and that is given to the 

 turnips. But, then, under the best husbandry, the turnips are 

 fed to sheep which are folded upon the land, the turnips general 

 ly being cut and given to them in troughs, the fold being formed 

 of hurdles, and changed frequently ; and the clover likewise is 

 fed upon the ground by sheep. The wheat and the barley go 

 to market ; and the straw is reserved for feeding and for litter in 

 the barn-yards and stalls. On an English farm, no straw is ever 

 suffered to be sold or carried off the place, unless an equivalent 

 in dung or other manure is brought on. In some parts of Kent, 

 it is stated that wheat and beans are alternated continually. On 

 a farm in Gloucestershire, much celebrated for its good manage 

 ment, turnips, potatoes, and wheat, constitute the alternation of 

 crops, though sometimes a crop of vetches or rape intervenes, 

 which is fed off upon the land. In this case, a great deal of 



