178 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



It will be for the farmers in the United States to consider how 

 far the rotation of crops deserves their attention, and, if any par 

 ticular course be adopted, what is best suited to their particular 

 condition or locality. The same course is obviously not alike 

 adapted to soils of different character, or to places varying in 

 climate and in their demands for particular articles of produce. 

 I am quite aware that, at present, in the United States, there are 

 few examples of what may be called a systematic agriculture ; 

 and in many parts of the country, especially in the new states, 

 where the virgin soil is unexhausted, and in some cases its exu 

 berant riches would seem almost inexhaustible, for in parts of 

 the western territories, in the prairies and bottom lands, I have 

 seen the rich alluvial soil exposed to the depth of eighteen 

 feet, it would seem to be of little consequence to present gen 

 erations by what course the land should be cultivated. But to 

 the perfection of the art of agriculture, to the realization of its 

 greatest products, and, above all, to the attainment of that great 

 point of good husbandry, the obtaining of the largest and most 

 profitable return from the land at the least expense of labor, at 

 the least injury to the soil, and, as it may be hoped in many 

 cases, with an actual benefit or improvement to the soil, without 

 doubt an exact system of cultivation and a regular course of 

 crops will be found indispensable. The climate of England and 

 the southern parts of Scotland presents advantages which we in 

 the Northern and Middle States, perhaps in most other parts of 

 the United States, cannot enjoy. The mildness of the winters 

 here enables them to fold their sheep, and to feed the crops to 

 them in the fields where they grow, during any part of the sea 

 son. In very rare instances are the sheep ever housed, or even 

 .sheltered or protected ; and in many parts of the country the 

 turnips are eaten by the sheep where they grew, or are pulled 

 as they are wanted and given to them in the fold. Where this 

 is not the case, the turnips are either pitted or placed where they 

 grew. To &quot; pit &quot; them is to place them in heaps in the field, some 

 times digging a hole of a foot deep to receive them, and, after 

 bringing as many loads to the heap as is deemed convenient or 

 proper, shaping the pile like the steep roof of a house, and, after 

 putting on a layer of straw over the turnips, adding to this a 

 layer of dirt of a sufficient thickness to secure them from frost. 

 To &quot; place &quot; the turnips, is to pull two rows of turnips, and, with- 



