194 CARMtf AND FARM TOPIC*. 



been given, by thorough plowing and harrowing, (pro- 

 vided the land is drained artificially or naturally, so as to 

 be free from water, and relieve it from " sourness,") the 

 land is in better condition for any crop, than land that 

 has been continuously cropped without a rest. The 

 market gardeners in the vicinity of New York are now so 

 well convinced of this that, when twenty acres are under 

 cultivation, at least five acres are continually kept in grain, 

 clover, and grass, to be broken up successively, every 

 second or third year, so as to get the land in the condi- 

 tion that nothing else but rotted, pulverized sod will 

 accomplish. This is done in cases where land is as valu- 

 able as $500 per acre; experience having proved that, 

 with one-quarter of the land " resting under grass," more 

 profit can be got than if the whole were under culture. 



When the rotation, by placing a portion of the land 

 under grass, cannot be done, then it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to use Stable Manure, at least to some extent, if the 

 best results are desired, for continuous cropping of the 

 soil. Where concentrated fertilizers only are used, they 

 will not continue to give satisfactory results after the 

 grass roots, or other organic matter, have passed from 

 the soil, all of which will usually be entirely gone by the 

 third or fourth year after breaking up. I have long held 

 the opinion, that the idea of lands having been perma- 

 nently exhausted by tobacco or other crops is a fallacy. 

 What gives rise to this belief, I think, is the fact that, 

 when lands are first broken up from the forest or meadow 

 lands, for three or four years the organic matter in the 

 soil, (the roots of grasses, leaves, etc.,) not only serves to 

 feed the crops, but it keeps the soil in a better state of 

 pulverization, or what might be called aerated condition, 

 than when, in the course of cropping for a few years, 

 it has passed away. Stable Manure best supplies this 



