Ch. VII.] ON THE ROTATION OF CROPS 109 



with sand, is capable of growing every species of g-reen crop, and we 

 may therefore refer on that subject to the rotations on light soils. Oil 

 moss of that nature, however, short courses are considered the best; the 

 first to consist of only two crops, to reduce the earth completely, and 

 after that, two, or at most three years' pasture. The reasons assigned for 

 which are these : — If laboured more than two seasons together, after the 

 first breaking up, the soil gets too dry, loose— or deaf, as the country 

 ])eople call it — heaves, throws out the corn, and produces the dead-nettle 

 and other weeds ; and if allowed to be more than two years or so in pastuiv, 

 the rich grasses die, and the coarse herbage rises ; but if only one, or at 

 most two crops of grain are taken in each rotation, the soil is still kept 

 in a soft, moist state, and the grasses, by being so often manured, continue 

 sweet, succulent, and vigorous. The first crop of oats is seldom weighty ; 

 the second is however better ; an;! daring the after rotations, the grain is 

 generally found to be of good quality *. 



Flow-moss constitutes that species of soil which in Ireland is termed 

 hog, the first step towards the improvement of which is the drainage of the 

 land ; for nothing can be effectually done towards bringing it into culUva- 

 lion, until the surface be relieved of stagnant water. Of that we have 

 already treated t; and when brought into a state to bear the tread of 

 cattle and the operation of the plough, its management is the same as that 

 of bent-moss ; except that, being more tender, it is better to convert it as 

 soon as possible into permanent pasture. 



We have thus stated nearly all the settled rotations most commonly prac- 

 tised on the various soils of England and Scotland ; but we have not 

 adverted to Ireland ; because in that country — with the exception of some 

 men of fortune and a few wealthy farmers, who cultivate their land with 

 spirit ; with that, also, of the baronies of Forth and Bargy, in the county of 

 Wexford J; and of a small portion of the province of Ulster, where the Scottish 

 mode prevails — nothing like what may be properly termed a system of 

 husbandry, upon any fixed plan, is known. W'e have looked through all the 

 county surveys, and have read attentively most of the publications which 

 have appeared of late years respecting the agriculture of the island ; but 



* Survey of Ayrshire, p. 346, 



■|- See vol. i. chap, xxvii. p. 443, and chap. xxx. ; also the Survey of Ayrsh. and Dam- 

 friesh., chap. xi. sect. 3. 



X The soil of this district is, for the most part, a retentive clay, except near the sea- 

 coast, where it becomes a siliceous loam, to which the long and unmterrupted application 

 of sea-weed and calcareous sand has, in a great measure, contributed ; and the chief 

 merit of its agriculture seems to be the systematic rotation which is xmiformly observed, 

 and which, although with some individuals it may occasionally vary, is nevertheless in 

 general as follows : — 



1st. Wheat upon land — either lea or stubble as may happen — marled at the rate of 

 1000 load, of 5 cwt. each per Irish acre. 



2nd. Barley or oats, but chiefly barley. 



3rd, Drilled potatoes with dung, or beans Sown broad-cast with composts of earth, sea- 

 sand, dung, or sea-weed. 



4th. Barley with red clover and rye-grass. 



5th. Clover fed off, or mowed ; or the second growth saved for seed. 



6th. Wheat, upon which they chiefly rely as their surest crop. 



In some cases they feed off the clover very early, and marl the lea previously to sow- 

 ing the wheat, but often sow it without marl, and apply dung to the wheat stubble for 

 potatoes, or manure it with a compost lor beans, and so proceed to barley and clover again. 

 Notwithstanding this scourging course, yet, we are told, the fertility of the soil, with the 

 abundance of manure, produces such abundant crops that, in districts near the sea, sel- 

 dom less than twenty barrels of barley, of 16 stone each, are grown on the Irish, or 

 twelve and a half per English acre, and the others in proportion. — See Observations on 

 the Baronies in the Quart, Jour, of Agric. for March, 1833, No. XX. 



