EOTATIOK OP CROPS. #3 



wards, another dose of manure is given, the field is 

 ploughed as if for a fallow, and is left in that state till 

 the month of March ; it is then ploughed again, cross 

 harrowed, and thoroughly cleaned of couchgrass and 

 weeds. Finally, about the 20fch of April, it is ploughed 

 a third time, and harrowed till the land is well pulve- 

 rised, and all remains of weeds are completely extirpated. 

 It is next dressed with Dutch ashes, and four or five 

 days later with liquid manure. Ten days afterwards, the 

 flax is sown, and is twice gone over with the reversed 

 harrow, in such a way that the horse shall trace a set of 

 parallel lines four feet wide from one end of the field to 

 the other. The job is finished by pressing down all with 

 the sledge. 



" Those who intend sowing flax after oats, usually 

 give the oats, with this intention, a third part more 

 manure than they would in the ordinary course of cul- 

 ture. As soon as the oats are carried, they give the land 

 a half-coat of manure, which they plough in with the 

 stubble, and leave the whole as it is till seed-time, when 

 they give a good top-dressing of liquid manure. 



" In the environs of Courtray, on the first-rate clayey 

 soils, perhaps the finest flax in Europe is grown, and no 

 other fertilizers are made use of beside rape-cake and 

 liquid manure. Where the land is dry, the cakes are 

 thrown into the urine- tanks, and left there for ten days 

 to soak and dissolve. For wet land, the rape-cake is 

 pounded tolerably fine, and sown broad-cast on the land 

 in the shape of a coarse powder." 



The following is the course of cropping which Arthur 

 Young proposed for Ireland. For light lands : 1st, tur- 

 nips; 2nd, flax; 3rd, clover; 4th, wheat ; or, 1st, potatoes; 

 2nd, flax; 3rd, clover; 4th, wheat. For strong soils : 1st, 

 beans; 2nd, flax; 3rd, clover; 4th, wheat. This rotation is 

 also perfectly suitable to the north of France. It is equally 

 applicable to the southern districts ; for in Italy, in the 

 neighbourhood of Brescia, the following rotation has 

 been employed from time immemorial : 1st, clover ; 2nd, 

 ilax ; 3rd, wheat ; 4th, maize. "Watering is practised 



D 



