464 



FARMERS' REGISTER— ON THE ROTATION OF CROPS. 



Manner cf yoking oxen in France and Spain — described in the foregoing article, page 332. 



Figure 1. 



Figure 2. 



ON THE ROTATION OF CROPS, AXD THE PA- 

 JVIUNKY PLAN OF CULTIVATING CORN. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmer-s' Register. 



Prince George, November 20ih, 1834. 



It is no easy matter for any individual to deter- 

 mine, what is the most profitable rotation of crops 

 that can be adopted in his own particular case. 

 How imprudent is it then to recommend any sys- 

 tem for universal adoption? Oilen in the same 

 neighborhood, and sometimes on the different parts 

 of The same farm, an entirely different system is 

 advisable. The ibur-field systemx of yJrutor, when 

 well conducted, combines cheapness and iujprove- 

 ment in an eminent degree, and is, accordingly, 

 admirably fitted for the restoration of worn lands, 

 and cannot be too highly recommended for that 

 purpose. It is, however, generally urged as an 

 objection against it, that too little land is ^iven to 

 the plough, and that the fields become tout and 

 unmanageable from two successive years of rest, 

 when the land possesses even moderate fertility. 

 On account of this objection, it has been generally 

 abandoned; and in many situations where it doubt- 

 less mJD-ht have been continued to great advan- 

 tage. 1 shall barely reler to it again. 



I will here remark, hov/mucii I have been as- 

 tonished to hear a very intelligent farmer a!leo;e, 

 as an excuse for not improving his lands, that he 

 had too little labor for the extent of his arable 

 surface. Under a parity of circum.'=tances, such a 

 situation Ls decidedly the most favorable to im- 

 provement, as more rest may be allowed, and 

 more aid may, of coarse, be derived from nature. 



My surprise would be no less great than that 

 expreased by a highly intelligent gentleman in the 

 last number of the Register, ilj Ul:e him, I con- 



strued the silence of your correspondents into any 

 thing like general unqualified approbation of the 

 new four-field system, which embraces three grain 

 crops in four years. I know, however, that very 

 many condemn it; and I propose to state, a few of 

 the objections to it that occur to mj' own mind. 



An objection of no little weight, is its expen- 

 siveness, and on farms of only moderate fertility, 

 I doubt not, that alone will be found insuperable. 

 An unusually large horse-power will, of course, 

 be required, in order to fallow one-fourth of the 

 arable surface of the entire farm; which in dry 

 seasons, and they are not uncommon, is an un- 

 dertaking of great labor; and the supernumerary 

 horses that are required for that purpose, and tor 

 seeding, are kept during the rest of the year at 

 considerable expense, when their labor is not at 

 all necessarJ^ 



Another objection, of a formidable character, ia 

 that the more valuable crop, corn, is sacrificed in 

 part to the crop of wheat, which is less so; for I 

 can never believe that one-fourth of the same farm, 

 after wheat, will make any thing like as much 

 corn, as one-third of the same farm, when corn is 

 the first cro)) in the rotation. I say that the crop 

 of corn is the most valuable, because it is confi- 

 dently believed that any farm in the tide-water 

 district of Virginia, in a series of years, will yield 

 more money from corn than wheat, where an 

 equal surface is devoted to each crop, and the 

 whole product sold — and for the simjjle reason 

 that, from the nature of our climate, the former 

 very rarely fails, and the latter very oflen. In 

 comparing these crops, it must be recollected too, 

 that seed wheat is a very heavy item of expense, 

 and seed corn a very light one. If I had to make 

 my selection between the two, I would unhesita- 

 tingl)' give up the wheat crop. 



