T H E F ARMEKS' REG IS T E R . 



Vol. Vlll. 



JANUARY 31, 1840. 



No. 1. 



EDMUND RUPFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



THE FOUR-SHIFT ROTATION, WITH PEA FAL- 

 LOW ADDED. REMARKS ON OTHER MODI- 

 FICATOA'S OF ROTATIONS. 



To the Editor of tlio Farmers' Register. 



JVestover, Nov. 20, 1839. 



In your last, or October No. of i he Fanners' 

 Register, you seem to raise objeciions to all the 

 systems of farming as heretol'ore practised in Vir- 

 ginia. It is not my purpose upon the present oc- 

 casion to discuss the merits or demerits of the dil- 

 (erent systems of liirminir as practised by our Ibre- 

 liithers; that is most fully and justly done by 

 yourself. But to present to your consideration a 

 rotation of crops thai I am about to adopt, and 

 which has occurred to me to accord with your ideas 

 uj)on the subject. 



The principles of a proper rotation of crops as 

 ndvanced by yourself seem to me to be in accor- 

 dance with the most approved views upon the 

 subject, and deserve the due consideration of every 

 tiller of the soil, who wishes to profit by, and ad- 

 vance ill, the theory and practice of agriculture. 



I think it jjroper too, that I should assign my 

 reasons lor the abandonment of a system that I 

 have practised unremittingly for sixteen years, and 

 in good liiith have recommended to the public. 



i shall but briefly refiir to the Ibur-field and fal- 

 low system as heretofore practised by ni3seli; 

 as its merits have already been fully discussed, 

 and subsequent experience confirms the opinions 

 then entertained by me. 



Believing as I still do in the many advantages 

 that this lour-field rotation possesses over the 

 many as heretofore pursued in Virginia, I think 

 it but proper that I should say a word in reference 

 to the objections urged by yourself to it. This 

 will be the more necessary also, as some of the 

 objections there urged by you to it, are the basis 

 on which the new rotation that I am about to re- 

 commend is founded. You object to it, first on 

 account of its "severity;" secondly, from the 

 "difficulty of fallowing one-fourth of the ftirm 

 every August and September lor wheat; "and 

 thirdly, from the "succession of the three fibrous 

 rooted, narrovv-Ieavcd, exhausting grain crops, of 

 wheat, corn, wheat." 



To the two first of these objections, I cannot 

 add my assent ; but the latter has always been an 

 objectionable feature with me; particularly the 

 last crop in the succession, wheat following corn. 



First then, as regards its " severity." I cannot 

 think that you give to this fallow system its due, 

 or that you attach sufficient importance to the ex- 

 tensive improvement it receivesin the way of ma- 

 nuring. The cropping and draught fi-orn llie 

 earth is rapid and hard it is true ; but at the same 

 time the improvement afl'orded in return, is per- 

 haps greater than under any other system as yet 

 devised, when so great a profit is given. Oiie- 

 fourlh of all the arable surface is annually im- 

 proved by the best of all green manures (clover,) 

 which receives its food from the atmosphere, and 

 is returned to the earth as manure, and that at a 

 season when its virtue is greatest, and when it is 

 Vol. VIlI-1 



in the greatest degree of per'ection for improve- 

 ment (August and September). It is tlie parti- 

 cular time at which it is turned under that I think 

 its wonderlul efi'ects towards improvement prinri- 

 p:dly consist. And in addition, the iinmcn.-e 

 mass oi' materials that is afforded lor the [lu' res- 

 cent manures ; which, under a tolerably well reg- 

 ulated liirm should be sufficient to manure the en- 

 lire arable surliare once in every 8 or 10 years. So 

 that one-third of the farm at least will be annual- 

 ly improved. The question then will be, whether 

 the improvement thus aflurded to the earth is suffi- 

 cient to sustain the heavy draught of the three 

 grain crops of wheat, corn, wheat 7 My expe- 

 rience goes to pi-ove that it will more than do so. 



In this calculation your clover should not be 

 grazed of!', and your ploughing and draining he well 

 executed, as without it, no system can be im- 

 proved to any extent and be successful. I cannot 

 corroborate this assertion more strongly, or ad- 

 duce a stronger argument to the contrary of its 

 severity, than that my crop of wheat of this year, 

 (under this system for the last ten years, and \vith 

 its full share of chinch-bug,) averaged me 24 

 bushels to the acre throughout ; that my crop of 

 corn (with its full share of bug a'so,) wiil produce 

 more than double what the same field did when I 

 first cultivated it in that crop ; and indeed that the 

 entire estate will now double or treble iis product 

 when I first took it ten years since, and always 

 under this system ; and indeed, 1 can say, that I 

 do not know of a farm where the system has been 

 fully carried out, that has not improved under it, 

 and that rapidly. 



Second, as to the "difficulty of fallowing one- 

 fourth of a farm during the months of August 

 and September for wheat." I have upon a for- 

 mer occasion stated that there was no operation 

 on the farm that was performed with more ea^e 

 and certainly than the fallowing of one-lourth for 

 wheat, during the months of August and Septem- 

 ber ; longer experience does not change that opi- 

 nion ; and I must think the supposed difficulty more 

 imagiriary than real. My impression is, that it 

 is one of the most valuable features in the system ; 

 it gives employment to our teams when they 

 would have but little else to do at that season. 

 The difficulty most generally consists in the mis- 

 application of means. To attempt to turn under 

 a clover lay at that dry season of the year with 

 only two horses to a plouiih is utterly impractica- 

 ble. A larmer who wishes to fdlow at that sea- 

 son, with only three or four horses on his farm, 

 should apply the ihi-ee or four to onelarire plouiJfh. 

 To this erroneous calculation, the difficulty" is 

 most generally attributable. A plough with only 

 two horses, I consider insufficient at any season to 

 turn under eHectually a good clover lay. Where- 

 as a good three or four-horse plough will in all 

 seasons do it. And here, permit me to remind 

 you of a failure at Coggins a i'ew years since, 

 from this very circumstance, atlemptiiig to liillow 

 with two, instead of three or four-horses. I greatly 

 prefer a lour to a three-horse team at this season, 

 as the leaders tend more effectually to keep the 



