122 



FARjNlERS' REGISTER 



the clover field is ready, and afterwards for its 

 relief in wet weather. 



These renKJiks, Mr. Editor, alihoijfrli dr;uvn 

 from me by my Irieiul JNJr. Carter's rommuDica- 

 tion, are hy no means oHered as a comnicnlary, 

 and I am sure will be received by him in the t-pirii 

 they are wrilien. He very properly is aciuaied 

 by a sense ol duty to a oommuniiy which justly 

 looks to him as a bright exainjflar iti our prolession. 

 /, by an assumed oblifration as a subscriber to 

 your Register, to express li-eely my views on auri- 

 culture, Thai, may (for wliat they are worth) at 

 least elicit discussion on a subject which wants 

 light. RrvAANA. 



THE FIVE SHIFT ROTATIOIV, 



To the Editor of llic; Farmers' Register. 



Cliericoke, Jan. loth, 1840. 



I liave now for some years been experimeniinor 

 on the difiierent rotations, of the three, lour, and 

 five-field systems, and altliougli my experiments 

 have not been of sulficient duration to arrive at 

 conclusions, that may be as siitisfactory as I hey 

 would have been, or as I ihink tliey will be at a 

 future day, and I had not designed communicating 

 their results until 1 had carried tbem further ; but 

 being so entirely convinced mysellj and seeing that 

 some of my James River friends have altogether 

 come into my views, thereby removing heavy au- 

 thority against me, I have not deetned it necessary 

 longer to delay what was my intention at a fu- 

 ture day. For surely whatever can be done for 

 lowland Virginia tiirming, should be done quickly ; 

 and although I doubt if many, or indeed any, will 

 be so lar satisfied by the resiilis of my expermicnls, 

 as to adopt my views instead of their own, sliil I 

 think it my duty to comnnmiraie that from whicli 

 1 have derivnl benefit, and others may, if any will 

 practise, and at leas; my testimony may strengthen 

 that of others, entitled to more weight. 



[n 1824 I moved to the place where I now re- 

 side, and commenced farming. I. fjiind the liirni 

 cultivated after the theii universal mode Ibliowed 

 in this section of country, the iliree-shill system, 

 to use the provincial term ; (if they had called it 

 the make-shift system I dare say it would have 

 been a betier one.) This system, il system it can 

 be called, [ followed np diligently for some years, 

 making and using all the ntauure the farm aflonl- 

 rd, and this was wli:it we called a good deal, and 

 all other means which I then knew of, for enrich- 

 ing land. But notwithstanding all my efl'orts, to 

 my surprise, I fijund my crops did not at a'l in- 

 crease, the corn crop remaining at about the same 

 as when I took possession of the farm, and the 

 wheat crop evidemlv,! think, declined. Findiriix 

 that my income did not at ail answer my expec- 

 tations, and not hkely to answer my wants, I de- 

 termined afier giving the ihree-shif^t systen', as ! 

 ihnnght, a lifir trial for 7 or 8 years, to abandon it, 

 and at once to cut each field into two, so making 

 ''\ fields out of the three. One I kept as a siand- 

 ing pasture, to aid the oilier field winch came into 

 pasiure in the reanlar i-otaiion of the five-field 

 system, whicli I then determined to adopt, fallow- 

 ing one each year iin wheat. This is now the 

 beginning of the Sh year since I cniTunenced this 

 p^stcni, and the oric-six'h fTocii.ices more wlie;it, 



or corn, or grass, than the third formerly did. My 

 land lias been regularly improving, as well as my 

 cr(i[)s and income bom the linm. 1 do not know 

 but that the income of the farm is approat hin.<i to 

 double what ii lormerly was. I should add thouL'h, 

 that for the last five years I have been mailing, b^^ 

 which my land has been greatly benefited ; but, as 

 I shall firesenily show, the inifirovement is not 

 aliogetber atiiibniable to the marl ; as I have an- 

 other fiirm under a different system, where marl 

 has been much more /ieclj' used than the one on 

 which I reside, which has not imjiroved in the 

 same ratio at all. When [ decided to change my 

 practice of liirminir, or to innovate upon the old 

 three-shift, I reflected maturely upon the several 

 systems that were Ibllowed in difierent pans of the 

 country. I first brought in review Arator's four- 

 field rotation, but the results I had witnessed from 

 that course I was not well pleased with. 1st. 

 Because the land gave no adequate return in 

 small grain; and 2dly, because I was fully satis- 

 fied in my own mind, that the lull t)enefil from 

 clover could not be derived, unless the crop was 

 turned in at mtiluriiy, that is, in the way of sum- 

 mer lidlow, befi)re the substance of the plant was 

 all, or nearly all, washed away by repeated rains, 

 and evaporation. From my experience I should 

 say, the most judicious lim« of turning in the clo- 

 ver crop wag when the first crop had fallen and 

 dried, and the second had arrived at full malurilv, 

 the head ripe enough for seed, but the plant not 

 dead. The substance of the first crop still mainly 

 in the stalk, and the second in its recent state, 

 thereby deriving the fu'l benefit of the dry and 

 green crop. 



I next thought of the four-field system as pur- 

 sued by some distinguished firmers on Jamea 

 River; but this too to me had very strong objec- 

 tions, noi withsiandiniT (he very high encomiums 

 fiassed upon it by some genileraen of known ta- 

 lents anil skill tis practical farmers, and whose 

 experience and correct observation was much be- 

 yimtl any thing I roulii pretend to lay claim to. 

 [iideed such was my confidence in those gentle- 

 men, that I was at one time almost tempted to 

 yield my own opinions to theirs; but I could not 

 be convinceil but that three grain crops in four 

 years, was too severe a rotation for almost any 

 land to bear, unless it was alretidy lich, and a good 

 dressing of manure could be applied to each crop, 

 which I knew could not be done in our country, 

 and that although it might answer on the more 

 fertile lands of the James, I was well aware that 

 on the sandy soils of our I'amunky flats, it would 

 not. I was always too fully persuaded that the 

 sandy nature of our lands required grazing once 

 in the rotation, for the double purpose of cleaning 

 and trampling the soil, thereby rendering it more 

 compact, and retentive of moisture and manure. 

 And airain, our light, warm soils, however defi- 

 cient they may be in the production of natural 

 grasses when enclosed, are certainly not in weeds, 

 whi' h I an) yei to be convinced are of any benefit 

 to the land, that is, thai they do not take "from the 

 land more than they give back, unless it is as pa- 

 bulum for marl or lime to act on, as vegetable 

 matter is essential in some sliape for the well act- 

 ing of calcareous matter. But when superadded 

 to my own views and o|)inions, I saw from a state- 

 ment of John A. Selden, esq., of Westover, that 

 a farm in Curl's Neck, which had the advantage 



