578 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



Iiave possessed u-hen this course commenced. 

 The iiiipraciicabiliiy of doing (hat wiiliout eum- 

 nier food for cattle, and with no winter food but 

 what the ofl'al of the wheat and corn afford?, must 

 cause this rotation to be rejected at once. If it 

 was possible to ensure a good crop of clover, after 

 every crop of wheat, I believe allernaie cro[)s of 

 wheat and clover would be made without injury 

 to the land : but the clover crop is too uncertain 

 to be relied upon for this. It is rare that clover 

 succeeds after a heavy crop of wheat, by which it 

 is subject to be emolliered ; it is likewise liable to 

 be killed by hosle and severe droughts, in its in- 

 fant state, and it is said that land tires of it as 

 Boon as of any crop. 



Three years' rulaiion, — Corn, wheat and pas- 

 ture ; this is the most common rotation practised 

 in Virginia. Under this rotation, as under the 

 last, the lands have grown worse yearly, as under 

 that, most of the maxims upon which judicious 

 rotations are founded are violated. There is not 

 a proper mixture of grain and green crops ; the 

 grain crops perpetually succeed each other, and 

 the proportion of land in grain is loo great. If 

 the farm were in good order when this rotation 

 commenced, and the land regularly sown wi'h red 

 clover when in wheat, and plastered (he spring 

 when the clover was sown, and the plaster re- 

 peated the next year, and a sufiicient stock kept 

 to convert all (he ofTal of (he corn and wheat into 

 manure, it is possible that the land would not be 

 rapidly injured. If this course were observed, the 

 materials lor making manure would be so abun- 

 dant, there is no question it could be made in 

 large quantities, the who'e produce of the (arm 

 coniributing to it; upon this plan much reliance 

 must be placed upon soiling, which the experience 

 of many years has taught me is a precarious de- 

 pendence in this climate. I am far from recom- 

 mending this rotation except upon rich boilom 

 land ; but if it be pursued, I do recommend it 

 upon (he plan here suggested, with the addition 

 of some provision of grass land lor early and mid- 

 Eummer pasture. One twelfth part o)' the most 

 suitable land on the farm cannot be more benefi- 

 cially employed than in this wa}'. I consider cat- 

 tle and hogs as an essential (o every (arm, not 

 only for the purpose of making the manure neces- 

 sfiry lor (he farm, but as the only means of sup- 

 plying the country with food from our own re- 

 sources. A farmer should buy nothing that he 

 can make or raise for the use of the farm. If 

 whore the three years' rotation is practised, (he 

 liirm should be thrown into four divisions, and one 

 of them is kept in grass liir |)asture, and thrown 

 out of the rotation lor several years, the land may 

 possibly imjirove in fertility, if there should be 

 proper exertions to make and apply manure. 



Four years' rotation. — Admits of greater vari- 

 ety in (he succession of crop^^. The course mos( 

 approved in (he country below (he falls of ihe 

 river, which is generally denominated the corn 

 country, from that grain being considered (he sta- 

 ple of that district, is corn, wheat, and two years 

 in clover, lis etiiecls I have had no opportunity 

 of judging of; it is recommended in euidi s(rong 

 terms by the president of our society, that I can 

 have no doubt of its advantages in that tract of 

 country which is better adapted to corn than to 

 wheat. It gives a greater proportion of corn and 

 less ol wheat, than 1 have been accustomed to 



make, or than it is advisable to attempt in a broken 

 stony country, inconvenient to market, and where 

 manual labor does not abound. In a tract of 

 country above the liills, and below the iilue Ridge, 

 wheat is consideied the staple. An increase of 

 the quantity of corn is no compensation for a di- 

 minished crop of wheat. One fourth of a farm in 

 wheat, and that after corn, when the crop is al- 

 ways worse than after fallow, is not considered 

 enough. I once cultivated a plantation in a rota- 

 tion of four years. INly course was corn, wheat, 

 clover, wheat, and the plantation evidently grew 

 worse. I should remark, that during that experi- 

 ment, the fields were not pastured, nor was I very 

 successful wiih the clover crop, it having failed 

 more than once. Three crops of grain in four 

 years are' too many for any high land. If the 

 plantatiDn had been laid ofi' in five fields, and one 

 field had been alternately (brown out of (he course, 

 as suggested in the three years' rotation, the bene- 

 fit to the land and to the stock from a portion of 

 the land being for a number of years in grass 

 would be attained. So fiir as my experience or 

 observation goes, wheat may succeed clover with 

 every prospect of a good crop. Sir John Sinclair, 

 however, states it to be ihe opinion of many of 

 the most inlelligent and successful farmers in 

 Scotland, that clover land ought not to be sown 

 in wheat. There may be some difference in the 

 climate or soil of the two countries, lliat may 

 make the difl'erence upon this subject. However, 

 it is proper that every judicious man should be on 

 the look out, as our experience has not been such 

 as to be conclusive. When (his rotation is prac- 

 tised, I would pasture moderately the clover field 

 the last year it is in grass. In every rotation 

 where the land is to remain not more than (wo 

 years in grass, I am decidedly of opinion, that 

 clover seed should be sown on every crop of wheat, 

 at the rate of a bushel of clean seed to ten acres. 

 The cost of the seed is no consideration in compa- 

 rison with the value of the crop or the improve- 

 ment of the land from it. Many people believe, 

 that afier clover is onfe well taken, it is unneces- 

 sary to sow again; land will sometimes reseed 

 itself, but it will more frequently fail. The fiimous 

 Norfolk four years' rotation, which has made that 

 one of the most productive counties in England, 

 is turnips, barley, clover, wheat ; the land always 

 manured for turnips, and the turnips fed off by 

 sheep, which is a dressinir twice in four years. 



Fh^e years'' rotation. — This is the rotation prac- 

 tised by Mr. Wickham upon his hiixhly cultivated 

 and productive estate upon James River. Its suc- 

 cess recommends it highly on rich land. It has 

 been in use lor seventeen years; during that time 

 his crops have been the best upon the river, and 

 from what 1 hear, the average of (he last nine 

 years is at least double the first term. I have re- 

 peatedly seen his crops of wheat and clover fi-om 

 May (o harvest, and I have no hesitation in say- 

 ing, that they are (he best, taken throughout, I 

 ever saw. J have seen in other plantations, lo's 

 and parts of fields that were equal to his, but I 

 never saw entire fields under as good crops, either 

 of wheat or clover. Before this land came into 

 his hands, it had been cropped in the three years' 

 rotation. The succession of crops in his rotation 

 is, 1st corn, 2ii wheat, 3d clover, 4th wheat, 5th 

 clover. I consider his experiment as establishing, 

 ccnclusivcly, tiiat by the fice use of plaster of 



