286 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



sideration, for it costs a good deal of trouble to arrange a farm 

 for a systematic course of rotation, and the trouble will be equally 

 great, if not even greater, in changing the system after it has once 

 been decided upon. 



If the system of soiling be adopted, either entirely or mainly, it 

 will be better, where it is practicable, to do away completely with 

 all interior fences, and to divide the land into so many parts as 

 there are crops to be grown, the crops of each to follow in the 

 course of the rotation. But where pasture forms a considerable 

 element fences will be necessary, and it should then be the study 

 of the farmer to make them conform as nearly as possible to the 

 requirements of his rotation, and, also, to the necessity, which 

 may be greater or less in different cases, of having more than one 

 field for pasture. 



It has been advocated by Prof. Ville and others, that, under 

 certain circumstances, where there is a ready sale for particular 

 crops, the system of rotation should be dispensed with, and that 

 only such crops should be grown as will find a ready market. 

 There is no doubt that, within certain limits, this course may be 

 followed with advantage ; but it is not a safe one to recommend 

 for any thing like general adoption, and it is only where the crop 

 grown is such as to keep the soil in a high state of fertility, or 

 where special fertilizers can be secured with special ease, that it 

 will be found at all practicable. Indeed, there is no case, so far 

 as my experience extends, except, perhaps, with the cultivation of 

 onions and permanent grasses, where purely agricultural crops 

 can be so well grown without rotation as with it. And, in ad- 

 dition to this, the advantage of having work for a given force of 

 men and teams during the whole season is a very great one, and 

 this is rarely compatible with the requirements of any special cul- 

 tivation. 



In certain favored districts, such as the blue-grass region of 

 Kentucky, it is best to keep the land in grass as long as possible — 

 indeed, sometimes it may be kept permanently in grass ; but on 

 average farms it will pay better, and, consequently, it will be better, 

 to constantly vary the crop to which any field is devoted. 



