292 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



" ing. Land free from stone and all other obstructions, and that 

 *' has been previously properly managed, can be perfectly cul- 

 '■'■ tivated by one plowing, that is, the furrow can be turned over 

 *' and pulverized, if the right plow is used, and the right man has 

 ** the holding of it. 



" MODIFICATIONS OF OUR ROTATIONS. 



" To carry out strictly the five-year rotation, we have to sup- 

 " pose the farm to be divided into five equal parts, and that the 

 *' owner will find it to his interest to raise crops in just the pro- 

 '' portion laid down. As has been already suggested, for Various 

 " reasons, this is not always so, and thus modifications are from 

 " year to year made. Some of them will now be stated. 



" The yield of grass the first year after the wheat has been 

 " taken ofF is much greater than it is the second year ; that is, a 

 " larger crop of hay can be cut the first year ; there is more 

 " clover this year than afterward. The convenience of the 

 " farmer often causes him to pasture the first year, until late in 

 '' August, and then by one perfect plowing turn all the clover 

 *' that he can and sow wheat. By just this process we have pro- 

 '' duced crops of wheat at the least cost per bushel of any we 

 " have raised. A case occurs to me in which we treated a 

 " twenty-acre field in this way, and got thirty-three bushels to 

 '' the acre. This was the cheapest wheat to us of any ever 

 *' raised on the farm. 



" The next year this land went into barley, followed by wheat, 

 '' when it was again seeded to grass. 



*' It has, in some few instances, happened that wheat has been 

 *' sown on wheat stubble, thus taking two wheat crops in suc- 

 " cession, sowing grass seed on the second crop. But this can 

 ''be justified only on land in high condition. 



*' Various other modifications, that will readily suggest them- 

 " selves to the minds of grain-raising farmers, become necessary 

 *' or verv convenient. But the leading point is constantly kept 

 '' in view. Fill the ground with clover-roots and the roots of 



