ROTATION OF CROPS. 295 



*' Wherever mixed agriculture is practicable, it results in vastly 

 " increasing the grand total of the yield of the fruits of the earth. 



'' That strange tendency of the American mind to run to 

 " extremes in every thing appears among the farmers as strongly as 

 " anyw^here else. If fine wool happens to be profitable to raise, a 

 *' fever takes hold of the owners of flocks, which soon becomes a 

 "mania. Individuals become noted as breeders. Some fancy 

 " name becomes famous, and the sheep of certain men rise in price, 

 " first to hundreds, soon to thousands of dollars each, until a single 

 '' animal has been sold for the price of a farm adequate to the sup- 

 " port, when managed by a rational man, of an ordinary family. 



*■'■ This sheep fever in due time results in over-production of wool ; 

 " low prices follow ; men begin to rub their eyes, as though waking 

 *' from some strange dream, and the bubble bursts. A reaction 

 " follows ; good sheep are slaughtered by the thousand, saving only 

 '' their pelts and tallow, and the business of wool-raising, as a regu- 

 " lar branch of farming, is as unduly depressed as at the time of the 

 "popular insanity it was unduly elevated. 



" A few men have made money ; many men have lost money ; 

 " but there has been one real gain. Sheep have been greatly 

 " improved, and the knowledge of the best manner of managing 

 " flocks has been very much extended. 



" FARM STOCK, WITH GRAIN-RAISING, IS NECESSARILY CON- 

 NECTED WITH A PROPER ROTATION. 



" In the rotation suggested in this paper, one-fifth of the farm 

 *' is pasture, besides the pasturage derived in the early spring from 

 " ground that is to be plowed for corn, and that which is derived 

 " from the fields from which wheat has been harvested. The 

 " wheat stubbles will, without injuring the grass, give a large 

 " amount of pasture — at a time when usually most desired — that 

 " will be fresh, and much liked by the farm stock. 



" A grain farm, under a proper rotation, will carry through the 

 "summer a large stock, and produce none the less grain, if we 

 " take a period of, say ten years, into account. This farm stock, 

 " in the winter, will work the corn-stalks and straw into manure. 



