74 AGRICULTURE. 



But from this display of folly let us iurn to one of 

 wisdom. 



On the rotation system, the whole arable part of 

 a farm is divided into four, six, or eight fields, and 

 subjected to a course of crops denominated, accord- 

 ing to the number of these divisions, the short, the 

 medium, or the long course. In constructing these 

 courses, however, whether long, middling, or short, 

 the utmost attention is paid to the nature of the 

 soil, viz., in all soils more wet than dry, more com- 

 pact than porous, more hard than friable, the course* 

 is made up of the following plants: Wheat, oats^ 

 buckwheat, the graminal grasses, beans, velchlings, 

 clover, cabbages, and chicory. In soils of an oppo- 

 site character, dry, porous, and friable, the plants 

 from which to choose are rye, spelts, barley, pota- 

 toes, turnips,* lupines, Indian corn, clover, sainfoin, and 

 many of the pasture grasses. In loams, which are 

 nearly an equal mixture of sand, clay, and decom- 

 posed vegetables, the choice of plants is much en- 

 larged ; embracing what is more peculiarly proper 

 for both sand and clay, and having, besides, the fol- 

 lowing plants from which to select : Rice, millet, 

 sorghum, or African millet, lucerne, indigo, cotton, 

 hops, tobacco, madder, hemp, flax, &c., &c. The fol- 

 lowing cases will sufficiently illustrate the princi- 

 ples on which they rest, viz., Never to select for a 

 crop plants not adapted to the soil ; and never, in any 

 soil, to permit two crops of the same species or kinds to 

 follow each other. 



2d. Of the rotation best adapted to our own soil, 

 meridian, and markets. 



Previously to entering upon this subject, it may 

 not be amiss to glance at the practice hitherto prev- 



* We here speak of the white turnip. The Ruta Saga, or 

 Swedish turnip, is classed by French agriculturists among the 

 products of strong, substantial clay soils. In the next chapter 

 we shall speak of the culture of some particular plants, and 

 among these, of the Swedish turnip. 



