26 



The Potato in Relation to Rotations. 



During recent years, owing to the changes which 

 have been necessarily brought about on account of the 

 unremunerative state of corn-growing, much less atten- 

 tion is paid to orthodox rotations. In some districts 

 the course of cropping had not deviated for a long 

 period, but it has been found in many cases that 

 rotations which were suitable when corn-growing was 

 the remunerative part of farming are no longer profit- 

 able ; consequently the potato, a crop more extensively 

 grown than in the past, frequently finds a place in 

 rotations which it did not previously take. 



The Four-course Rotation. 



Where grown in the most simple of all rota- 

 tions, the four-course, it takes the place of a portion 

 of the fallow or root crop, but the four-course has 

 disappeared altogether from some large districts 

 where it was the only rotation followed. The four- 

 course has more often been extended into a five-course, 

 and the potato crop follows the root crop. When the 

 root crop is fed on the land the soil is usually found to 

 be in good condition manurially, and the working it 

 received when undergoing preparation for the root 

 crop has a beneficial influence on the succeeding crop. 

 When this system is followed it is well to get the 

 roots fed off as early as possible, so as to permit the 

 land being turned over in time to benefit by the frost. 

 If this is not done, and the roots are not eaten at a 

 time when the land is wet, the working of the land 



