133 



We cannot in any respect contravene the laws of nature. In 

 that unbroken chain of mutual use and dependence, which 

 pervades universal nature, the fertility of the earth can be 

 maintained only by a return to it, in an altered form, of its 

 own products. In a region like the county of Franklin, where 

 there are no extraordinary resources for maniu'e, either vegeta- 

 ble or mineral, the more pains and vigilance are required in 

 husbanding what they have. The manure heap must be con- 

 sidered as the gold mine of the farmer. 



In planting Indian and broom corn, the manure is usu- 

 ally applied in the hill. This is not the best mode of appli- 

 cation, but is adopted with a view to making it go farther, 

 a less quantity being required when placed in the hill than 

 when applied broadcast over the field. The manure is almost 

 always applied to the first crop in the rotation ; and usually at 

 the rate of eight or ten buck-loads to the acre ; a buck-load 

 being considered as about forty bushels. No great exactness, 

 however, prevails in any case.* 



\ 



XIV. Rotation of Crops. — I have alluded to the rotation 

 of crops, a matter which perhaps I should have sooner touched 

 upon. Little of what may be called systematic husbandry 

 prevails in any part of Massachusetts ; and the crops which are 

 cultivated, and the manner in which they succeed each other, 

 are rather dictated by accident or convenience than by any 

 well-considered principles of vegetation. Experience has long 

 since demonstrated that the same vegetable cannot be advan- 

 tageously cultivated, year after year without interruption, upon 

 the same land ; that in order to the largest product there must 

 be a change of crop, or the land must be suffered for a year or 

 more to lie in fallow. It has been found that some crops may 

 be repeated oftener than others ; and that some cannot be culti- 

 vated on the same land oftener than once in five or even twelve 

 years, while others require an interval of only two or three. 

 It is found, likewise, that, although in many cases the replen- 



* Appendix, C. 



