260 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



THE ROTATION OF CROPS. 



BY T. G. HUNTINGTON. 



HAMPSHIRE. 



I propose to offer a few observations on that part of the 

 science and practice of agriculture, usually understood and 

 embraced by the term, rotation of crops. This is a branch of 

 the profession, in regard to the details of which, there is a 

 great variety of opinion ; and, if possible, a still greater variety 

 of practice ; although about the thing itself, there is not much 

 room for dispute. It will be as well, therefore, to preface my 

 remarks with a definition of terms. 



Rotation of crops, in general, may be defined the producing 

 upon a given piece of land, a series of crops in successive years, 

 without much regard to the nature of the soil, or to the inter- 

 vals, at which the course is to be repeated. This definition 

 describes well enough our common practice, which we believe, 

 in most instances, to be deficient in method, pernicious in its 

 operation, and unprofitable in its results. A much better 

 definition would be — the art of raising, upon a given lot of 

 land, such a series of crops in successive years and at such in- 

 tervals, that it shall yield the greatest profit to the producer 

 with the least exhaustion of the soil. It requires, for its most 

 successful application, a knowledge of the soils to be operated 

 upon, a mature experience, sound judgment, and a skilful appli- 

 ance of means. A judicious rotation of crops, therefore, lies at 

 the very foundation of good field husbandry, and no farmer 

 should be satisfied with himself, until he has put into practice a 

 system suitable to his land and remunerative to his purse- No 

 where, probably, has this branch of agriculture been carried to 

 such perfection as in England, Scotland, and perhaps some of 

 the continental states. A full persuasion of the necessity of 

 improvement in this respect, among our Massachusetts farmers, 

 must be my apology for this essay. I have remarked that our 

 common practice is deficient in method, pernicious in its opera- 

 tion, and unsatisfactory in its results. These are grave charges? 

 it must be confessed. Perhaps, before proceeding further, it 



