262 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



tlieir brains, it might puzzle even a plirenologist to locate the 

 bumps of such a tangled intellect. 



Thus, it would seem that our system of rotation is no system 

 at all ; or nothing that deserves the name ; and, moreover, it 

 is pernicious in its operation. Here, again, the appeal must 

 be made to facts, for the truth of the observation. It promotes 

 the growth of one of the most pernicious weeds that infest our 

 soils. We refer to the common sorrel. By far the larger 

 portion of lands laid down to grass, for the first year, instead 

 of filling the eye with the beauty, and the air with the fragrance 

 of a luxuriant crop of clover, exhibit nothing but the dull red 

 hue of the blossoms of this unsightly and useless plant. The 

 enormous production, yearly, of its seeds, — which go directly 

 into the hay and thence into the manure heap and to the field 

 again, — should be enough for the entire condemnation of our 

 present practice, unless the evil should be proved to be with- 

 out remedy. 



And then, such a course can but be unsatisfactory in its re- 

 sults, for there is the unsightly field, there is the almost total 

 loss of one crop ; and, in its stead, a full harvest of a deadly 

 weed. What but disappointment and loss can follow. 



But, to proceed. Our subject naturally divides itself into 

 two parts, viz. : the kinds of crops to be cultivated, and the 

 order in which they should follow each other, together with the 

 time which should be allotted to the course. 



In regard to the first point, general and long-continued usage 

 has decided what crops come within the range of most success- 

 ful cultivation ; and, among them, first on the list stands grass. 

 By universal consent. New England is a grass, rather than a 

 grain growing country. That this is our great staple, any one 

 will acknowledge, after having observed how large a propor- 

 tion of the land is devoted to this crop. He who has what is 

 called a good grass farm, is considered as possessing one of the 

 first requisites to successful farming, and justly so. For, while 

 the cultivation of the cereals is attended with much labor and 

 some uncertainty, — the grass crop, when the ground is properly 

 prepared, is almost always sure, and the cost of securing it is 

 comparatively light. A very good test of its importance may 

 be observed in the general anxiety felt, when there is danger 



