THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



95 



gretted for corn, and would be bringing the three 

 grain crops and one year oC grazing ail in close 

 and rapid succession. On the other liand, not to 

 graze would be to insure a fine crop of vegetable 

 pests ; they in turn furnishing a nest to breed, and 

 a harbor to protect, an equal number of animal 

 ones. I shall revert to this system ; it has much 

 to recommend it. " Kivanna," a writer in the 

 8ih volume of the Farmers' Register, considers it 

 the beau-ideal of a system of rotation. By the 

 way, if his eye falls on these desultory reinaiks, 

 will he inform us whether his opinion is the 

 result of actual observation and experience, or a 

 deduction from theoretical principles? Dr. Brax- 

 ton too recommends it as highly improving alter 

 several years' experience. 



At this juncture there appeared in the volume 

 of the Register for 1839, several essays (I judged) 

 by the editor, in which he discussed the manuring 

 and cleansing of lands by their own growth, and 

 the application of the principles of the rotation of 

 crops. A suggestion there met with made me 

 hope that 1 could adopt the four-field and fallow 

 rotation, with all its great benefits, without any 

 detriment to the land ; which was, that by sow- 

 ing peas broadcast amongst the corn at the time 

 of'^laying it by, an excellent pea fallow might 

 be had the same fall. Such a pea crop would not 

 only be alternating the kinds of crop, but would 

 be furnishing enriching matter to I he land for its 

 improvement. I tried it ; but failed so completely 

 on the first trial that I was never after induced to 

 repeat it. Yet such practice is highly recom- 

 mended, and Mr. Braxton, in his valuable article 

 on rotation, in vol. viii., if I mistake not, says 

 that he has practised sowing peas in this way, 

 and with success. I also tried sowing buckwheat 

 in the same way, but with no better result. All 

 would not do. To the five-field rotation I was 

 driven. Having thus unconditionally made up 

 my mind to adopt five fields, 1 was anxious to 

 adopt llie plan most improving, and which also 

 would yield most immediate profit. I adopted a 

 system suggested in one of tiie above mentioned 

 essays, viz. : 



First year, corn. 



Second do. peas, fallowed in fall for wheat. 



Third do. wheat. 



Fourth, do. clover. 



Fifth do. wheat. 

 And wishing to derive every benefit, 1 also 

 adopted the recommendation of sowing the corn 

 field in rye in the fall ; the rye to be turned under 

 next spring while in flower for peas. I did not de- 

 rive the slightest benefit from the rye. If the 

 month of May happened to be dry, I found it very 

 laborious ploughing the land in rye, even when 

 other land did not appear very hard ; and 1 soon 

 became convinced that if any benefit did accrue 

 to the land from the rye, it was not sufficient 

 to remunerate me for expense of seed and plough- 

 ing. I have since seen, in one of Mr. Carter's 

 papers, that he came to the same conclusion with 

 regard to oats turned in for improvement, from 

 an experiment actually made. I also subsiiiuled, 

 when ill-supplied with seed-peas, buckwheat for 

 the peas. But I never found any benefit from 

 it. Nor ought it to have been expected. Both 

 rye and buckwheat are narrow-leaved, fibrous- 

 rooted, grain-producing plants, and no doubt must 

 draw nearly as much from, as they can return 

 toj the earth. 



My rotation now stands — 1st year corn, 2d 

 peas, Sd wheat, 4th clover partially grazed, (late,) 

 5th wheat. About half of the coin land is put in • 

 oats and sown in clover, leaving only half for peas 

 and wheat. That put in oats of course remains 

 two years in clover, and, with the help of a stand- 

 ing pasture, supports the stock, till timeto glean the 

 wheat fields, both of which are grazed moderately. 

 In fact I have come to the conclusion, that light or 

 corn land, like mine, to improve progressivehj, 

 must be grazed. There might be faster improve- 

 ment, lor a short time, without the hootj but it 

 would sooner cease to progress. 



To my present plan there are strong objections, 

 which I will briefly enumerate. Ist, the expense 

 and labor of the additional |>loughingfbrpeas, when 

 compared with the sowing of clover in the five- 

 field rotation of Mr. Wickham. 2d, clover is not 

 apt to succeed vpry well after the wheat on 

 the pea fallow. Whether the peas render the 

 land too porous, or whether the rank growth of 

 wheat which succeeds a rank growth of peas 

 smothers the clover, I am unable to say. A third 

 objection is, that the oal field, being loliowed Ivvo 

 years by clover, becomes very Ibul. And two 

 years in clover are necessary to bring that portion 

 into rotation with the other half of the field re- 

 served Ibr wheat. I select for the oats the most 

 rolling portion of the corn field, which is thereby 

 subjected to one ploughing less in tlie rotation 

 than the remainder of the field, and if it becumes 

 more foul, my idea was that it would be less apt 

 to wash ; and of the two, foulness or cullies, I 

 greatly preferred the (brmer. But even in this I 

 have been disappointed, for by this arrangement, 

 it will at once be seen that the land intended Ibr 

 oats lies throughout the winter without any vege- 

 table cover, and of course in the worst state for 

 the action of the rains. I believe that if I adopt- 

 ed the five-field system, marked below No. II, and 

 followed the corn by wheat on all the rolling parts 

 and by oats in all the level parts, the whole to 

 be sown in clover and fallowed the following fall 

 twelve months, that it would not only be better, 

 for guarding against washing, but also it would 

 be a more cleansing system, so far at any rate as 

 the oat land is concerned. 



I confess that I am now wavering between the 

 two systems and have not yet come to a final deter- 

 mination. If any brother farmer can aid me in 

 my quandary he will receive my warmest thanks. 

 I cannot do with less than five fields; and the 

 question is shall I adhere to my present five field 

 and (pea and clover) fallow rotation, or shall 1 

 adopt Mr. Wickham's system of five-fields, two 

 of which are in clover. To compare them better 

 I will place them in juxtaposition. 



/. Pea %• clover fields. II. Two clover fields. 

 1st year corn. 1. corn. 



2d " half in peas, and 2. half in wheat and 



half in oats. half in oats. 



3d " half in wheat & 3. clover, 

 half in clover. 4. wheat. 

 4ih " clover. 5, clover grazed. 



5th " wheat. 



I think both capital rotations, as free from objec- 

 tions as any rotation contained in 5 years or less 

 time can be, but they still have their objections, 

 some of which I have stated above with regard 

 to each one. Here I would only ask a single 

 question. Would as much wheat be made on 

 the 2d as on the 1st plan ? A reduction of the 



