THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



149 



except upon fertile land ; and the lertiiiiy oC the 

 land cannot be kept up vvilhout making a proper 

 return to the soil lor the corn lakca oil. All tluo 

 will be done by this rotation. 



The corn in this rotation is the only exhausting 

 crop. This exhaustion is more than supplied by 

 ihe ferliliziiig properiies ol' the rye and the clo- 

 ver. All thai IS j)roduccd ol boih rye and clovci 

 is returned to the ground, except so much as is 

 retained by the hogs to make Hesh and lai, and 

 this waste is more than replaced by supplies drawn 

 from the atmosphere. 



The corn supplies food to finish ladening, and 

 a part ol' this may be led in the held ivliere it 

 grew, thus adding to the lertility ol the soil. 

 Where the corn is thus led, rye may be sown in 

 the field a few days before the hogs are taken 

 out; and they in gathering corn will put the rye 

 well into Ihe ground. But I preler ploughing it 

 in, alter the hugs are taken out ol the held. 



Il the ground should break up cloddy the roller 

 and the harrow should be both used ; but if there 

 should not be many clods the harrow alone will 

 be sufficient to level the field. The importance 

 ol" a level surlace will be seen when the ground 

 is in clover, and when it comes to be ploughed the 

 next time. 



The rye will afford tlie hogs early spring graz- 

 ing and push them forward very fast with the ad- 

 dition of a little corn. This early spring grazing 

 is very beneficial to hogs, besides being a great 

 saving of more costly Ibod. The rye will keep 

 them until one of the clover fields is ready to re- 

 ceive them, which may be about the 20ih of April. 

 After they are put into the clover, if ihe weather 

 should be cold, so that there will probably be frost, 

 it would be well to take the hogs out of the clu- 

 ver field, and keep them cut, until the frost is oil 

 the next morning. Frost does not hurt clover 

 that is not disturbed at this time of year j but every 

 branch and leaf that is touched whilst the frost 

 is on It, dies down to the place where it was in- 

 jured. In this way I once had ten acres of clo- 

 ver nearly destroyed one morning, by one hun- 

 dred hogs passing through ana leeding on it, 

 whilst Ifozen. My other clover lots were not at 

 all injured by the Irost as they had no stock upon 

 them that morning. 



The clover will alibrd the hogs good grazing 

 unhl the rye is ready lor them, which will be 

 about the first of July. When the hogs are first 

 put into the rye, some should be cut and got out 

 and put in the paths which are made by the hogs, 

 that the young ones may learn to eat it, which 

 they do not always learn readily, unless they are 

 put in the way of knowing what it is. 



Now when the hogs are taken off'; one of the 

 clover fields may be saved for seed. The rye 

 will last the hogs, (if there is enough of it,) uniil 

 corn is sufficiently advanced to commence feed- 

 ing them with the new crop. And this is one of 

 the excellencies of rye, that it will keep in the 

 field longer than any of your small grains. If 

 there should not be enough rye, the hogs will go 

 into the clover fields again, and now, they would 

 pay well for having a little corn thrown to them 

 every day. 



The clover seed should be sown upon the rye 

 about the lOih of April. A bushel should be put 

 upon ten acres and as evenly distributed as [>os- 

 eible. A box ten or twelve leet long, made ol 



very light materials and having divisions every 

 loot, with holes in each division, sows clover seed 

 inure evenly than it can well be done by hand. 

 Alter the field has been once set in clover, the 

 seed should be allowed to ripen the fall it is in- 

 tended to plough it up ; which will furnish a suffi- 

 ciency ol' seed to keep up the rotation without 

 ouwiug again, il seed iii the chart is used there 

 should be a bushel per acre. 



In ihis rotation two bushels of rye should be 

 put to the acre. This quantity will supply more 

 grazing than would be hud from less seed, and will 

 also aUord a better crop, by supplying enough to 

 make up lor the roots that may he killed by the 

 hogs rooting them out of the ground. Hogs root in 

 grazing rye much less than would be expected. 



Tnen I lie rotation upon the hog farm will be 

 corn, rye, each one year; clover two years. 



Hut even on this Jarni I shall recommend ano- 

 ther rotation. The lanuly will want flour, and 

 wheat cannot be raised in a rotation with rj'o 

 without considerable mixiure with the rye. Then 

 here the rotation should be wheat, corn, wheat, 

 clover ploughed in the second year lor wheat 

 again. Upon these fields the manure from the 

 stables may be hauled the year it is in corn, and 

 the ashes and chip manure the year it is in clo- 

 ver. The spent ashes is a most excellent top 

 dressing to clover. Or the spent ashes may be 

 used as a top-dressing for the wheat crop, or ap- 

 plied to the growing corn crop. 



When the Itirtiliiy of the soil is sufficiently ad- 

 vanced ; two crojis of corn, iwo crops of rye and 

 two years in clover, may be the rotation. And 

 in very rich land the rotation lor several years to- 

 gether may be corn and rye alone. 



Froai many years trial of this rotation of corn 

 and rye, 1 cannot perceive that the soil has been 

 at all injured in its productiveness. I have raised 

 a crop of corn which was cut up in the usual 

 way, arsdihe field sowed in rye, which was eat 

 down with hogs. This affords a large coat of 

 straw to be ploughed under, and keeps the ground 

 in a loose, mellow, rich condition. Moreover the 

 corn crop in this rotation is easily worked. 



Oais may be substituted for the rye in some of 

 the fields in this rotation. The large Tartary or 

 Poland oat when fed down to hogs leaves as 

 much straw on the ground as rye. Oats bring 

 hogs forward faster than rye, and afford more 

 grain to the acre : these are advantages in favor 

 of the oat. But the oat does not stand up aa 

 well as the rye, is soon injured when it falls, 

 sprouis the first rain after it is on the ground and 

 must therefore be led off' very shortly after it is 

 ripe. If oats are raised in considerable quantities 

 for hogs it would be best lo cut and get out a 

 large portion of the crop for them, and only allow 

 the hogs to go into one of the fields that was not 

 too large for them to eat up before it would spoil. 

 Even where rye was the principal small grain 

 raised, it would be advantageous to have one 

 field of oats of such a size that it might be con- 

 sumed when ripe without waste. Where oats 

 has been raised, rye will grow well the next year, 

 il the oats are ploughed under and allowed to 

 come up before the rye is sowed. If the rye 

 is sown on the top of the ground and ploughed 

 under with the oats the first time of ploughing, 

 eo many of the oats will come up as to partially 

 smother Ihe rye and do it much injury. 



