THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



231 



ravages of the famished cattle would let it have 

 rest, and the fourth year a crop of briers, sassafi-as, 

 persimmon, &c. So things continued, our airpi- 

 cultural prospects becomint? more and more 

 gloomy ; our population starved out at home, and 

 tbrced to the west in quest of land on which they 

 could live, until some one conceived the idei o! 

 interspersing a grass crop, which has proved ilseil' 

 to be the great renovator of worn out lands. The 

 rotations are now a vast deal more judicious than 

 formerly. Indeed, I know of no rotation now, in 

 which grass is not made to hold a conspicuous 

 rank, and to this some have added peas and oals, 

 to be turned in, in a green stale. But still this 

 subject continues to be a very vexed one, no g.^- 

 neral agreement having as ye"t been fixed on,''as 

 to how these several crops ought to succeed one 

 another. 



Hitherto I have maintained an entire silence 

 on this question ; and it has been a source of con- 

 siderable amusement to me lo watch the progress 

 ol that good natured and genteel controversy, in 

 which some of our most worthy and substantial 

 farmers are still engaged. And I think it more 

 than probable that it would be good policy in me 

 siill to maintain the same attitude. But as I shall 

 make an attack upon no person, nor upon the 

 favorite system of any one, but simply express my 

 own sentiments, I hope ray fellow (JHrmera will 

 take them for what they are worth ; and I hereby 

 bespeak their kindness, that if ihey think proper 

 to inflict upon me a casiigation, it may be as 

 moderate and gentle as possible. 



And now, that I may enter on the subject at 

 once, I would inquire, what is the great object of 

 all farming, rotation among the rest 1 ft is (i( 1 

 mistake not) to derive as large a product as pos- 

 sible from our lands, and at the same time to 

 leave them in a condition to produce as large or 

 even a greater amount in the eucceeding'crop. 

 11 the crop remain uniform and stationary" there 

 IS evidence that the fertility of the land is the 

 same; but if there bean increase or falling ofi' 

 of the crops, there is evidence of the increasino- or 

 decreasing fertility of the land. The power" of 

 production is therefore the great criterion by which 

 we are to test the true condition of our lands. 



Now the great desideratum in larming is to 

 make the lands highly productive, and°at the 

 same time maintain ihem in a state of continual 

 improvement. He who has arrived at this point, 

 has reached, as I think, the " Ultima Thule" of 

 good and skilful management. But the frpeat 

 matter is, by what rotation, or other expedient, is 

 this to be effected? To this 1 reply, that this 

 whole vexed question, on which there is almost 

 as great a variety of opinions as there are differ- 

 ent larmers to entertain them, is with me reduced 

 to the limits of a mere " nut-shell." iVJy theory 

 IS, that all crops whatever, whether corn, wheat 

 clover or what not, especially if permitted to ma- 

 ture themselves, and then removed fi-om the land, 

 are, from their very nature, exhausting. This 

 ir'/lf fo"feded, the matter is made very plain. 

 «J the land undergoing cultivation is already rich, 

 and we merely wish. to maintain it in its present 

 condition, all we have to do is to return to it an 

 amount equivalent to that removed. Or if the 

 opject be to increase fertility, then the plan is to 



fn^.i!^ "*°^^ ^^^^ '^ '^'^^i ^^'ay. And in adjust- 

 ing this account, the land, if ! may be allowed the 



■expression, is rigidly and scrupulously exact. It 

 will tolerate no cheating nor imposi'ion whatever. 

 If more be taken than a just proportion, the barn 

 or corn crib will be filled, but it will be with a cor- 

 responding injury to (he land. Whereas, if we 

 proceed on a liberal principle, the land will not be 

 (lutdone in generosity, but will open her kind bo- 

 som and pour forth a bounlilul supply. It is, 

 therefore, in vain, as I think, to talk of one crop 

 as an enricher, and of another as an exhauster. 

 They are all, grain, grass and every thinff, ex- 

 hausters; and they are exhausters in proportion 

 to their own amount. If the crop be a heavy 

 one, the exhaustion is heavy, but if it be a light 

 one, the exhaustion is proportionably light. Now 

 I do not wish it to be understood, that I consider 

 all crops e^-wa//?/ exhausting. Some for instance 

 have broad leaves, for the express purpose, as 1 

 suppose, of deriving a large portion of their suste- 

 nance from the atmosphere. Now just in pro- 

 portion as support is derived from this source, a 

 less amount is needed from the land, and there- 

 lore less injury is done to the land in 'producing 

 its crop. But the sentiment I wish to inculcate 

 is, simply, that the injury done by one crop can 

 never, by any rotation whatever, be repaired by 

 another. On the other hand, this second crop, 

 when removed, does but increase the injury done 

 by the first. 



But it will be inquired, do you advise a suc- 

 cession of the same crop on the same land, with- 

 out regard to variation of any kind 1 To thia 

 I reply, that I see no objection to it, provided there 

 is fertility enough in the land to sustain it ; or in 

 default of this, that the deficiency be supplied 

 from some foreign source. The general theory 

 on this subject, if I understand it, is the following : 

 that the land contains certain ingredients ; that 

 some of these ingredients are suited to one crop, 

 whilst others are adapted to other. crops; and 

 that these several crops, during their growth, ap- 

 propriate to themselves only what is proper for 

 them, leaving the residue to others which are to 

 follow. Now, if this theory be true, then it follows 

 that rotation is not only necessary, but that crop- 

 pmg cannot be carried on without it. This wjiole 

 theory turns upon this one point : Are there in fact 

 peculiar ingredients in the soil, suited to a parti- 

 cular crop; and may these be so taken up by 

 that crop, as to render the soil unfit to reproduce 

 ihe same? To this I reply, that there is one in- 

 gredient which, when exhausted, is destructive 

 not only to that crop, but to all other crops, and 

 that ingredient is fertility ; and my theory is that 

 this ingredient is just as necessary to one' crop as 

 another. I will, therefore, with the risk of a se- 

 vere castigation from some brother farmers, frank- 

 ly acknowledge, that I have no great faith in any 

 rotation, from which regular supplies of manure 

 of some kind are excluded. I will even go further, 

 ' and say that, in my view, it makes but little dif- 

 ference what the succession of crops may be, 

 [ provided there be a constant supply of enriching 

 materials equal in amount to the crop which is 

 removed. 



And now, as I confidently expect to be attacked 

 for this very heterodox sentiment, I will take the 

 liberty of making my defence in advance. And 

 here I would remark, that what I call fertility, a 

 term understood by every body, is expressed by 

 different writers by different names. Professor 



