362 



ROT 



ROT 



A writer in (lie Mas«5achiJsetts 

 Agricultural Repository, Vol. V.. 

 page 326., recommend? the field 

 culture of roots for the consunjp 

 tion of stock, and as the priticipnl 

 dependence of the farmer for if>^ 

 w'ii.ter's support. He remark^, 

 that ' the connexion of root culti- 

 vation with a prosperous agricul- 

 ture is not a recent discovery, a! 

 though it is the great hoast of the 

 farming interest of England aiul 

 Sco'land. , More than tifty yeai- 

 ago. a Dutch farmer asserted (n 

 Jo-:eph Marshall, an intcllitient 

 Englishman, at that time tra\ elhnt', 

 through the northern kingdoms oi 

 Europe for agrindtural informa 

 tiot), ''that the foundation of ail 

 good agriculture was tlie raisin^^ 

 roofs as the winter food for cattle.'' 

 The reason is obvious. By (his 

 system the greatest quantity of 

 food is raised u[)on the smallesi 

 extent of land with the least labour. 

 Wiiat other cultivation can enable 

 a farmer to raise fifty, sixty, and 

 even one hundred tons of food of 

 an excellent quality upon a single 

 acre ? 



ROT, a disease in sheep, simi- 

 lar to a pulmonary consumption in 

 men. A writer in the Scots Far- 

 mer thinks that if the disease have 

 not proceeded far, the animals may 

 be cured by feeding on turnips. 

 But this is rather to be doubted. 

 It IS said to be caused by keeping 

 them in a pasture that is too moist, 

 producing rank atid watery grasses. 

 The raging of this distemper in a 

 flock, is stopped by removing them 

 to a dry situation : But the indi- 

 viduals which are deeply seiz<'d 

 with it, are seldom cured. Cough 



is a constant symptom. The lungs 

 decay, and the whole body droops 

 and languishes, in the same manner 

 as persons in a hectic. The sick 

 of the flock should be removed from 

 the sound sheep, that the infection 

 may spread no further among the 

 Hock. See Slipep. 



ROTATION of CROPS, a 

 eourse of ditftM'ent crops in succes- 

 sion, on the same piece of ground. 



The matter has not yet been 

 sufBciently attended to b} New 

 Ef gland Farmers. This a[)pears 

 by their often being necessitated 

 (o lay their tillage lands waste for 

 a considerable number of years, 

 'hat they may get recruited. Ttie 

 expense of recruiting worn out 

 'and is so great, that such a course 

 :»f crops ought to be preferred as 

 (he soil will bear without material 

 nijury, or without being too much 

 exhausted. And, when other things 

 are equal, such a course should be 

 adopted as requires the least la- 

 bour, or cost of manures and culti- 

 vation. When a course is well 

 ehosen, it may be repeated on the 

 same spot perpetually, without 

 damage to the soil. 



It is not to be expected, that the 

 best rules concerning this matter 

 can be established, but Irom the 

 experience of many years For 

 though it may be easy to compare 

 the respective advantages of difTe- 

 rent courses, in a few years, so as 

 to find which is more productive ; 

 it will take a much longer time to 

 determine wbiich course will be 

 best on the whole. For the state 

 of the soil, at the end of a long 

 eourse, is to be taken into the ac- 

 count. And it is to be remember- 



