1847.] Extracts. 109 



and pasture, the system of convertible husbandry \% founded; and 

 is unluckily less practised than it deserves to be. 



Fallowing, therefore, though in most cases absolutely necessary, 

 is always regretted, because the process is expensive without imme- 

 diate profit; and when a fallow on light soil is extended for wheat 

 to be sown at Michaelmas, the purpose of the fallow is completed; 

 that is, the soil is sufficiently reduced, the weeds destroyed, burnt, 

 or got off by the hrst of June, after which the land must lie naked 

 till wheat seed time. It was this circumstance, in all probability, 

 which first suggested the idea of raising an immediate crop on the 

 naked fallow. Any plant which would arrive at an useful degree 

 of perfection in the space of four months, would be of great im- 

 portance to the live stock farmer, and at the same time prevent 

 the naked soil from being parched and impoverished by the heat 

 of the midsummer sun. The clovers and their alliances were re- 

 commended, as well as several of the grasses; but the turnip and 

 its congeries were found the most eligible, whether to be eaten or 

 drawn on before wheat sowing, or to stand over the winter to be 

 eaten off in the spring. The introduction of the turnip upon the 

 fallows, formed quite an era in British farming; so satisfactory 

 was every trial of raising turnips on the fallow, that hardly any 

 other kind of plant was thought of as a substitute. 



This predilection for the turnip, in a very short time produced 

 a very material change in the general system of farming. It in- 

 troduced the foiir course rotation of cropping over all the lighter 

 descriptions of land in the kingdom; and of course the general 

 practice became much more uniform and successful. But this 

 uniformity of culture, and constantly recurring crops of the same 

 kinds upon the same fields, began to show, that there was not a 

 sufficient variety of plants in the rotation. Some of them exhi- 

 bited unusual weakness. Broad clover was one of the first that 

 gave signs of being tired of land where it had often been grown 

 before; wheat appears to be less abundant than formerly; and even 

 the turnip itself presents signs of deciepitude. 



These failures can only be attributed to the too frequent repeti- 

 tion of the same crops on the same fields; the attention of farmers 

 has been awakened to the subject, and it is matter of serious con- 

 sideration with every thinking man, how far our present manage- 

 ment of free soils, as respects the rotation of the crops, may be 

 improved by the introduction of new plants, and to which the 

 land would be a congenial bed; that is, not already tired. 



Such additions can only be pasture or fodder plants, either of 

 which would be a valuable boon to the live stock farmer, or to 

 any one washing to increase his live stock. Because, according 

 to the number of the tlocks and herds that can be well kept 

 throughout the year on any farm, in like proportion w^ill be the 



