ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 11 



at a just conclusion as to the cost to the farmer of his working 

 horses per diem. The subject of the rotations of crops has 

 been already touched upon, but it may be well to impress 

 the importance of this section of agricultural knowledge a 

 little deeper upon the attention of my readers. The theory 

 of crop rotation involves not only the question of exhaustion 

 of the soil, but many other considerations. A rotation of 

 crops ought to be so constructed as to conduce to cleanliness 

 or freedom from weeds ; it ought also to be so contrived as to 

 give a regular supply of food for live stock at all periods of 

 the year. It ought to conduce to regular employment of 

 horses and of men, and its wonderful power of restoring to 

 land its wholesomeness for sheep ought not to be lost sight 

 of. Every good farmer knows as a matter of experience that 

 sheep will thrive better the first time they are folded over 

 a piece of clover or rape than they will at a later period of 

 the same season when again carried over the same area. 

 The ground becomes stained or sour, and, although the effect 

 may not be injurious upon cattle or older sheep, yet lambs 

 soon give indications that they are not doing so well as could 

 be wished. If it were not for the intervening corn crop we 

 should find our soils unwholesome for sheep stock. If there 

 were no other reason for continuing corn-growing upon our 

 chalk and limestone soils, the restoration of a healthy con- 

 dition with reference to sheep would in itself be an ample 

 reason for continuing the growth of cereals. The endless 

 variety of rotations, and the varying proportion which they 

 give of roots, corn, and grass offer an excellent theme for 

 exercise and instruction. The modifications of the Norfolk 

 four-course rotation alone, and the curious manner in which 

 certain crops can be substituted for each other so as to 

 lengthen the interval between similar crops, while at the 

 same time the general character or principle of the rotation 

 is not interfered with, might well occupy some hours. 





