OF ROTATION OP CROPS. 331 



answer on light soils ; and in regard to peas, on an average 

 of years, they are to be estimated at little more than the 

 value of their straw for fodder. 



Above forty-two years ago, John Mackenzie, Esq. of 

 Glasgow, adopted the following system: 1. Potatoes; 2. 

 Wheat; 3. Grass; 4. Pasture; 5. Oats; a plan which, he 

 maintains, has not yet been improved upon. On the sub- 

 ject of cropping, Mr Mackenzie observes, that whenever 

 the farmer discovers, that he can be as well paid, by culti- 

 vating food for the use of cattle, as for man, from the in- 

 creased quantity of manure procured under that system, 

 Britain will cease to find it necessary to import corn. 

 Grain, he adds, should in general never be sown, but when 

 the ground is laid down to grass, or ploughed from it.* 



On light soils, of moderate quality, a five-field course is 

 adopted, by that intelligent farmer Mr Charles Alexander, 

 viz. 1. Turnips; 2. Grain; 3. Grass; 4. Grass; 5. Grain. 



Upon moss or peaty soils, after effectual draining, the 

 following course is recommended : 1. Potatoes or turnips; 

 2. Barley or bear; 3. Clover; 4. Pasture; and, 5. Potatoe 

 oats, which would prove a most advantageous crop. Peaty 

 soils, however, are apt to get puffy by tillage, and require, 

 in general, more pasture to consolidate them. 



Mr Maxwell considers the following course of crops, for 

 five years, as preferable to every other: 1. A cleansing 



* Mr Cur wen concurs in these sentiments. He remarks, in his Re- 

 port to the Workington Society, anno 1810, p. 103, that the first lesson 

 in modern husbandry is, to correct and control too extensive ploughing, 

 which is effectually done, by confining the tenant to alternate white and 

 green crops. The proportion of green crops, with few exceptions, is too 

 little, even in the best cultivated farms in this country. When this shall 

 be fully understood, a great and essential point will be gained, and the 

 progress of good husbandry will become very rapid. 



