ROTATION OF CROPS. 



widely from that of Col. Taylor. This has 

 been, and I believe still is pursued with great 

 success by Hill Carter, of Shirley, John A. Sel- 

 den, of Westover, and has been on some other 

 of the best'lands on James River, where it has 

 since, in other hands, been either neglected or 

 abandoned, for some modification of the three- 

 shift rotation. This four-shift system is 



1st year, corn 



2d " wheat, and clover sown, and not 

 grazed 



3d " clover, not grazed, and ploughed in 

 deeply in August and September, 

 and the field sown in wheat 



4th " wheat, to be followed by corn, in 

 recommencing the rotation next 

 year. 



A sufficient standing pasture was kept on 

 other land. Mr. Carter, for a considerable 

 length of time, substituted oats for corn in the 

 first year. 



The farmers above named (whose accounts 

 of their systems and their products were re- 

 ported at length in vol. i., Far. Reg.), and others 

 also, undoubtedly made great crops, and great 

 improvement of land, under this very severe 

 rotation. But those results were due more to 

 the excellence of their general management 

 than to their rotation. None but admirable 

 executive farmers can possibly overcome the 

 great difficulties which accompany this rota- 

 tion. He who, in our dry climate, on a stiff 

 or even medium soil, can plough every August 

 and September one-fourth of all his arable sur- 

 face, to the depth of 8 or 10 inches, and turn in 

 and cover effectually a heavy coat of clover 

 and this without failing in any year shows 

 "thereby alone his ability to execute the most 

 arduous undertakings, and to do well every 

 thing which he may make a part of his general 

 plan of operations. This rotation, in such 

 hands as have directed it, has some admirable 

 features ; but it must be executed in the most 

 perfect manner, or these best features are lost, 

 and there will remain only the great evil of 

 three fibrous-rooted, narrow-leaved, and ex- 

 hausting grain crops, in succession. 



The great merit of the four-shift rotation, in 

 general, and considering it as embracing both 

 of these very different varieties, is its easy 

 adaptation to more mild or more severe culti- 

 vation, without any different arrangement or 

 number of fields. Thus, Taylor's rotation may 

 be rendered 'still milder (as is needed on the 

 poorest lands) by omitting the wheat crop ; 

 and as the land improves, the richer spots may 

 be thrown under the more severe cultivation 

 of the other four-shift system, as practised by 

 Mr. Carter or Mr. Selden. But, in any form, 

 the rotation still remains objectionable, for the 

 succession of grain crops (if there are even 

 two in the course), as well as for other things, 

 in one or the other variety, which have been 

 already stated. 



Every rotation yet known in Virginia is more 

 or less objectionable, upon one or more of the 

 following grounds : 



The adoption of certain usual crops, without 



regard to the various qualities and the wants 



of the soils, or even to the demand of the 



market. Thus every farmer sure to make 



54 



RUBBING-POST. 



corn and wheat (or oats) his principal, if net his 

 only crops. Thus, the fields are deprived uni- 

 versally of the most improving culture of roots, 

 which dip into and draw from the soil deeply : 

 and of pea crops, which feed on the air, and 

 give the product to the soil as manure ; and of 

 all annual green manure crops, which would 

 cleanse the soil by their getting in, their growth, 

 and ploughing under, as well as manure it ; and 

 the store cattle and hogs suffer for the want of 

 roots and other succulent food, and those which 

 are necessarily well fed consume grain almost 

 exclusively. Besides these and other objec- 

 tions, which any good practical farmer, or sound 

 theorist, would make, I would further object to 

 the great defect of the preparatory crop not 

 serving to destroy the weeds which will ob- 

 struct, and the insects which will prey on the 

 succeeding crop. Two great exceptions to this 

 last general fault are presented when wheat 

 follows clover, or tobacco, both of which are 

 plants of the broad-leaved kind, unlike in all 

 respects to the succeeding crop, and of such 

 unlike conditions also, that it may be presumed 

 that the growth of either has served well to 

 destroy many of both the weeds and insect 

 depredators, which are injurious to wheat. Ac- 

 cordingly, these two crops are the best forerun- 

 ners of wheat ; which after them always is an 

 excellent crop for the land and the season. 



Every well-informed farmer will agree to the 

 importance of there being more meliorating 

 crops introduced in our rotations more grass, 

 peas, roots, and broad-leaved vine crops. Bu 

 the objection always is to making crops for 

 which there is no sale or market demand. But 

 suppose there is no direct sale and money profit 

 made from hay or roots, they will yield as much 

 profit by being used to feed and fatten (not merely 

 to keep alive) the necessary farm-stock, and thus 

 allow to be sold the corn and other grain which 

 would be otherwise consumed by the animals, 

 with less relish and less benefit. 



While roots are totally wanting in our rota- 

 tions, one important ofiice is left unfilled, that 

 is, the deep piercing of the soil and thorough 

 opening of it by tap-rooted and tuberous-rooted 

 plants. Another thing wanting, is the plough- 

 ing under of pea or other annual green crops, 

 to cleanse, as well as to manure the soil. These 

 properly introduced, and the grain crops sepa- 

 rated by green crops, would produce rotations 

 far more improving to the land than any yet 

 known, and probably as much better for early 

 annual income as for improvement of the land, 

 the farmer's best capital. 



ROWAN TREE (Pyrus aucuparia). The 

 quicken tree, or mountain ash, as it is some- 

 times called, is a handsome tree, of slow 

 growth, with a tough, cross-grained, not very 

 hard wood, indigenous to our mountains, 

 woods, and hedges. The leaves are pinnate 

 scarcely a span long, composed of leaflets, uni 

 form, serrated, smooth. The fruit is globose, 

 scarlet, very juicy, sour, and bitter. They are 

 eagerly devoured by birds of the thrush kind 

 The fruit, also, when the bitter is extracted by 

 soaking it in water, may be made into a pre- 

 serve. 



RUBBING-POST. A stone pillar or pest set 

 up in a field for cattle, hogs, or other animala 



