182 



Rotation of Crops. 



Vol. X. 



Product of cheese. — The following' state- 

 ment I found in a newspaper, the year not 

 recollected. " Israel Cole, of Berkshire, 

 Mass., made this season, 16,000 lbs. of cheese 

 from the milk of twenty-eight cows; being 

 on an average 571 lbs. to each cow. He 

 gives the whey to the cows mixed with 

 meal — doubtless corn-meal." 



J. M. 



PhilaJelphia, Dec. 19th, 1845. 



Rotation of Crops. 



From Dr. Muse's Address before the New 

 Castle Count j^ Ai^ricidtural Societij, on 

 the ISth of Ni7ith month last. 



A QUESTION has been started upon very 

 eminent authority, of the truth of the doc- 

 trine of "Rotation," and of that of the "sup- 

 posed necessity of a change of seed." 



One of my predecessors, in this highly 

 honourable station, which I now occupy, the 

 Hon. James M. Garnett, has controverted 

 the truth, or force of this doctrine, in a cor- 

 respondence a few years past, with the "Al- 

 "Ijany Cultivator," which lately attracted my 

 attention ; and moreover, these sentiments 

 are, to my knowledge, entertained by fnany 

 intelligent farmers, and therefore become 

 worthy of a serious notice. 



Mr. Garnett adduced as evidence against 

 that doctrine, the universal practice in Ac- 

 comac and Northampton, Virginia; where, 

 he says, " two white crops of grain, corn 

 and oats, constantly follow each other every 

 year, without perceptible deterioration, as 

 the owners all assert ; and without any re- 

 turn to the land, except the dead natural 

 growth of the pea." He adds, " in several 

 other parts of Virginia, he has known simi- 

 lar practice and results — and, indeed the 

 growth of corn alone, xoiih.out rest for twenty 

 years — and i\\e cxo]^s undiminished f "also, 

 of garden vegetables, the same seed, in the 

 same squares, for eighteen, years, unim- 

 paired." 



But for this able and highly distinguished 

 authority, I would not hold this question 

 worthy of discussion, before this assemblage 

 of skill and science. 



The facts stated, are no doubt correct, but 

 circumstances unknown to him, may have 

 existed, to occasion the paradox. 



A brief view of this subject may conclude 

 the question and remove the erroneous im- 

 pression. 



Different genera and species of plants no- 

 toriously contain different proximate princi- 

 ples, composed of different elementary ma- 

 terials, or different proportions of them — 

 supplied by the soil — by putrescent manures, 

 and by the atmosphere — a truth undeniably 



established by chemical analysis, as well as 

 obvious to all who enjoy the tvvo natural 

 senses of taste and smell. 



The inorganic portion of the supplies is 

 to be found in the soil; and tlie soil must 

 contain them in quantity and variety suited 

 to the wants of the peculiar species of plant, 

 or the crop will perish : when other plants, 

 wanting other elements of nutriment, may- 

 find an ample supply for their growth and 

 maturity. 



Though a different base may be substi- 

 tuted, as a vicarious and imperfect agent for 

 the true one, which was absent, yet the plant 

 in such case, will not flourish. 



The organic elem.ents are supplied by the 

 putrescent manures and the atmosphere; and 

 come within the scope of i-he same category, 

 or class of conditions with the inorganic. 



But, inasmuch as the nutriment furnished 

 and that appropriated by the plant, must of 

 necessity, be chemically identical, and dif- 

 ferent species contain different principles, it 

 follows that one species continued in the 

 same soil uninterruptedly, would consume 

 and exhaust the peculiar elements of its 

 food, sooner than a series of unlike species 

 requiring different elements, or different 

 proportions of them; and consequently, that 

 a change, or alternation of species, is an es- 

 sential point of economy in general culture, 

 by which a " quasi repose," in the interval, 

 is obtained for the recovery of the consumed 

 |materials of nutrition before the second se- 

 jrics may have commenced: this was a truth 

 known in the days of the Mantuan Farmer, 

 "sic quoque mutatis requiescunl selibus 

 arva." 



For example — one groupe — the legumi- 

 nous, as beans and peas require, according 

 to Liebig, hut a sm.all portion of the alka- 

 lies; the culmiferous, as wheat and oats, re- 

 quire much of the alkalies and pliosphates; 

 tobacco consumes much alkali and no phos- 

 phates. 



From these examples may be deduced a 

 set of principles unquestionably sound, and 

 in accordance with rotation and manifesting 

 its necessity. 



The climate too must be consulted in the 

 selection of our crops: for instance, the beet 

 is more profitable in a cold climate; this root 

 requires much nitrogen ; and as Liebig states 

 — the secretion of sugar will be diminished 

 as the supply of this element may be want- 

 ing; and, as the last product of animal de- 

 composition is, in cold climates, ammonia, 

 wliich is rapidly converted into nitric acid 

 in the warmer, the alkali of the plant, will 

 engross the acid; and the supply of nitrogen 

 will consequently be deficient, and the sac- 

 charine matter therefore not so abundant; 



