452 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 



Manuring has been aptly denominated the 

 moving power in agricultui'al enterprises — the 

 steam engine which propels the vessel, — and if 

 so, a proper and judicious succession or rotation 

 of crops may be considered the rudder which 

 guides or directs its course. 



We have not, in this country, any general or 

 common system of rotation, and have as yet 

 made but a remote approximation to the accura- 

 cy which characterizes the movements of agricul- 

 ture in Great Britain, Germany, and many other 

 European countries, where the art of agriculture 

 has been longer practised, and where its laws are 

 better defined and understood. 



The courses which have been most generally in- 

 troduced, are the following : — 



I. 1st year, corn and roots well manured; 2d 

 year, wheat sown with clover, 15 lbs. per acre ; 

 3d year, clover one or more years, according to 

 the fertility and amount of manure at hand. 



II. 1st year, corn and roots with all the man- 

 ure ; 2d year, barley and peas ; 3d year, wheat 

 sown with clover ; 4-th year, clover, one or more 

 years. 



III. 1st year, corn and roots with all the man- 

 ure ; 2d year, barley ; 3d year, wheat sown with 

 clover ; 4th year, pasture ; 5th year, meadow ; 

 6th year, fallow ; 7th year, wheat ; 8th year, 

 oats sown with clover ; 9th year, pasture or 

 meadow. 



It will be noticed that in each of these three 

 courses, the number of fields corresponds with 

 the number of changes — the first is three, the 

 second four, and the third nine. As to the prac- 

 ticability of rendering a thorough and complete 

 course of rotation economical at first, on our 

 farms, there may be some question ; yet that the 

 system is philosophically predicated, and suscep- 

 tible of successful adoption, under favorable cir- 

 cumstances, is quite probable. A principal ob- 

 jection will be found as existing in the extra ex- 

 tent of fencing required in subdividing the farm 

 properly. 



Another objection would be found by us in the 

 year of rest which the soil finds in the nine-course 

 system ; that is, leaving the fields falloio, or in 

 furrow, and perhaps, plowed two or three times in 

 the course of the year, when it recuperates, not 

 only by not being cropped, but being mellow and 

 porous, draws largely from the enriching influen- 

 ces of the atmosphere, and is thus enriched for 

 future cultivation. In fallowing, therefore, a con- 

 siderable portion of the labor required for a crop 

 must be performed without any present return 

 whatever. 



The soundness of this practice is generally 

 questioned in this country, but probably upon 

 no better data than vague supposition ; as we 



have never known of a single experiment as a 

 test, nor seen one related. The English people 

 have brought the art of cultivating the earth too 

 near to a system, and are too critical and observ- 

 ing, to continue a practice of this kind through a 

 long series of years, unless it were based on some 

 sound principles of utility. 



We hope some of our farmers, such as Mr. 

 Fay, of Lynn, Brown, of Marblehead, Waters, 

 of Beverly, Sutton or Ayres, of Salem, and 

 many others who have extensive farms, will 

 make careful experiments on this point, and let 

 the result be known. 



One thing with us is certain, and is acknowl- 

 edged by all, and that is, that ice occupy too much 

 land — that the same manure now used, spread 

 on a less quantity of land, would produce far 

 more favorable results, — and when we feel that 

 we cannot spare the land for the year oi fallows, 

 or rest, we must remember that the English peo- 

 ple occupy less land and manure much higher 

 than we do, and therefore, can better afford to 

 let a portion of their soil rest. 



For the Keic England Farmer. 

 ; CULTIVATION" OF WINTER WHEAT. 



Mr. Brown: — Dear Sir, — Happening a day 

 or two since to meet my townsman, RuFUS Clark, 

 Esq., he remarked to me that he had been inter- 

 ested in the several articles in the Farmer, by 

 your able correspondent, Mr. Poor, upon the sub- 

 ject of raising winter wheat in New England ; 

 that, in consequence of Mr. Poor's suggestions, 

 he in the fall of 1857 sowed an acre and a half 

 with winter wheat ; and having succeeded in rais- 

 ing a good crop, he would like to show it to me. 

 I therefore called at Mr. Clark's place to-day, to 

 see his wheat, and gather the details of its culti- 

 vation. I present the results to the Farmer. 



The land that produced the wheat is of about 

 an average quality with the rest of Mr. Clark's 

 tillage land, and has had no extra cultivation 

 above his other fields. In 1854 it was manured 

 broadcast and planted with corn, and that Fall 

 sowed with winter rye, and stocked the following 

 Spring with clover and herdsgrass. In 1855 the 

 acre and a half yielded twenty-one bushels of 

 winter rye. In 1856 and 1857 the piece was in 

 mowing, yielding good crops of mostly clover, 

 hay. 



The first week in September, 1857, the acre 

 and a half was plowed up, and manured with a 

 compost made of muck and leached ashes, spread- 

 ing it on .top, about at the rate of fifteen ox cart 

 loads to the acre, and harrowing it in with the 

 wheat. The muck used had lain one year in a 

 heap in the barn-yard. Just before applying it to 

 the wheat land, about four bushels of leached 

 ashes were mixed with each load of muck. On 

 the 12th of September two and a half bushels of 

 winter wheat were sown on the acre and a half; 

 and early this Spring it Avas stocked with grass 

 seeds. 



The first week in July last, the grain was cut 

 and stookjfd, and made sixty stooks, of twelve 



