No. 1. 



Rotation of Crops. 



23 



pend it in reclaiming lands that are so im- 

 poverished and unproductive, while other 

 lands, rich and profitable, are so easily pro- 

 curable; but there are persons who have in- 

 telligence and industry, which, in such a 

 case, are a rich exchange for capital, to a 

 very considerable extent. 



After awhile, the manure of the cattle 

 would be increased, but that must not be laid 

 upon the land in its pure unmixed state; it 

 should be composted by mixing it with the 

 earth abovementioned, and with every other 

 article to be obtained upon the farm suitable 

 to the purpose; and after it has fermented 

 together and received a perfect degree of 

 pulverization, it might be spread abroad and 

 brushed into the sward by means of a hush 

 harrow, when it would bring forth " fruit a 

 hundred fold," And this business of forming 

 compost ought to be the chief employment of 

 the man who would procure the means of 

 living on land which does not now yield suf- 

 ficient to keep body and soul together, either 

 of man or beast. 



Perhaps 50 acres of such land would be 

 more profitable to a tenant than 200, and if 

 there were four dwellings upon the estate, it 

 would be desirable so to divide it ; but any 

 one taking the whole, must not at first expect 

 to be able to give more than the fair rent of 

 fifty acres; if he does, his ruin is sealed, and 

 he had better at once take up his residence 

 at the Palace on the banks of the Schuylkill, 

 which he would be sure to occupy in the end, 

 after expending his strength for "things that 

 are nought." D. 



Eastern Slioro, Maryland. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Rotation of Crops. 



Your correspondent R. W., who hails from 

 Chester county, in an article on Subsoil 

 Ploughing, in the last No. of the Cabinet, 

 seems to speak lightly of the " undeviating 

 course or rotation of crops believed in and 

 practised by the old-school farmers of that 

 county, viz., first a crop of corn, then oats, 

 then wheat and grasses, with the application 

 of what little manure chanced to be lodged 

 in the barn-yard during the wmter." Now, 

 in the first place, 1 do not consider this by 

 any means a fair description of the system 

 of farming in Chester county; but leaving 

 this matter out of view for the present, we 

 may observe, that although this rotation of 

 crops may not be the best for the advanced 

 state of agriculture, or for the newly sprung- 

 up demand for particular products, yet it is 

 perfectly well known to those whose remi- 

 niscences extend back beyond "two-score 

 years," that it has been immensely beneficial ; 

 and that to it and a liberal use of lime as a 



manure, are mainly owing the very rapid 

 advances which the farmers of that county 

 have made in wealth and agricultural im- 

 provement. It is these which have changed 

 the products of her soil from briars and thorns 

 — from fog-grass and broom-sedge, to clover 

 and timotliy, and a host of other valuable 

 grasses and grains, and made her once im- 

 poverished fields to " blossom like the rose." 

 A system, therefore, which has produced so 

 much prosperity, cannot be decidedly bad, and 

 ought not to be departed from, without good 

 and substantial reasons. And I think observa- 

 tion and experience will warrant the asser- 

 tion, that it is better calculated to perma- 

 nently improve worn-out lands, and at the 

 same time to keep them free from the usual 

 pestiferous weeds, than any other, embracing 

 no greater expenditure of labour and money, 

 in proportion to the return of crops, that has 

 yet been proposed. It ought also to be recol- 

 lected, that a very large portion of our state 

 is far, very far, behind the county of Chester, 

 in agricultural improvement, and that if the 

 same system of cropping which has unques- 

 tionably tended so much to her advancement, 

 could, with the proper modifications, be gene- 

 rally introduced throughout its whole extent, 

 incalculable advantage would be derived 

 therefrom — more, in my humble opinion, than 

 from all the patent gimcracks that have been 

 invented, and all the new-fangled systems of 

 farming that have been recommended, for the 

 last twenty years. 



The raising of grain, the rearing and fat- 

 tening of different kinds of stock, with an oc- 

 casional exchange of the latter employment 

 for the operations of the Dairy, must always 

 form the leading objects of the labours of the 

 great bulk of our farmers, whatever varia- 

 tions from these may be found necessary in 

 the confined neighbourhoods of large cities. 

 That system or rotation of crops, therefore, 

 which will enable the farmer to attain these 

 objects in a profitable manner, with the least 

 expense of labour or money, and at the same 

 time keep his land free of weeds, and in an 

 improving condition, would seem to be the 

 only proper one to be recommended for gene- 

 ral adoption. 



If any one knows of a better than that, so 

 long in use in Chester county, and which 

 your correspondent seems to consider as anti- 

 quated and behind the age, let him fairly 

 state it, and let it be as fairly tried, even 

 though it have less than half-a-score of years 

 of experience in its favour. After this, and 

 before a choice is made, let the present (or 

 old) system be critically examined, and its 

 advantages and disadvantages maturely weigh- 

 ed, and then, if the new is found the best, let 

 it be adopted. 



In conclusion, I would only further remark, 



