372 



Rotation of Crops. 



Vol. V 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Improved System — Rotation of Crops. 



Mr. Editor, — Although my time and at- 

 tention have already been sufficiently taxed 

 in commenting on articles contained in the 

 April No. of the " Farmers' Cabinet," yet I 

 must say a word, by way of reply, to our ag- 

 ricultural friend who hails "all the way" from 

 Hannibal, Missouri. I allude to John M. 

 Johnson, who requests information under the 

 above head, and is not too modest to enrol his 

 real name on our list, that he may be ad- 

 dressed, should occasion require. 



The very best rotation of crops, is a sub- 

 ject vastly more important than any other 

 one connected with the farming business. 

 As such, it has been for years to me a matter 

 of deep anxiety and interest, the object being, 

 to digest a system, which shall in its detail, 

 yield the greatest immediate return, and ul- 

 timately improve the fertility of the soil ; — to 

 bean augmenting and ameliorating system — 



a desideratum to farmers of more intrinsic 

 value than a remedy for the Hessian fly and 

 " cause and remedy" for mildew combined ; 

 because this system will prove, in its very 

 operation, the best cure for all these evils, of 

 any yet known. Farmers may expatiate as 

 they please, about the cause and effect of all 

 the ills that wheat is " heir to," yet in the 

 main, the whole may be ascribed to a bad, 

 exhausting, and depleting system of rotation. 

 Take the seasons as they come, and is not 

 the best grain found always on the richest 

 ground, cultivation in other respects corre- 

 sponding] 



The inquiring farmer of Missouri, proposes 

 to lay off his farm in eight fields ; so I shall 

 submit a system — that has cost some labour 

 and experience — in tabular form ; and which, 

 if adopted in a proper spirit, may be enclosed 

 in a frame for convenient reference. It will 

 be observed, the ruinous practice of ♦' wheat 

 after wheat" is entirely obviated ; I, too, prac- 

 tise what I here preach. 



Where there is not sufficient available ma- 

 nure, the field of oats may be fallow; but 

 if the means of accumulating manure, on a 

 good farm, be well husbanded, which can be 

 done by compost to any extent, the wheat- 

 stubble should and can be manured for corn, 

 and the oat-stubble also for wheat. The se- 

 cond crop of clover is ploughed under, to ma- 

 nure the wheat. Corn, oats and rye, all ex- 

 hausting crops, it will be observed, can only 

 occupy each field once in eight years, while 

 each field is twice well manured with stable 

 manure in the same term of years, in addition 

 to the clover ploughed under. Barley may 

 be substituted wholly or in part for oats. 

 Being partial to the permanent pasture af- 

 forded by our native green grass, I keep an 

 additional enclosure for that purpose, and 

 mow both clover-fields, which, in addition to 

 the corn-fodder, will winter a large stock, 

 using the straw only for litter. Although 

 formerly partial to timothy for hay, I would 

 not now tolerate it, under the above system. 

 My reasons are plain ; clover hay made on 

 the plan of curing in the cock {or shade,) in- 

 stead of scattering it out to the breeze, sun, 

 dew and rain, I prefer to timothy hay for all 

 purposes ; while the former, belonging as it 

 does to the leguminous class of plants, is 



ameliorating, and a fertilizer, the latter being 

 of the tuberous rooted or culmiferous class of 

 plants, exhausting the soil by feeding on the 

 specific food of wheat, is a sterilizer. I beg 

 to ask one question of Mr. Johnson — why 

 does he insist on the cultivation of roots for 

 stock in a soil so exuberant that 100 bushels 

 corn may be raised to the acre, and with less 

 expense and trouble] Would the farmers 

 of Europe, who occupy the beet zone, and 

 raise beets, turnips, &c., more nutritious than 

 we can by odds, •' touch them with a ten-foot 

 pole," as food for stock, if their climate would 

 mature corn"? Well, I myself have tried 

 roots, and would not condemn them wholly; 

 but I contend, the acre of ground forced by 

 manure and culture, producing a good crop 

 of beets, will, under like circumstances, pro- 

 duce an equal, if not greater amount of solid 

 nutriment, in the shape of corn. If Mr. John- 

 son must experiment with beets, they may be 

 cultivated in his corn-field, without obstruct- 

 ing the above system. But mark, if the sys- 

 tem of rotation above described, on account 

 of furnishing the best food for stock, summer 

 and winter, and insuring good crops, while 

 it improves the soil, does not meet general 

 favour, long after the present mania and fever 

 for beet culture shall have collapsed, to be 



