N E \V E N GLAND FARM E R 



JVXEita, !s43. 



404 



ns I suppr)sc, (if dorivifif; n liru-n pnrtiiin of their] on llie Cuiiiiccticut river, tlic proprietor of which lotion. Thi? very best rotation tlicn, (niul penile 



suatcnanci! froiii llie ainu/.spheic. N'liv jist in loliHiini Ihur, wiilioul niiy nianiirc, iUnd cuntitined 

 proportion as suppurL id iii;riv(;(l fr^iin this source, a to proUoce };ooJ crops ol wheal for thiitij yc.ira in 

 less amount is needed from the liuiil, and therefore ■ snccesiiion. In corroboration of this, 1 »ell recol- 

 1 CSS injury is done to tlie land in producing its j lect that, when I was a boy, my niolhor had her 

 crop. But ihc sentiment I wish to inculcate is, j cotton patch, which continued to produce the same 

 simply, that the injury done by one crop cnn ne»er, I crop year aller year, for \ know not how lun;; a 

 by any rotation whatevi:r, be repiired by another, i lime. Tlii'rc was also on tlic same farm, a sweet 



On the other hand, this second cr.ip, when removed, 

 docs but increase the injury done by the first. 



But it will be inquired, do you advise a siicces- 

 aion of the same crop on the same land, without re- 

 gard to variation of any kiiid.^ To this I reply, 

 thot I see no objection to il, pruvuttd there is fer- 

 tility enouj;;h in llio land to sustain it; or in de- 

 fault of this, thai the deficiency be supplied from 

 some foreign source. The general theory on lliis 

 subject, if I uiider-tand it, is the foUowini.': that 

 the land contains certain ingredients ; that some of 

 these iiijiredicnls are eiiiled to one crop, wliilst 

 others are adapted to other crops; and that these 

 several crops, durin;; their gro>vth, ap|)ropriate to 

 themselves only what is proper for llwrn, leiivini; 

 the residue for others which are to follow. Now, 

 if this theory be true, then it follows that rotation 

 ia not only necessary, liiit that croppinff cannot be 

 carried on without il. This whole theory turns 

 opon this one point: Arc there in fact peculi ir in- 

 gradients in the soil, suited to a particular crop ; 

 and may these be so taken up by that crop, as to 

 render the soil unlit to reproduce rlie same ? To 



potato patch which shared pncisely the same fate. 

 In addition to this, it is within my knowledge, and 

 can be proved by hundreds of others, that the late 

 Dr. Tiizewell continued to cultivate corn on one 

 of his lots near my farm, for more than ten years 



men "ill suicly thank me for solvini; this difiicu 

 problem for them.) is that which brings the most 

 frequent and plentiful supplies of manure on tht 

 land. With this medicine, administered not in 

 broken doses, as timid physicians recommend thei 

 nostrums, but the whole portion swallowed down al 

 once, I have never known any rotation to fai 

 Grain crops may follow grain crops, and grass 

 crops may follow grass crops, or via versn, and 

 will find in the soil the very sptcial ingredient thai 

 ihey require 



Bill it was stated above that, in my opinion, 

 in succession ; and that his last crnp was inlcrior j some crops e.xhaust more than others. By this I |, 

 to his first, only in consequence of the exhaustion mean that some have a more pernicious and injii-l 

 of the land. Here then, is wheat, and cotton, and rioin effect on the land than others. I have no 

 sweet potatoes and nnrii, not one of which is dc- doubt that grain crops arc more injurious than 

 pendeut on a ro/a/i'on of crcip for their success. . grass crops. And why so? It is not because 

 But there is another deparlmeat, in which crop- the grass does nut, in common with the grain, lake 

 ping is going on, on a much larger scale, in whicli, up the nutriment of ihe soil, and thus impovcriah 

 as I think, I am borne out in the above position, it. The fact is, both are exhausters, whether to 

 This great department is the world — and the crops the same amount, I pretend not to determine. On* 

 are the immense forests with which it is covered, j thing, however, is certain, that land will continue 



lilj 



J»W 



din 

 lute 



rillS' 



*1" 



Now here is a great crop produced, and according 

 to my position, it must be at the expense of an 

 immense exhaustion. Here, too is no relief ari- 

 sing from rotation, for the same crop has been on 



to produce grass longer than grain: and the reason 

 is a very obvious one ; fur as soon as you remove 

 the grass, it makes an effort to recruit itself, and II 

 have known it to succeed in doing so, to the a- 

 moiinl of the first crop. The second crop then 



the land fur thousands of years. And yet this 



same good farmer, Nature, has so contrived, that : falling and decaying cm the land, contributes ma- 

 wiihout the least rotation in all th.at time, the fer- lerially to the fertility of the soil, and in this way 

 tility of all that land of which she has had the ex- we may account for the fertilizing effects of the^ 

 this I reply that there is one inoredient which, elusive management, has not only been maintained, j grass. The grain crop, however, being wholly ro 

 when exhausted, is destructive not only to /Au/ ''"' ''^^ """"^'^"l'." improved. Nature's farm pre- | moved, and making no effort to recover itself, musli 



crop, but to all other crops, and that ingredient is 

 fertUily ; and my theory is that this ingredient is 

 just as necessary to one crop as another. I will, 

 therefore, with the risk of a severe castigation 

 from some brother farmers, frankly acknowledge, 

 that I liavo no great fiiith in any rotation, from 

 which regular supplies of manure of some kind 



senls at this time a most singular anomaly of boar- necesaarily be a rapid exhauster. 



ing an increasingly heavy crop for thousands of But il will be objected that by following natnre'ii 



years in succession, and is at this day in better model, as so much lauded above, we shall defeat' 



n 



heart than it was when she took il in hand. Il is 

 simply because nature's wants are all real, and 

 therefore few. Her main object has been, what 

 ought to be the main object of every farmer, to 



are excluded. I will even go further, and say ! keep up the fertility of her land. And how ha 



she accomplished it ? Not by a rotation, but 

 simply by returning the crop to the land which 

 produced it. 



But whilst nature has constantly set this wise 

 and laudable example, man hascome in, and though 

 endowed with intellect, and calling himself the 

 " lord of the creation," has made a very poor affair 

 1 of Aii farming. He has taken his little patches, 

 and under the growings of his artificial wants, has 



that, in my view, it makes lull little difference 

 what the succrs^ion of crops n ay be, provided 

 there be a constant supply of enricliing materials 

 equal in amount to the crop which is removed. 



And now, as I confidently expect to be attacked 

 for this very heterodox sentiment, 1 will take the 

 liberty of making my defence in advance. And 

 here I would remark, that what I call fertility, a 

 term understood by every body, is expressed by 

 different writers by different names. Professor 

 Webster (I think it is) calls il Inimns, and Profes- 

 •or Dana calls it /j-cinc, and Liibig calls it ammo- 

 nia. Now, without resorting to long quotations, 

 which would inenly cumbir this piece and add 

 nothing to the argument, I will simply state that 

 these three learned gentlemen do agree that the 

 above are the only ingredients necessary lo the 

 thrift of a plant; and that wlierc they exist in 

 proper proportions in any soil, that sml is a fertile 

 one. Dr. Dana expressly says, (Second Report of 

 the Agriculture of Massachiisclls, pago U>'),] " If 

 we can induce the slate of geine best fitted for 

 each plant, then adieu to the doctrine of the neces 

 «ity of a rotation of crops." Bui in a plain discus- 

 sion, such as this is intended lo be, I would rather 

 rely upon common sense, supported by observa- 

 tion, Ihan upon any authority of the learned what- 

 ever. 



What are lUe fuels then in the case ? The Rev. 

 Mr Colmaii, cimimissioner of the above report, 

 states it as a fact, that ho saw a rich alluvion field 



one great object of all cultivation, which is to sup. 

 ply our iiuiiieroiis wants. Nature, il will be said, 

 has but (me want, and her whole crops go to the 

 supply of that one ; whilst man lias nnnicrout 

 wants, and therefore cannot be equally generous. 

 To this I reply, that the farmer's greatest want is 

 rich, productive land. His first care ought there- 

 fore to be to supply this want ; and if he can but 

 succeed in this, lie will find no great difficulty io 

 supplying all other reasonable wants. Kcrlile 

 lands will fill his corn-crib, and plenty of corn 

 will not only make his hogs merry, but will diffuse 

 an air of cheerfulness over the whole establish, 

 ment. But here is the rub. After nature's law 



taxed them lo the full nmoiint of their ability, and I has been violated, and by frequent removals of 

 pnatjng the whole products lo hiinself, and I the whole products, positive impoverishment has 



giving back nothing to the lands, has reduced both 

 tlicm and himself to a state of beggarly slarvatum. 

 .\nd now he is trying to repair the injury, by a ro- 

 tation of crops. This, as 1 think, is only calcula- 

 ted to mak-' matters worse. When I see land re- 

 fuse lo bring one crop, I consider this as plain evi. 

 dence that il will refuse to bring another. The 



ensued, how is the land to be resuscitated " To 

 this I reply again, that here is s cose lint is plainly 

 beyond the reach of any rotation in cropping II 

 is, however, a matter of comfort, that land labors 

 under but one single disease, and that is poverty. 

 Il is, however, highly infectious ; for it is almost 

 sure to communicate itself to the proprietor, and 



rotationist, however, is of a"different opinion. He [ then it spreads through the whole family ; and 

 tries corn, and fails ; he then tries wheat, and fails ; when the land, proprietor, and family are all down 

 also ; liis next effort is with clover — here is onother j together, the case is really a bad one. But <!ven 

 failure. His last resort is to black-eyed peas — I in this event, discouraging as it may seen, there it 

 these may be sprouted, but there will be a failure i a remedy. Swano, with his panacea, and Bran- 

 in this crop also. jdrelh, with his pil's, have each pretended that he 



Now what can bo the cause of all these succes- has discovered a remedy for .-^II the maladies that 

 sive failures.' iSome .ipccinl ingredient is wanting ' human nature is heir too. Now I pretend to no 

 in the soil. Yea 1 this is the trulh. .\nd what is (|imckery in human diseases, but I do think I hove 

 it? Learned men call it humus, or geine, or am- ' found a specific for the only disease that nfHicts 

 inonia ; but I call it by the vulgar name of nmniTf. j the land ; and this specific is not rotation, but en- 

 Put manure on the land, and it will bring corn, ' riching manures of some kind. How these ma- 

 and wheat, and clover, and peas, and any tiling I nures are to be obtained, I shall not now, of course, 

 else, and that without regard to any particular ro- | attempt to explain. Every one acquainted with 



