212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 20. 1827J 



V<> 



From Loudonh Encyclopedia cf Jlgncalture. 



OF THE ROTATIONS OF CROPS SUITA- 

 BLE TO DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS 



OF SOILS. 

 The proper distritjution of crops, and a plan for 

 their succco.^ion, is one of the first subjects to 

 which a farmer newly entered on a furm requires 

 to direct Li.i attention. The kind of crops to be 

 raised are determined in a great measure by the 

 climate, soil, and demand ; and the qu;>ntity of 

 each, by the value, demand, and the adjustment of 

 farm labor. 



In the iidjustrae.nt of farm labor, the groat art is 

 to divide it as equally as possible throughout the 

 year. Thus it would not answer in any situation 

 to Bow.e.xclusivcly autumn crops, as wheat or rye ; 

 nor only spring crops, as oats or barley ; for by 

 so doing all the labor of seed time would come on 

 at once, and the same of harvest svorU, while the 

 rest of the year there would be little to uo on the 

 farm. But by sowing a portion of each of the.-^e 

 and otlier crops, the labor bath of seeJ-time and 

 harvest is divided and rendered easier, and more 

 likely to be done well end in eeapon. But this 

 point is so obvious as not to require elucidation-. 



The succession or rotation of crops, is a point on 

 which the :« 'fits of the farmer depend more than 

 on any other. It is remarked oy Arthur Young, 

 that the agricultural writers, previously to the 

 middle of the eighteenth century, paid but little or 

 no attention to it. They recite, he sayi^, courses 

 good, bad, and execrable, in the same tone ; as 

 matters not open to praise or censure, and uncon- 

 nected with any principles that could throw light 

 on the arrangement of fields. The first writer 

 who assigned due importance to the subject of -o- 

 tations, seems to have been the Rev. Adam Dick- 

 son, in his Treatise on .'igricul.hire, ]iublished in 

 EiJinburgh, in 1777; and soon afterwards Lord 

 Kaimea, in his Ocniteman Farmer, illustrates the 

 importance of the subject ; both writers were 

 probably led to it by observing the elTects of the 

 Norfdk husbandry, then beginning to be introduc- 

 ed to Berwickshire. But whatever may have been 

 the little attention paid to this subject by former 

 writers, the importance of the subject of rotations, 

 and the rule founded on the principles already laid 

 down, that culniiferous crops ripening their seeds 

 should not be repeated without the intervention of 

 pulse roots, herbage, or fallow, is now " recognis 

 ed in the practice and writings of all judicious cul 

 tivators, more genarally perhaps than any other." 

 Edit, nf Farmer's Mcig 

 The system of rotatiims is adopted for every joi! 

 though'no particular rotation can be given for any 

 one soil which will answer in all cases, as some- 

 thing depends on climate, and something also on 

 the kind of produce for which there is the great- 

 est market demand. But wherever the system of 

 rotations is followed, and the several processes nt 

 labor which belong to it properly executed, land 

 will rarely get into a foul and exhausted state ; or, 

 at least if foul and exhausted under a judicious ro- 

 tation, " matters would be ranch worse were any 

 other system followed." 



The particular crops which enter into a system 

 of rotation must obviously be such as are suited to 

 the Boil and climate, though as the valuable author 

 go often qiioted observes, " thoy will be somewhat 

 Taried by local circumstances ; such as the prox- 

 imity of towns and villages, whare there is a 

 greater demand for turnips, poiatoes, hay, &c. than 



in thinly-peopled districts. In general, beans and 

 clover, v\ith rye-grass, are interposed between 

 corn crops on clayey soils ; and turuijv?, potatoes, 

 and clover and rye-grass, on dry loams and sands, 

 or wiiat aVe technically known by the name of 

 turnip soils. A variety of other plants, such as 

 peas, tares, cabbages, and carrots, occupy a part, 



from a clayey to a sandy soil, other things bj 

 equal, are more productive than such as h] 

 grown on sandy soW.—Supp. Er.eye. Brii. 

 Agr. !44. [To be continued.] 



WINES AND GRAPES 

 We have before had occasion to speak of 

 though commonly but a small part, of that division I fruit garden and vineyard of Mr William Sha 

 of a fariri which is allotted to green crops. This i the corner of Prince and M'Oougal streets in 

 order of succession is called the system of alter- ! city, and of tlie remarkable success of that gent 

 nate hilshandry ; and on rich soilg, or such as have : nnu, not only in ^ine dressinnf, but in brinfjiijir 

 access to abuu.dance of putrescent manure, it is' kinds of truits which will grow in this climate, 

 certainly the most productive of all others, both in the fullest and richest perfection. And had it 

 food for man and for the inferior animals. . One been for his commands to the contrary, we shoH'i"'' 

 half of a farm is, in this co'irse, always under i more frequently have made our ackno'.vledo-emel 

 some of the different species of eeretd g-rorHina^ for the several baskets of delicious fruits 

 and the other half under pulse, roots, cultivated which he has presented us during the season, 

 herbage, or plain fallow. • Of grapes alone, Mr S. has this year sticcessfii] 



But the greater parfof the arable land of Brit- 1 cultivated sixty-eight varieties, and, in addition! 

 ain cannot be maintained in a fer;ile stmo under the bountiful supplies which he has generou: 

 this management: and sandy soils, even though furnished liis friends, he has sold :J()(MI pound 

 highly miuured, soon become loo incohesive under ^ gra|>es to a single purchaser the past season, o^ 

 a course of constant tillage. It, therefore, be- 1 rich a vintage as to bring 45 cents per lb. As 



Id ctli!i 



comes necessary to leave tliat division or break 

 that carries cultivated herbage, to be pastured for 

 two years or more, according to the degree of its 

 consistency and fertility ; and all the fields of a 

 farm are treated thus in their turn, if they require 

 it. This is called the system of conrerliUe hus- 

 bandry, a re)jular change being constantly going 

 on from aratiou to pasturage, and virc versa. 



Not to repeat the same Idnd of crop at too short 

 intervals is another rule with regard to the sue 

 cessioB of crops. Whatever may be the cause, 

 whether it is to be sought for in the nature of the 

 soil, or of the plants themselves, experience clear, 

 ly proves the advantages of intro.'uiing a diversity 

 of spscies into every course of cropping. When 

 land is pastured several years before it is brought 

 ajaiu under the plough, there may bo less need 

 for adhering steadily to this rule ; but the degen- 

 eracy of wheat and other corn crops recurring 

 upon the same land every second year for a long 

 period, has been very generally acknowledged. — 

 It is the same with what are called green crops ; 

 beans and peas, potatoes, turnips, and, in an es- 

 pecial manner, red clover, become all of them 

 much less productive, and much more liable to 

 disease, when they come into the course, upon the 

 same land, every second, third, or fourth year. — 

 But what the interval ought to bs has not yet been 

 determined, and ])robably cannot {from the great 

 number of years that experiments must be contin 



making wine, it is well known that the exotic v.i| 

 grapes, although they yield with great luxuria 

 are not as sweet here as in the countries whe 

 they are indigenous, and consequently tliey 

 not sweet enough for wine. Mr S. however, hi 

 been trying an e.\poriment by, 'niixing the foreij 

 grapes with the luscious Isabella, which is inulj 

 too sweet for wine, and the probability is, that j 

 compound will make a very rich wine. 



Mr S. has lately sailed for England, where itl 

 hi-i intention to visit all the principal nurseries,wil 

 a view of making very valuable additions to tB 

 horticultural treasures of our country. 



[N. Y.'Com. Adv.jJ 



NATURE OF SOILS. 

 All sands are hot and dry — all clays cold ai 

 wet ; and, therefore, the manuring sandy lam 

 with clay, or clay lands with sand, is best, for thf 

 changes the nature of the land itself; whereasi 

 dung, and other substances, afford only an inferior 

 and temporary improvement. Mixed soils, which 

 incline to the clayey kind, are best for corn and 

 pulse. But it is not the natural soil only thnt the 

 farmer ought to consider, but the depth of it, and 

 what lies immediately underneath it. For if the 

 richest soil is only seven or eight inches deep, 

 and lies on a cold wet clay or stone, it will not be 

 so fruitful as leaner soils that lie on a better un- 

 der stratum. Gravel is perhaps the best under 

 i stratum to make the land prolific. 



Lllii 



1,111' 



ued to give any certain result) be determined 



til the component parts of soils, and particularly I The best loams, and natural earths, are of a 

 the sort of vegetable nourishment which each spe- 1 bright brown, or hazely colour. Hence, tfiey are 

 cies of plant extracts from the soil, have been more called hazel loams. They cut smooth and tolera- 



fully investigated 



A change of the variet7, as well as of the spe- 

 cies, and even the plants of the same variety, is 

 found to be attended with advantage ; and in the 

 latter case, or a change of seed, the species and 

 variety being the same, the practice is almost uni- 

 versal. It is well known, tliat of two parcels of 

 wheat, for instance, as much alike in quality as 

 possible, the one, which had grown on a soil dif- 

 fering much from that on which it is to be sown 

 will yield a better produce than the other that 

 grew in the same, or a similar soil and climate. — 

 The farmers of Scotland, accordingly, find that 

 wheat from the south, even though it be not, a.s it 

 nsnally is. better than their own, is a very advan- 

 tageous change ; and oats and other grain, brought 



bly easy, without clinging to the spaite or plough 

 share ; are light, fiiable, and fall into small clods 

 without chapping or cracking in dry weather, or 

 turning into mortar when wet. Dark grey, and 

 russet mould, are accounted the next best. The 

 vvorst of all.are the light and dark ash coloured. — 

 The goodness of land may also be very well judg- 

 ed of by the smell and the touch. The best emi°s 

 a fresh pleasant scent on being dug or ploughed 

 up, especially after rain ; and being a just propor- 

 tion of sand and clay intimately blended, will not 

 stick much to the fingers on handling. But all 

 soils, however good, may be impoverished, an 1 

 even worn out by successive crops without rest, 

 especially if the ploughings are not very frequent- 

 ly repeated before the seed is sown. 



