12 



FARMERS' REGISTER— ROTATION OF CROPS. 



principles of a rotation of crops that, the return of 

 the same vegetable, of the same field, or of vege- 

 tables approaching each other in character, should 

 be removed as far as possible. 



By a judicious succession of broad and narrow- 

 leaved crops ; of fibrous and tap-rooted plants ; and 

 by an interchange of vegetables of different char- 

 acters, the cultivator will be able to adapt his 

 crops to the actual state of the fertility of his soil ; 

 and at the same time, to maintain it in a progres- 

 sive state of improvea"ient. 



But in obtaining this he has not accomplished 

 all that is required. The order of his crops may 

 be such, as not to admit of stirring the earth, and 

 of draAving it up to the growing plant ; operations 

 which are absolutely necessary to the eradication 

 of weeds; which permit the free admission into 

 the soil of dew and heat, and of the gases, and 

 finer particles of nourishment which constitute, or 

 are found suspended in the atm.osphere ; and which 

 while by a minute division of the soil they make 

 it more absorbent of moisture, at the same time 

 prepare it for the more ready escape of whatever 

 is superfluous : operations, in fine, which contri- 

 bute eminently to tlie luxuriance of the growing 

 plant, and to the prosperity of subsequent crops ; 

 and which have been tbund to conduce essentially 

 to the preservation of the fertility of the soil. 



An attention to these points leads to a selection 

 of such a rotation as will alternate crops which of- 

 fer facilities in weeding and stirring the soil Vv'ith 

 others which do not : and to commence with a 

 cleansing crop v/henever the land is foul with 

 v/eeds, or is likely to be made so, by the applica- 

 tion of manures containing their seeds. 



As some plants require a greater degree'of fertil- 

 ity of soil to effect their full developement than 

 others; and as they require those principles of fer- 

 tility to be in different states of preparation, and to 

 a certain extent of different kinds, the cultivator 

 will perceive the necessity of applying his manure 

 to the most exhausting crop ; and so to arrange 

 the others, as that they may follow in the most fa- 

 vorable succession. Such a succession, as will 

 prevent that useless expenditure of manure, which 

 results from conveying, at one time, to the plant 

 more than it can consume ; and which must, there- 

 fore, in great part, be dissipated and lost in the at- 

 mosphere ; or which takes place, when the manure 

 is in such a state, that its fertilizing principles are 

 brought into operation, at a period too early, or 

 too late, to meet the exigences of the growing 

 plant. 



Such are the principles of the convertible hus- 

 bandry derived from the laws of vegetation. There 

 are others founded on the economy of labor, of time, 

 and of means. 



. The practical agriculturist will feel the necessi- 

 ty of making such an arrangement, that the labor 

 of preparing the soil, and sowing, cultivating, 

 harvesting, and getting his crops ready for market, 

 may follow in easy, regular, and economical suc- 

 cession. And tliat it shall be such, as to require 

 the least expenditure of manure and tillage, wliich 

 may be consistent with a state of the greatest pro- 

 ductiveness. 



He will also keep in mind that his profits depend 

 upon the economical employment not only of la- 

 bor, but of time and space. He will, therefore, 

 leave his land unoccupied by a crop as short a 

 time as possible and increase his products by the 



frequent introduction of double or secondary crops- 

 To this course, he will be the more strongly im- 

 pelled, v/hen he reflects, that, animal and vegeta- 

 ble manures, being volatile, are rapidly evapora- 

 ted into the atmosphere, whenever the surface of 

 the soil, in which they are contained, is exposed 

 to the action of the sun : that this suljfraction of 

 the fertility of the soil is greatest, when there are 

 no vegetables to be benefitted by it"; and that it is, 

 therefore, one of pure loss, unattended by any 

 equivalent or peculiar advantage of immediate pro- 

 duction, or of remote amelioration. He will not 

 allow his soil to clothe itself with a spontaneous 

 growth : for then that fertility is expended in use- 

 less weeds which might be converted into valua- 

 ble crops, and the selection of tlie plants, which 

 should be the result of choice, is left to chance, a 

 chance which is likely to intermingle exhausting 

 with ameliorating vegetables, with salutary gras- 

 ses, baneful v/eeds, whose ill effects, from the de- 

 posit of their seeds, will extend to subsequent 

 crops. 



In the preceding observations, an attempt has 

 been made to sketch out, and to elucidate by the 

 sound theories of science, those leading principles 

 of a rotation of crops, which have received the 

 sanction of the ablest practical and scientific agri- 

 culturalists. Before proceeding to illustrate them 

 by tlie practises of the best cultivated countries, 

 it may not be useless to present, in a more distinct 

 form, the following recapitulation. 



First principle. — In the selection of crops, to 

 consult tlie climate, soil, situation, the demand re- 

 sulting from markets, and the other circumstances 

 Vi'hich constitute the peculiarities of local position. 

 Second principle. — Plants possessing a system 

 of broad leaves, are to be alternated with those 

 having narrow leaves. 



Third principle. — Fibrous'rooted are to be alter- 

 nated with tap and tuberous rooted vegetables. 



Poiirth principle. — The recurrence of the same 

 plant, on the same field, or of plants of the same 

 character, is to be removed as far as possible. And 

 their return should be so much the longer delayed 

 as they have the longer occupied the soil. 



Fifth principle. — Plants which, during their 

 groAvth, require the operations of stirring the earth 

 and weeding, to be alternated with those which do 

 not. 



Sixth principle. — The application of manure to 

 be made to the most valuable and exhausting crops, 

 as far as may be consistent with the preceding prin- 

 ciple. 



Seventh principle. — The succession of crops 

 should be so arranged, that the work which they 

 require shall follow in easy, regular and economi- 

 cal order. 



Eighth principle. — Land should be left bare as 

 short a time as possible, and should be kept cover- 

 ed Avith plants valuable in themselves, or which 

 contribute to the increased value of those which 

 are to follow. 



The first example of a course of crops will be 

 draAvn from French Flanders, a part of Europe 

 inferior to no other in the value of its crops, the 

 garden-like culture of its fields, and the skill with 

 which its diversified products are combmed, which 

 claims to be the " true cradleof regular and syste- 

 matic rotations of crops,"* in which they have 



* y vart. 



