14 



FARMERS' REGISTER— ROTATION OF CROPS. 



with the less reluctance to the rotations of En- 

 gland. 



These are much less perfect than those of Flan- 

 ders, as they include, on strong clay lands, a naked 

 fallow, (a practice justly exploded by the best 

 agriculturists,) and from tlie climate and pecu- 

 liar circumstances of the countiy, admit a less va- 

 riety of plants, and conseqviently of a less pro- 

 tracted course of ci-ops. Tliese limited rotations 

 are, hov/ever, managed with much judgment. I 

 will instance only two. 



Tlie first is the celebrated Norfolk rotation, — 

 adapted to a sandy loom. The change which it 

 has produced in tlie agricultural character of the 

 country, is so notorious as to be familiar to all. — 

 An examination of the high state of culture, and 

 of the beautiful crops produced by it, on soils of 

 the most unpromising appearance, enable me to 

 bear personal testimony of its excellence. 



1st year. Turnips, on twenty-seven inch ridg- 

 es, with from eight to fifteen tons of manure, and 

 one-fourth of a ton of oil cake to the acre — pre- 

 ceded by four ploughings and harrowings, and 

 cultivated by two or three horse and hand hoeings. 

 The crop eat on the ground by sheep. 



2d year. Barley, sown in drills of seven inches, 

 without manure. Ten pounds of white clover and 

 sixteen quarts of rye grass seed so^vn with it. 



3d year. Clover and rye grass. 



4th year. Wheat, in drills nine inches apart. 



This course is sometimes prolonged to five 

 years, by continuing the clover and grass a second 

 year. 



Its excellencies are, that turnips and clover, — 

 which are ameliorating crops, are alternated with 

 baidey and wheat, which are exhausting; plants 

 with different systems of roots succeed each otlier; 

 the same plants recur only once; the manure is 

 applied to the preparatory and cleansing crop of 

 turnips, Vv'hich being an ameliorating one, and eat 

 on the ground by sheep, leaves the soil in a high 

 state of neatness and fertility, to receive the ex- 

 hausting crop of barley, which follows ; the inter- 

 val between the wheat and turnip crops admits of 

 the production of the fine tilth which the latter re- 

 quires ; the clover and grass induce the closeness 

 of staple desirable on a sandy soil for wheat, while 

 the treading of the land by sheep, corrects that 

 openness which is one of the defects of light, 

 gravelly lands. The faults in this course are, that 

 tliere is a waste of manure in feeding turnips on 

 the ground, and that the shortness of its duration 

 does not admit of the deficiency of manure which 

 results from this cause, and from the number of 

 exhausting crops being supplied from additional 

 ameliorating crops. These defects have led Mr. 

 Coke to combine it with a second rotation, — in 

 which a peas crop succeeds a second year of grass, 

 making a six years course of, 1st turnips, 2d bar- 

 ley, 3d cocks-foot and other grasses pastured, 4th 

 grass pastured, 5th peas, 6th wheat. In this ro- 

 tation the increase number of ameliorating crops, 

 corrects the defect of the preceding. 



The next examples which I shall offer to yovir 

 consideration are taken from Italy, a country 

 which, approaching our own in climate and vege- 

 table productions, becomes the more interesting to 

 us for modified imitation. 



On the rich alluvial plains of Po, in the vicinity 



of Parma, the ^following course of crops is that 

 generally pursued.* 



1st year. Indian corn and hemp, manured. 



2d year. Wheat. 



3d year. Winter beans. 



4th year. Wheat, manured. 



5th year. Clover, turned in after the first cut- 

 ting. 



6th year. Wheat. 



This is an instance of highly productive and 

 very exhausting rotation ; but which is sustained 

 by the great natural fertility of the soil, maintain- 

 ed by the abundance of manure, which is afforded 

 l)y an irrigated meadow of more than a fourth of 

 tiie extent of the arable land, cut three times a 

 year, and consumed by large stocks of cattle. 



On the rice lands of Lombardy, the rotation 

 adopted is of five years, being three years in rice, 

 and two in natural meadow. For three years the 

 land is planted in rice. " No manure is applied 

 during this time; the continuance of the water 

 would neutralize the effect, and its presence is suffi- 

 cient for the vegetation. But after these three con- 

 secutive crops, the exhausted earth requires sun, 

 air and repose. It is left uncultivated, and the 

 humidity produces a spontaneous growth of plants 

 adapted to the nature of the soil ; it is manured — 

 then only on the new sward, and during two years 

 an abundant but coarse crop of hay is gathered 

 from it."t 



This rotation is not cited as offering an example 

 for imitation, but merely to show the necessity 

 which, in a country so fertile as Lombardy and. 

 Avhere there is a command of water, is deemed to 

 exist of manuring, and of restoring to a dry cul- 

 ture and a change of plants in the cultivation of 

 rice. 



In the valley of the Arno, in Tuscany, the fol- 

 lowing course of four years, is a common one. J 



1st year. Wheat, followed in autumn by hari- 

 cot beans, intermixed with Indian corn. 



2d year. Wheat, followed by lupins. 



3d year. Wheat, followed by a forage crop. 



4th year. Indian corn, millet or sorgho. 

 Being seven crops in four years, of which four are 

 exhausting and three ameliorating. We have in 

 this example, an admirable instance of great pro- 

 ductiveness, resulting from the introduction of 

 secondary crops, which at the same time happily 

 interrupt the succession of the exhausting plants. 

 It is owing to the latter cause, to great natural fer- 

 tility, the highest cultivation, and to irrigation, — 

 that the soil is not exhausted under this rotation, 

 which has been adopted to meet the exigencies of 

 a very dense population. 



I will detain the society, to present to their con- 

 sideration only one more example of rotation, — 

 drawn from the vicinity of Sorento, in the king- 

 dom of Naples, in which our great staple is intro- 

 duced. 



1st year. Indian corn, manured. 



2d year. Wheat, followed by beans. 



3d year. Cotton. 



4th year. Wheat, folloAved by purple clover. 



5th year. Melons, followed by legumes. 

 Producing eight crops in five years. " It is im- 

 possible,'' says Chateauvieux, " to make a better ar- 



* Lettres Ecrites d'ltalie a M. Pictet. 



f Chateauvieux. 



jSimonde Tableau de I'Agri: Toscane. 



