134 



FARMERS' REGISTER— THE FOUR SHIFT SYSTEM. 



>vhich was left in the farm yard until the fall, the 

 next — and that which was ploughed under in April, 

 the worst. But in the ciops since tliat time, there 

 has been no dilference visil)Ie ; and all tlie pieces 

 of land are very much improved, so that 1 am of 

 the opinion stated before, that it is of little conse- 

 quence how you use manure, so that it is really 

 used — and that it is spread well over the surface, 

 which is very important. There is one exception 

 to the above opinion, if it could be practised — but 

 I have never seen the farmer in our climate in the 

 lower country who could. I allude to the winter 

 top dressing of wheat, which is certainly the quick- 

 est in its effect, and the most permanent in dura- 

 tion ; but we can never use it in that way to any 

 extent in our climate, for several reasons. Our 

 winters are so short, and the ground so rarely hard 

 frozen enough to haul upon, that it is impossible to 

 do much at this kind of work. We are compelled 

 to bed and furrow our land from one end to the 

 other, and if heavy wagons were to run upon it in 

 our wet winters, (and iliey are always wet,) both 

 the land and wheat would be ruined. But I have 

 not the least doubt, if it could be effected, th^t it is 

 the very best way of using manure. If done early 

 after sowing wheat, it improves the wheat ve- 

 ry much, and it insures a heavy crop of clover 

 after wheat, for it protects the clover from the 

 spring frosts, and enables you to sow your clover 

 seed early, which is very important on weak land ; 

 and then in the summer, it protects the young clo- 

 ver from our hot sun and great droughts which 

 we frequently have. I consider a good crop of 

 clover as equal to two manurings, and it is that 

 which makes the top dressing in winter so durable, 

 because it secures the clover. I top dress a little, 

 though very little, every winter, as much as we 

 have hard frozen ground to do it on : and I am 

 sure that I can go now and i)oint out every spot 

 that has been done so for the last ten years, so per- 

 manent is this way of manuring. 'There is fre- 

 quently great waste of manure from applying too 

 much to the acre. The object of a farmer should 

 be to cover a large surface with his manure, just 

 applying enough to make the clover take well, and 

 by plastering his clover he will have the best pos- 

 sible manure in a good clover lay. My practice 

 is to put twenty two good wagon loads of stable 

 manure to the acre, and tliirty very heavy wagon 

 loads of farm-pen manure to the acre ; (as that is 

 very inferior to the stal)le manure,) and in that 

 manner I get over about 50 acres of land per annum. 

 I will now return to the reasoning on the four 

 shift system. In the fourth place, our lands are very 

 liable to weeds of every kind, to onions, blue 

 grass, wire grass, partridge pea, and many others, 

 so that they require a spring hoe crop very fre- 

 quently to keep them clean ; the four shift sys- 

 tem with corn every fourth year, will do that 

 very effectually. I have tried the oat crop instead 

 of the corn crop as a cleanser, but it will not an- 

 swer. The oat crop is an effectual cleanser of 

 onions for the time being, that is to say your crop 

 of wheat for two or three years after the oats will 

 be perfectly free from onions, but they will return 

 after a while if you stop the oat system. But 

 the oats do not in the least prevent the growth of 

 blue grass, wire grass, or partridge pea, and a hoe 

 crop is the only remedy. I shall now be compell- 

 ed to my sorrow to abandon oats as a cleanser, and 

 substitute the corn crop, so foul has my land be- 



come of every thing except the onion, which the 

 oat crop has kept under. I have this year lost one 

 tiiird of my wheat by blue grass. I consider the 

 oat crop if a heavy one, fully as exhausting as the 

 corn crop ; and I do not regret being obliged to 

 abandon it and take up the corn crop, on that ac- 

 count, but I regret it on account of the onion, of 

 which tlie corn crop is not half so good a cleanser ; 

 and besides, I shall find it too laborious to cultivate 

 one fourth of my land in corn, in addition to my 

 swamp land : but it must be done — there is no al- 

 ternative, for the blue grass must be checked. 



Thefii'th and last reason in favor of the four shift 

 system, with standing pasture, is, that it requires 

 less fencing than any other. You may have your 

 four fields either under one fence, or divided into 

 two equal divisions, with a fence to each, which is 

 the most convenient, as you may then occasionally 

 graze your fields, when it will be least injurious.* 

 It will be found that the non-grazing system will 

 not do altogether ; for after a while the land be- 

 comes too much puffed up, and too full of vegeta- 

 ble matter, to make a good crop of wheat. That 

 may be remedied though, by grazing immediately 

 after hauling off your wheat every year : and pro- 

 vided you take your cattle off when ever the ground 

 is too wet it does not injure the young clover in the 

 least, but rather benefits it ; for clover like wheat, 

 requires tlie hoof on the land occasionally, or the 

 land becomes too porous and puffed up by the ve- 

 getable matter ; and besides, the young clover is 

 very mucli protected by the growth of weeds, 

 wliich require breaking and trampling down. — 

 You may graze your fields from which you have 

 taken your wheat, until you put your cattle up 

 into winter quarters, with the foregoing precaution 

 in wet weather. But never suffer any thing to 

 run on your clover field the year you expect to 

 fallow it. It is that which I have heretofore spo- 

 ken of as so objectionable. 



* By the following diagram it may be seen, that if the 

 four fields can be laid ofT by two lines intersecting near the 

 middle of the cultivated land, the half on the left, and 

 that on the right, will alternately be in wheat, and 

 therefore that a single dividing fence, {a, b,) will suffice 

 fo permit half the land to be grazed, after it is cleared of 

 the crop of wheat. 



