550 OCTOBER. 



COURSES OF CROPS. 



I esteem this to be the most important subject 

 that has been treated of by the modern writers of 

 husbandry, and that on which they have thrown far 

 more light than upon any other circumstance in 

 agriculture. It is a very singular and remarkable 

 circumstance, that before the reign of his present 

 Majesty, notwithstanding the multitude of books 

 on Agriculture, there is not one author who had 

 any tolerable ideas upon this subject, or even an- 

 nexed to it any importance. They recite courses 

 good, bad, and execrable, in the same tone, as mat- 

 ters not open to praise or censure, and unconnected 

 with any principles that could throw light on the 

 arrangement of fields. But, when once the idea 

 was properly started, its importance presently be- 

 came obvious, so that thirty years have carried to 

 great perfection the precepts which practice has 

 afforded in this branch of rural economy. This 

 subject will demand a principal attention from our 

 young farmer, who should well consider the courses 

 to which his soil is applicable. 



General Principle. It is now well known that 

 some crops exhaust land much more than others: 

 that some, notwithstanding they exhaust, return, 

 by being consumed on the farm, as much, or more, 

 than they drew from the soil in their growth : that 

 some admit profitable tillage and cleaning while 

 growing; and consequently, clean, instead of ren- 

 dering the land foul with weeds ; while others, not 



admitting 



