On Eolations of Crops. 378 



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Of the various Sorts of Rotations. 



It is not unusual, in treating of this branch of the inquiry, 

 to consider rotations, merely as they are applicable to diffe- 

 rent soils, for instance, sand, gravel, clay, loam, &c. ; but 

 the subject will be better understood, by discussing the 

 -different courses of crops, according to the number of years 

 they respectively require to finish the rotation / specifying, at 

 the same time, the soils for which they are respectively the 

 best calculated. 



In particular cases, some farmers have adopted a course 

 of only two years 1 crops, as wheat, with crops of potatoes or 

 beans, alternately. On the richest loams, or alluvial soils, 

 reclaimed from the sea, or in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of large towns, where any quantity of manure can be com- 

 manded, such a system may be practicable, but in other si- 

 tuations it cannot be safely adopted. A farmer who had 

 followed this plan for the space of fourteen years near a town, 

 during which he had four crops of potatoes, three of beans, 

 and seven of wheat, found, though the quantity of produce 

 had not diminished, yet that the quality of the wheat and 

 beans had degenerated. In Essex, however, on a soil of pe- 

 culiar excellence, wheat and beans were tried for 36 years 

 in succession, and continued profitable during all that period. 

 There are many farmers in the neighbourhood of London 

 also, who obtain three crops, every two years, as, 1. Winter 

 tares and turnips ; and, 2. Corn, generally wheat ; and pre- 

 serve their land in as clean and rich a state as could be de- 

 sired. This system is more profitable than any other, and 

 may be found applicable to a larger proportion of the south- 

 ern districts of England, than is commonly imagined (* 53 ). 



We shall now proceed to consider, what may be properly 

 called a rotation, where the course commences with a clean- 

 sing crop. 



Three Years' Rotation. Mr Mundy, in Derbyshire, has 

 adopted with success the following course : 1. Swedish tur- 

 nips ; 2. Barley ; 3. Clover (* 54 ). But the most productive 

 course of cropping, for a period of three years, commencing 

 with what may be called, under proper management, a cleans- 

 ing crop, was that adopted by Mr Greenhill, in Essex : 1. 

 Potatoes ; 2. Wheat ; 3. Clover. He manured amply for 

 potatoes, of which he raised from eight to ten tons : his 

 wheat usually produced about forty bushels ; and he com- 

 monly had four tons of hay per acre. This system has been 



