382 On Rotations of Crops. 



4. Pasture ; 5. Oats. In this course, there were only two 

 crops of corn, to three of green crops ; and it was ably 

 maintained, that when farmers should be convinced, that they 

 would be as well paid by cultivating food for the use of cattle 

 as for man, (from the increased quantity of manure procured 

 under that system), the importation of corn into this coun- 

 try, would cease to be necessary. It is a safe maxim, that 

 grain should only be sown, when the ground is laid down 

 to grass, or ploughed from it ( 26z ). 



Upon mossy or peaty soils, after effectual draining, the 

 following course is recommended; 1. Potatoes; 2. Rye; 

 3. Clover; 4. Pasture; and, 5. Oats, barley or big ( a<S3 ). 

 Peaty soils however, are apt to get puffy by tillage, and re- 

 quire, in general, pasture to consolidate them. They can- 

 not bear to be much exposed to drought, and they ought to 

 be kept level and close on the surface, and overshadowed 

 with the crop they bear. When nearly broken up, drilling 

 and hoeing ought to be avoided, as it is apt to convert the 

 peat into hard granulated matter, unfavourable to vegeta- 

 tion. 



An experienced farmer in Huntingdonshire, considered 

 the following course of crops preferable to every other : 1. A 

 cleansing crop, of whatever kind, as best suited to the soil, 

 as turnips, tares, or cole-seed, to be hoed, but not to stand 

 for seed ; 2. A crop of white corn, of the kind best suited to 

 the soil, to be laid down with seeds ; 3. Clover, either grazed 

 or mown ; 4. Beans, where suited to the soil, to be sheep- 

 fed and hoed, or some other meliorating crop adapted to the 

 soil; 5. White corn suited to the soil. He contended, that 

 however various the soils, and however different in their na- 

 ture, the same order or course of cropping ought to be pur- 

 sued, (fen lands always excepted), changing only the spe- 

 cies of the corn and vegetables, and adapting them to the 

 nature of the soil to be worked upon, and the demand in the 

 market, for the articles that are cultivated (* 64 ). 



It is obvious, that by such a system of cropping, a soil of 

 tolerable natural richness, might not only be supported 

 without foreign aid, but might increase in fertility. A cer- 

 tain degree of richness, however, is sufficient to produce 

 maximum crops of grain. Land may be too rich, as well as 

 too poor, for growing corn. The injudicious application of a 

 few cart-loads of manure, per acre, more than was required,, 

 has often rendered crops of wheat of little or no value. Up- 

 on lands made too rich, corn is very apt to lodge, which not 



