34 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



and leyuminnus crops. The first is so named from 

 culm, the stalk or stem of grains or grasses, usually 

 jointed and hollow, and supporting the leaves and 

 fructification. ' Our intention here is not to embrace 

 the grasses. Culmiferous crops are termed robbers, 

 or exhausters of the soil. This class includes wheat, 

 barley, oats, rye, Indian corn, tobacco, cotton, &c. 

 These are particularly exhausting during the process 

 of maturing their seeds. If cut green, or when iu 

 blossom, they are far less so. Leguminous crops, 

 literally, are peas, beans, and other pulse ; but here 

 the class is intended to embrace all which are consid- 

 ered as ameliorating or enriching crops, as potatoes, 

 turnips, carrots, beets, cabbages, and clover. These 

 latter are not only less exhausting than the culmifer- 

 ous class, as most of them do not mature their seeds, 

 and all, on account of their broad system of leaves, 

 draw moie or less nourishment from the atmosphere ; 

 but they improve the condition of the soil, by dividing 

 and loosening it with their tap and bulbous roots. 

 For these reasons they are called ameliorating or 

 enriching crops ; and as they generally receive ma- 

 nure and drill culture, they are peculiarly adapted to 

 enrich and fit the soil for the culmiferous class. 



Good husbandry enjoins that culmiferous and le- 

 guminous crops should alternate, or follow each 

 other in succession, except when grass is made to 

 intervene ; and it matters little which crops are se- 

 lected from the two classes. The good judgment of 

 the farmer may here be exercised to determine which 

 are likely to be to him the most advantageous. It 

 may be proper, however, to note two exceptions to 

 this rule ; Indian corn may, under certain contingen- 

 cies, be made to precede or follow another grain crop 

 to advantage, and oats may sometimes be profitably 

 sown as a fallow crop, to supersede a naked fallo'v, 

 preparatory to a crop^of wheat or rye. Some soils, 

 it is true, are more favourable to one kind of crop 

 than another ; as, for instance, calcareous clays and 



