174 FALLOW CROPS AND 



mended where manure is scarce ; as it is believed that ma- 

 nuring the first crop of the course well would keep up the 

 fertility upon lands not very light and sandy, as it would 

 embrace two grass leys. Where beets or carrots are to be 

 cultivated, they may be made to follow the dunged crop of 

 corn or potatoes, and be followed in their turn by barley, 

 or oats, or wheat, and grass-seeds, thus giving a five-years' 

 course, in which the field would give two grass, two ex- 

 hausting, and one root crop. Two objections may be 

 started to the first course ; first, that the clover cannot be 

 cut in time to get in the turnip crop ; and second, that sow- 

 ing grass-seeds twice in the course will be too expensive. 

 To the first objection we offer our common practice, 

 which is, to sow our ruta baga upon a clover ley — the 

 southern or small clover — after the grass has been cut for 

 hay, in June, so that the ruta baga may be sown before the 

 first of July. The common turnip may be put in a 

 month later. To the second objection we answer, that 

 the value of the clover ley to the soil, to say nothing 

 of the feed which it will afford to cattle, will twice 

 repay the cost of the seed. We are satisfied, from ex- 

 perience, that it is profitable to sow clover with every 

 crop of small grain, on soils adapted to its growth, 

 merely for the purpose of enriching the land. 



Before we close this subject, we will quote, from 

 ' British Husbandry,' two highly-successful experiments, 

 made upon clay farms, in substituting fallow crops for 

 naked fallows. Although our crops differ somewhat from 

 those cultivated in England, yet the hints and demonstra- 

 tions which these examples afford, will not be lost on 

 the American farmer. The two following are the cases 

 alluded to, which we give in the words of the British 

 editor. 



" greg's system. 



" The farm of Coles, near Buntingford, in Hertford- 

 shire, consists of 240 acres of arable land, which is de- 

 scribed as ' a very tenacious clay, in some places mixed 

 up with calcareous earth, which causes it to bind at top 

 after heavy rains ;' and was formerly worked nearly un- 



