A JUDICIOUS ROTATION. 151 



those on the hills of Worcester, on the slopes of the Connecti- 

 cut Valley, and on the mountains and vales of Berkshire 

 County, must produce dairy animals and products. The effect 

 .of this branch of farming on the soil is to carry off rapidly the 

 salts of lime, together with other mineral and nitrogenous ele- 

 ments, in the carcases of the animals and in the milk, cheese 

 and butter sent to market. The latter product, butter, is the 

 least hurtful of all, as it carries away little but carbon, which 

 can be easily and cheaply supplied. A butter-producing farm 

 can be kept in high tilth, with less expense of thought, care, 

 cultivation and manure, than any other ; but milk, cheese and 

 cattle-selling farms must have the constant drain supplied, or 

 they will soon deteriorate. The crops necessary or desirable to 

 be grown in such husbandry are the grasses, grains and roots, 

 and require a strong and retentive soil. Hay is the staple crop 

 as food of the cattle, (though when we take into account its 

 nutritive equivalent and market price in most of the towns of 

 the State, it is not so cheap feed as roots or Indian meal,) and 

 it must be grown largely for that purpose. It is also one of the 

 best ameliorating crops for the soil ; therefore it should occupy 

 the first place in the rotation. Roots are important as a change 

 of food, to give to the animal system a healthy tone and vigor, 

 and they give a large amount of nutrition from a small space of 

 ground. Grain, especially Indian corn, has great sustaining 

 power ; serves to strengthen and support the animal, and by its 

 oily richness contributes much to the rich quality of the dairy 

 products. 



Taking into account all these facts, as well as the wants of 

 the farmer's family, the following seems theoretically, as it is 

 known to be practically, a judicious rotation. The first year 

 Indian corn, treated with ashes and sulphate of lime. This 

 plant will take from the soil largely of its potash, a small per 

 cent, of its lime, sulphur, magnesia and organic products, but 

 will leave of nitrogen, the phosphates and other alkalies enough 

 for the succeeding crop. It will act mechanically on the soil, 

 as a pulverizer, to break it up and bring it into a fine, friable 

 condition. The next crop should be wheat, rye or roots, ac- 

 cording as the wants of the farmer require ; but for the land, 

 either of the two first are preferable, and it should be treated to 

 bone phosphate of lime and seeded to clover. The following 



