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great law of nature, which requires that the soil should be often 

 replenished in order to obtain its products, as much as that 

 the cow, which is daily milked, should be daily fed. Next to 

 liberal manuring a judicious rotation of crops should be follow- 

 ed up ; for nature chooses a variety, and scarcely a crop of any 

 kind can be cultivated successively, and without intermission 

 on the same land, without a gradual diminution of the produce. 

 The best advantages may be expected likewise from that great 

 discovery in agriculture, the renovating influence of clover, 

 which, being sowed with small grain and well plastered, and 

 being afterwards turned under by the plough, will inevitably 

 place the land in a course of improvement. It is questionable 

 with some farmers, whether it is best to plough in the clover 

 the year after its being sown with the stubble of the grain crop . 

 but there is good reason to believe that it is better to sufl'er 

 the clover to remain one year, and to adopt what is commonly 

 called the three shift system ; for example, first corn ; then 

 small grain with clover, which is to be well plastered ; and 

 then clover to be mowed or fed ; and this, where the clover can 

 be advantageously pastured with sheep, will secure the gradual 

 improvement of the land. There are other ameliorating crops ; 

 and the ploughing in of green crops in several decisive experi- 

 ments has been signally successful ; but no system can be 

 worse than that sometimes practised, and of which examples 

 may be seen in the beautiful meadows of Hatfield, which ope- 

 rate more effectually to set off by way of contrast other parts 

 of their fine farming ; I mean the practice of naked fallows 

 with the hopes that exhausted lands may be recruited by mere 

 rest and weeds. 



The next obstacle to improvement is the want of manure. 

 This is a serious want. Good crops cannot be obtained with- 

 out manure, bul how to obtain the manure is the difficult ques- 

 tion. The first step certainly is the consumption of the pro- 

 duce upon the place. This is pretty generally done ; but 

 much of the materials for manure furnished by the crops them- 

 selves is most improvidently wasted. This is particularly re- 



