ROTATION OF CHOPS. 207 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 



The importance of a rational rotation of crops has 

 never been sufficiently understood in the United States, 

 as our farmers are unable to appreciate the fact that 

 there is a possibility of exhausting their soil. How 

 many thousands of examples we could give where the 

 same crops are grown year after year on the same 

 land, and apparently giving excellent results ; but how 

 long will this last? Is it not possible that in many 

 cases inferior crops have been obtained and the cause 

 attributed to bad weather, etc., when in reality it was 

 owing to this great agricultural principle biding over- 

 looked?' Evidently this is the case, as no plant exists 

 which, if planted years in succession on the same soil, 

 will not finally have an exhausting effect. When the 

 demand for a given grain, etc., is great, or when the 

 land in a given country is limited, there may be, to a 

 certain extent, some excuse for this bad practice. For 

 example, in France in certain cases, it has been a 

 necessity for them to grow beets for several years on 

 the same spot, owing to the bad location of the factory, 



' See what was said on the culture of sugar-cane in Louisiana. 



