170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



means of soil renovation than the four-year one, though it 

 might not subsequently prove to be a more profitable one. 

 The extreme exhaustion and the generally bad condition 

 of the soil upon which these experiments were conducted 

 lead to the belief that upon most soils these rotations would 

 prove profitable from the ver}^ outset. The rotations teach 

 most emphatically the uncertainty of the clover crop in dry 

 seasons, unless irrigation is possible ; also, that no farmer 

 should sow rye or other seed without first testing its power 

 to germinate. Above all, they show the futility of trying 

 to renovate a very acid soil, particularly where clover is to 

 be orrown and where ors^anic nitroaren is contained in the 

 manures, without using slaked lime or Avood ashes at the 

 very outset. Had attention been paid to all of these points 

 from the beginning, the losses in many cases might have 

 been turned to profits even in the first course of rotation. 

 In justice to those who had charge of these experiments * 

 at the outset, it should be stated definitely that when they 

 were begun no one in the United States apparently realized 

 that an injurious degree of soil acidity ever existed in our 

 upland and naturally Avell-drained soils ; and when this was 

 demonstrated, at the Rhode Island station, lime was intro- 

 duced in the manures used in the rotations as soon as feasible. 

 Unfortunately, in some cases a little delay in liming was 

 inevitable, on account of the desire to introduce it after the 

 removal of the potato crop, so as to avoid, in so far as pos- 

 sible, its tendency to promote potato scab. 



Two Five-year Rotations of Crops for General 



Farming.! 



The first five-year rotation to be mentioned is as follows : 

 first year, Indian corn on grass sod ; second year, potatoes ; 

 third year, winter rye ; fourth year, grass (timoth}^ and red- 

 top) ; fifth year, grass. 



* The original plan of the rotation and of the manuring was worked out 

 by J. D. Towar and H. J. Wheeler. The responsibility of the execution of the 

 work and its direction rested with Ex-Director C. O. Flagg until 1898, when it 

 was transferred to H. J. Wheeler. In the mean time the immediate care of the 

 details was delegated to J. D. Towar and G. M. Tucker, then to the late J. A. 

 Tillinghast, and finally to G. E. Adams. 



t For complete details concerning these rotations, see Bulletin No. 76, and 

 Fifteenth Annual Report, Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station. 



