62 TRAXSACTIOKS. 



stones, if they had a voice, would cry out for a more generous treat- 

 ment than this. 



I should be willing to admit, that the two classes of farmers, of 

 whom I have spoken, are intelligent and thoughtful enough to have 

 some general plan ; although they are often swayed by circumstances 

 to depart from it. There is another class, however, quite as large, 

 probably, as either of the others, who have no plan whatever ; or 

 change their plans as soon almost as they make them ; who break 

 up, or seed down, plant or sow, as the humor strikes them. If their 

 fields are a faithful transcript of their brains, it might puzzle even a 

 phrenologist to locate the bumps of such a tangled intellect. 



Thus, it would seem that our system of rotation is no system at all ; 

 or nothing that deserves the name ; and, moreover, it is pernicious in 

 its operation. Here, again, the appeal must be made to facts, for 

 the truth of the observation. It promotes the growth of one of the 

 most pernicious weeds, that infest our soils. "We refer to the com- 

 mon sorrel. By far the larger portion of lands laid down to grass, 

 for the first year, instead of filling the eye with the beauty, and the 

 air with the fragrance of a luxuriant crop of clover, exhibit nothing 

 but the dull red hue of the blossoms of this unsightly and useless 

 plant. The enormous production, yearly, of its seeds, — which go 

 directly into the hay and thence into the manure heap and to the 

 field again, — should be enough for the entire condemnation of our 

 present practice, unless the evil should be proved to be without 

 remedy. 



And, then, such a course can but be unsatisfactory in its results, 

 for there is the unsightly field, there is the almost total loss of one 

 crop ; and, in its stead, a full harvest of a deadly weed. What but 

 disappointment and loss can follow. 



But, to proceed. Our subject naturally divides itself into two 

 parts ; viz., the kinds of crops to be cultivated, and the order in 

 which they should follow each other, together with the time which 

 should be allotted to the course. 



In regard to the first point, general and long continued usage has 

 decided what crops come within the range of most successful cultiva- 

 tion ; and, among these, first on the list stands grass. By universal 

 consent. New England is a grass, rather* than a grain growing coun- 

 try. That this is our great staple, any one will acknowledge, after 

 having observed how large a proportion of the land is devoted to this 

 crop. He who has what is called a good grass farm, is considered as 

 possessing one of the first requisites to successful farming, and justly 



