IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL. 119 



A great advantage has arisen from the system of a ro- 

 tation of crops, which has succeeded that of fallowing. 

 By skilfally arranging a succession of crops of grain, 

 artificial fodder, leguminous plants, roots, &c., the earth 

 is enriched, instead of being impoverished ; the ground 

 is cleansed from weeds, and more abundant crops are ob- - 

 tained at a less expense. During those years when cer 

 tain fodders, such as clover, sainfoin, and trefoil, require 

 no other care than that of harvesting them, the farmer 

 •can bestow all his attention, manures, and the labor o' 

 his cattle, upon such other portions of his farm as may 

 need amelioration ; so that, instead of having one third 

 of his land lying as an unproductive fallow, it may be 

 covered with herbage affording the finest food for cattle. 

 The soil will be growing richer instead of poorer, and may 

 be prepared for raising grain, without the addition of any 

 manure. 



What has contributed the most towards confining French 

 agriculture to that state of mediocrity, from which neither 

 the examples nor the writings of many enlightened theo 

 retical farmers have been able to raise it, is the passion 

 for cultivating too large an extent of land, with limited 

 powers as to its arrangement. Where all the land is sown 

 without any portion of it being properly prepared, the 

 ground is exhausted instead of being improved by cultiva- 

 tion. The farmer, who takes land upon lease, has no 

 interest in endeavoring to make it better, because the 

 shortness of the lease does not permit him to enjoy the fi-uit 

 of his labor ; he is forced to reap from the land all it will 

 produce. 



Instead of including in his plans of cultivation a space 

 of ground disproportioned to the means which are at his 

 disposal, the intelligent farmer will at first occupy himself 

 only with such a portion of his land as will be sufficient for 

 his cattle, his manures, and his improvements ; when this 

 has been brought into a good state of cultivation, and a 

 regular succession of crops established upon it, he can 

 carry his amendments over successive portions, till, in a few 

 years, the whole soil may be brought to yield every thing 

 which it is capable of producing. But it is only by long 

 leases, that a farmer can be enabled to pursue a method so 

 wise and so secure ; and long leases would be in all re- 

 spects as much for the interest of the proprietor as of the 

 farmer. 



