128 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



be well weighed by the farmer : though his lands may be 

 suited to cultivation of a particular kind, his interests may 

 not allow him to enter upon it. The more abundant any 

 article is, the lower will be its price ; he ought then to 

 prefer those crops of which the sale is most secure. If a 

 product cannot be consumed upon the spot, it is necessary 

 to calculate the expense of transporting it to a place of sale 

 in countries where it is needed. 



A proprietor ought to provide largely for the wants of 

 his animals and of the men living upon his estate, before 

 arranging for the disposal of surplus crops : he will then 

 calculate his various harvests in such a manner as to be 

 always secure of receiving from the earth the means of 

 subsistence for those employed in performing the labor. 



An intelligent farmer, whose lands lie at a distance from 

 a market, will endeavour to avoid the expenses incident to 

 the transportation of his products ; and in order to do this, 

 he will give the preference to those harvests of fodder or 

 of roots which may be consumed upon the place by his 

 dependants and his animals. 



There is another circumstance which must be attended 

 to in sowing those lands which are light, or which lie upon 

 a slope ; for these it is necessary to employ such vegetables 

 as cover the soil with their numerous leaves, and unite it 

 in every direction by their roots, thus preserving it from 

 being washed away by rains, and at the same time protect- 

 ing it from being too much dried by the burning rays of 

 the sun. 



In order to support by example the truth of the princi- 

 ples which I have here laid down, I will make a statement 

 of the series of crops that are found most advantageous in 

 those countries where agriculture is the most flourishing. 

 I shall commence with the provinces of ancient Flanders, 

 because there the art of cultivating the soil to the greatest 

 advantage had its birth. 



In the departments of Lille and Douai, where the soil is 

 of the best kind, and the art of preparing and employing 

 manures is carried to the greatest perfection, the following 

 series of crops are adopted. 



First Series. F4ax or cabbage. 



Wheat. 



Beans. 



Oats, with trefoil. 



Trefoil. 



Wheat. 



