196 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



the crop which precedes the barley crop should be that 

 which leaves the soil in the condition best fitted for these 

 habits, and rich in manurial constituents these conditions 

 indicate, therefore, a root crop as that which should pre- 

 cede the barley. The processes involved in the prepara- 

 tion of the soil for the root crop are just those which bring 

 about the condition best fitted to aid the growth of barley ; 

 and the advantages of the rotation are perhaps rendered 

 still more striking when the turnip crop is partly or wholly 

 fed off by sheep. " The appropriateness of this course for 

 barley rather than for wheat, besides the advantage arising 

 from the season of the year at which the land is generally 

 clear for the corn, rests mainly on the fact, that the ma- 

 nure by folding, with the subsequent light working of the 

 land, is more confined to the superficial layers of soil in 

 which, comparatively, the roots of the barley play more 

 freely." At the same time, however, it is to be noted, that 

 a "disadvantage of growing barley after the folding of 

 sheep on turnips is, that with high farming the land is apt 

 to be thus left in too high a condition for the crop to suc- 

 ceed well in the average of seasons ; whilst on the heavier 

 lands there is frequently much injury done to the texture, 

 rendering it difficult to get the fine tilth so essential to the 

 favourable growth of barley." 



8. The various points connected with the question, 

 What is the best rotation for any given crop ? while 

 they are most important, and while their right solution 

 would exercise a most favourable influence upon the 

 practice of agriculture, are unfortunately so difficult of 

 decision, and involve so much that, if not often contra- 

 dictory, is at least conflicting and confusing, that the whole 

 subject of "rotation" is yet in a most unsatisfactory con- 

 dition. " Rotations, or systems of cropping," as so sugges- 

 tively pointed out by Professor Wilson, " must be more or 

 less guess-work, founded, if you please, upon long practice 

 and experience, but good only where exactly the same con- 

 ditions can be secured." But however much discrepancy 

 there may be between the statements and opinions of far- 



