IN CROPS AND MANURE. 



357 



Table No. 6 comprises the data relative to a quadrennial rotation, 

 adopted by M. Crud, and in which are grown successively : 1st. 

 Potatoes or beet-root. 2d. Wheat. 3d. Red clover. 4th. Wheat. 

 The first sowing is dressed with about 18 tons of half-wasted farm- 

 yard dung. The gain in organic matter obtained by this rotation 

 surpasses that of the preceding ; but as the clover crops are not very 

 sure when repeated every four years, M. Crud, for reasons which 

 may be called in question, follows this rotation with one of lucern, 

 which gets a fresh supply of manure. It cannot be denied that lu- 

 cern furnishes a great mass of fodder, and in this respect the fertili- 

 ty of the land ought to be vastly enhanced, were this consumed on 

 the spot ; but I can discover no objection to the renewal of clover, 

 if the lucern succeeds so well as M. Crud says it does. From too 

 frequent repetition, farmers have gone into the opposite extreme of 

 cultivating clover only every five or six years. This subject offers 

 an important field for research. It is not impossible that the ill- 

 success depends often on premature mowing of the clover during 

 the first year, and before its roots have acquired sufficient vigor. 

 This practice has been abandoned with us for some years, and there 

 is now every thing to assure us that the second year's crop is there- 

 by secured. 



ROTATION COURSE No. 1. 



ROTATION COURSE No. 2. 



