608 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Nov. 



BOTATION OF CKOPS. 



N order to render the ac- 

 tion of manures more ef- 

 fectual and secure the great- 

 est possible amount of pro- 

 duce from a given quantity 

 of aliment, and, at the same 

 time, insure an increase of 

 productive energy in the 

 soil cultivated, a system of 

 rotation, or rather a variety 

 of systems, has been intro- 

 duced. 



A proper rotation of crops is considered in 

 England ' 'as the most prominent feature in good 

 farming ; as the most important particular that 

 has been treated of by modern writers on hus- 

 bandry, and the subject on which they have 

 thrown the greatest light ; as capable of fur- 

 nishing a considerable increase to the produce 

 of the land ; as peculiarly constituting what 

 may be called the soul, or essence, of hus- 

 bandry ; m short, as the true ground-work of 

 general improvement ;" and if well understood, 

 as the most likely means of promoting the 

 cause of agriculture, and the interests of the 

 country. It cannot, indeed, be represented in 

 too important a light, nor too minutely exam- 

 med, its object being to ascertain, "that mode 

 of management, which is the most likely, for a 

 series of years, to yield the greatest quantity 

 of useful produce, at the smallest comparative 

 expense and risk, from any given extent of 

 land.''"' 



We will not attempt now to discuss the prin- 

 ciples of these systems or the analogies upon 

 which they are predicated. The following 

 courses, however, although far from embrac- 

 ing all the products involved in a thorough 

 course, as prescribed by the British and Ger- 

 man culturists, have been fouHd highly favor- 

 able in our climate, and in many instances, 

 have been productive of most excellent results : 



I, 1st year, Corn and roots well manured ; 



2d " Wheat sown with clover seed, fifteen 



pounds per acre. 

 3d " Clover, one or more years according 



to the amount of manure on hand. 



II. 1st " Com and roots with all the manure ; 

 2d " Barley and peas ; 



3d " "Wheat sown with clover; 

 4th " Clover one or more years. 



IT 1. 1st " Corn and roots with all the manures ; 



2d " Barley ; 



3d " Wheat, sown with clover ; 



41 h " Pasture; 



5lh " Mowing; 



It will be observed that, in each course, the 

 number of fields corresponds exactly with the 

 number of changes, and that, in the first, there 

 are three, in the second four, and in the third, 

 nine. 



The adoption of a judicious system of rota- 

 tion requires some important pre-requisites in 

 all cases, and the division of a farm into fields 

 or separate enclosures, which is requisite 

 where pasturing constitutes one of the changes, 

 will generally be found too expensive for most 

 farmers, and especially for such as possess lim- 

 ited means ; yet that the principles on which 

 the practice is based, are clearly philosophi- 

 cal, few persons, it is presumed, will for a mo- 

 ment doubt. 



It is a general practice, all over New Eng- 

 land, not to cultivate the same crop on the same 

 land, two or three years in succession. All, 

 therefore, practice rotation in their crops, but 

 do not extend it into a well-defined system. 



Human wisdom has not yet discovered any 

 means whereby we can tell all that is lacking 

 in any soil, which a certain crop requires. A 

 careful analysis of the soil may show us some- 

 thing near what is wanted, and be of essential 

 service. But such a process would be too te- 

 dious and expensive. It has been proved in a 

 thousand cases, ih&i changing the crop ensures 

 decided advantages ; and this is our cheapest 

 and easiest mode of proceeding. 



For instance, we sow a crop whose wants 

 are largely of potash ; but the soil abounds in 

 lime, and has little potash. On another farm, 

 a crop is put in which demands lime, but the 

 soil is deficient in that, and has a large supply 

 of potash. In both these instances, there is 

 loss, because we do not know what the soil 

 contains, and what the plant requires. 



Prof. Johnston, in one of his lectures, shows 

 why a rotation of crops is necessary. He 

 says : Suppose the soil to contain a certain av- 

 erage supply of all those inorganic substances 

 which plants re(juire, and that the same corn 

 crop is grown uj)on it for a long series of 

 years — this crop will carry olF some of these 

 substances in larger proportion than others, so 

 that year by year the quantity of those which 

 are thus chiefly carried ofl will become rela- 

 tively less. Thus, at length the soil, for want 



