418 [Assembly 



to render them friable, and if it be carefully collected, sifted, 

 and dried, it is an excellent mode of conveying the bone matter 

 to the soil. Altogether we think the farmer had better dissolve 

 the bones he uses, in preference to purchasing he knows not 

 what.-' Extracts by the Secretary, Dec. 14, 1851. 



[Lo«doa Farmers' Mftgarine, Not. 1861.] 



Penrith Farmer's Club. — This iJourishing Club held a meeting for 

 discussion on Tuesday, the 12th of August. Subject — rotation 

 of crops. 



Mr. Barker, of Greystone, read the following paper : 



■" I do not expect to throw much light on the subject, but if by 

 agitating the question I can induce others better qualified to 

 give their opinions, I hope, eventually, we shall make a step in 

 advance, and by consolidating those opinions, put the rationale. 

 (the reasons) of cropping in a clearer point of view and in accord- 

 ance with the advancement of science and the improvement oi 

 the age. I therefore trust tliat, as we have all one object at 

 heart, every one present will contribute his mite of information. 

 If I be right in my idea of the usefulness of our club, it is not 

 in making it a debating society, where the arguments advanced 

 by one member are to be met with opposition by another party, 

 purely for the sake of contradiction ; but that we should all make 

 common cause with truthfulness, to give our suggestions, and to 

 communicate any improvements we may have seen or practiced ; 

 any better processes followed, any superior methods of produc- 

 tion, or any more economical mode of management in any of the 

 different branches of husbandry. At the same time failures 

 should be duly noted and mistakes candidly avowed, and parti- 

 cularly in cases where practice fails to carry out the theory. 

 The old and bai'barous mode of cropping was to sow the land 

 with corn (grain) year after year till it was exhausted, and then 

 leave it in grass or rather weeds until time brought it about 

 This primitive practice is now obsolete, or nearly so ; it gave 

 way to the alternate system introduced from Flanders, and which 

 formed the four course shift of the Norfolk husbandry. 



That crops of the same kind of grain or roots (with perhaps 

 the exception of potatoes) do not succeed when they immediate- 



