32* Percy Wells Bidwell 



2l conscious but unsystematized effort to secure a more beneficial 

 alternation of crops, but because of the limitations of their knowl- 

 edge on the subject^ and because of the necessity of getting cer- 

 tain staples, such as corn, rye, grass and flax, under any conditions, 

 they had made practically no progress along this line. 



The Neglect of Manure. 



There are two means of preventing soil exhaustion and of restor- 

 ing the fertility of mismanaged soils; one is by a system of scientific 

 rotation of crops and the other is by the regular and liberal appli- 

 cation of fertilizers. As we have seen, the farmers at this period 

 had very little knowledge of the former method, even of an em- 

 pirical nature. Although we could not expect them to understand 

 the principles of soil chemistry, the beneficial effect of common 

 fertilizers was so obviously apparent that their neglect of this 

 method of enriching their soil seems at first glance astonishing. 

 The barnyard and stable manure would, if carefully collected and 

 preserved, have furnished a considerable supply- of first-class fer- 

 tilizing material, but this resource was uniformly neglected. The 

 cattle and horses were turned out to pasture early in the summer 

 and often were not put into stables again, even for over night, until 

 late in the fall.^ Even the small amount of manure which accumu- 



*'Some think clover is so far from needing any manure, that it will recruit lands 

 which are worn out. That it will do it more than other grasses, I cannot yet see 

 any reason to believe. It will bear no crop worth mowing on lands which are 

 quite exhausted. But it is probable, it may produce good crops on lands which 

 are much impoverished near the surface, by bearing plants with short or hori- 

 zontal roots; because clover sends its main roots to a great depth. And while 

 a field lies several years in clover, the soil near the surface may be considerably 

 recruited. But whether the land on the whole will be in better heart, after sev- 

 eral heavy crops of clover are taken from it, and no manure laid on, seems rather 

 doubtful." Deane, Samuel, A. M., The New England Farmer. 1 ed. Worcester. 

 1790. p. 60. 



' The state of knowledge on this subject is apparent from the following: "There 

 seems to be a general opinion that potatoes are a beneficial crop, and an universal 

 sentiment that flax is a pernicious one. Another opinion is equally universal, 

 that a succession of crops is absolutely essential to good cultivation, though there 

 does not appear to have been any accurate experiments to ascertain the best 

 order, or the duration of this rotation." Mass. Agric. Soc. Papers. II. 1807. 28. 



* In the Papers of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society for 1807 it was es- 

 timated that the live stock ordinarily kept on a 100-acre farm would furnish about 

 50 cart loads of dung. pp. 42-45. 



3 General Warren wrote: "The common practice, in this country, is, in win- 

 ter, when they (the cattle) are turned out of the bam, to take no further care of 



