ROTATION OF CROPS. 



17 



greens, red cabbage, cauliflower, and 

 leeks, all of which require a moderate 

 coat of manure. Savoys, winter greens, 

 red cabbage, &c, will be ready for early 

 potatoes in April and May. Potatoes 

 will make way in July and August for 

 turnips, spring cabbage, late broccoli, 

 and such crops, if wanted. Turnips, cab- 

 bage, and broccoli may be cleared in 

 May for celery and cardoon trenches, 

 if all the ground is wanted ; but if not, 

 the cabbage may be allowed to remain 

 for sprouts during all the summer. The 

 intermediate spaces between the trenches 

 may be planted with lettuce or any other 

 secondary crops : dung must be given for 

 celery, of course. Celery and similar 

 crops will, in part, make way in autumn, 

 when the ground should be ridged up for 

 the winter, and the remainder as soon as 

 the entire crop is clear ; the ground will 

 then be ready for French beans, scarlet 

 runners, cauliflower, cucumber, and toma- 

 tos, in the end of April or beginning of 

 May. French beans will be clear by 

 November, when the ground should be 

 again ridged up all winter, to be ready 

 for pease and beans as at first begun. 

 This will make eight or ten years be- 

 tween the return of the principal crops to 

 the same place, and, by judicious manage- 

 ment of the secondary division " (such as 

 salads and short-lived crops) " among 

 the rotation crops, every space of ground 

 between one crop and the other may be 

 occupied to advantage during the inter- 

 vals of cropping." 



The following shows the order of rota- 

 tion : — 1, pease and beans ; 2, broccoli, 

 savoys, winter greens, collards — i. e., 

 spring cabbage ; 3, carrots, parsnips, beet, 

 scorzonera, salsify, "skirrets, Hamburg- 

 parsley;" 4, onions, cauliflower, turnips; 

 5, spinach, spring onions, and other 

 secondary crops ; 6, savoy, broccoli, win- 

 ter greens, red cabbage, leeks; 7, pota- 

 toes ; 8, turnip, cabbage, broccoli ; 9, 

 celery, cardoons; 10, French beans, &c. 



" Secondary crops are those of the 

 shortest duration, such as lettuces, ra- 

 dishes, small salads, annual herbs, and 

 very early pease and beans, (sown in No- 

 vember,) very early cauliflowers, very 

 early turnips, and early potatoes, all of 

 which will require a warm south border." 



This is a specimen of the rotation prac- 

 tised by the best cultivators around Lon- 



don, and, taking the difference of latitude 

 into consideration, it is calculated for a 

 great part of Scotland and Ireland. It will 

 be remarked that this system of rotation 

 comprises only the annual or biennial 

 crops, and therefore we propose it as the 

 precursor course to the systematic arrange- 

 ment of the contents of the kitchen-garden 

 sketched out, (vide p. 7,) and we know 

 of no better rotation that can be fol- 

 lowed. This rotation embraces eight 

 years, but, by following ours as an addi- 

 tion course, the change may be extended 

 to the eleventh or twelfth year. The 

 author of the above rotation is one of the 

 best cultivators around London, and cal- 

 culates, of course, that each crop is to be 

 removed as soon after it is fit for imme- 

 diate use as the consumption calls for, 

 and hence the rapidity of his movements. 

 The private gardener can do the same 

 thing by keeping up a very close succession 

 (as elsewhere noticed) ; but, unfortunately, 

 in many private gardens, from causes the 

 cultivator has no control over, crops are 

 allowed to come to too full a state of 

 maturity before they are commenced 

 upon, and kept lingering on the ground 

 long after they should be consigned to 

 the rot heap, or, much better, trenched 

 into the ground, restoring to it much of 

 those elements they had abstracted from 

 it. 



According to Mr Prideaux, in "The 

 Gardeners' Chronicle," 1848, quoted by 

 Mr Stephens in " The Book of the Farm," 

 vol. ii. p. 453, the following quantities of 

 mineral ingredients are removed from an 

 acre of soil by a single crop of beans. 

 " Beans, of a crop of 25 bushels of grain 

 and 2800 lb. = 1 ton 5 cwt. of straw, 

 carry off from an acre of soil these quan- 

 tities : — 





By the 



By the 



Total. 





grain. 



straw. 







lb. 



]b. 



lb. 



Potash, 



13.60 



90.21 



103.81 



Soda, . 



4.30 



2.72 



7.02 



Magnesia, 



3.15 



11.38 



14.53 



Phosphoric acid, 



15.20 



12.32 



27.52 



Sulphuric acid, 



0.40 



1.85 



2.25 



Chlorine, 



0.30 



4.35 



4.65 





36.95 



122.83 



159.78 



— or gross weight to be returned to the acre." 



If the soil is to be maintained in posses- 

 sion of all its natural mineral ingredients, 

 it follows, after such abstractions as this, 



