Light-Land Farmiwj. 
123 
towards its junction witli the clayey or gravelly land of the dis- 
trict. On these better portions arable cultivation becomes prac- 
ticable and profitable. 
Rotation for Light Peaty Soils. — The best rotation in a moist 
climate is, 1st, turnips; 2nd, rye; 3rd, 4th, and 5th, grass 
pastured ; and 6th, oats. Before adopting any rotation, however, 
it is necessary to get the vegetable matter into an advanced state 
of decomposition. The land should therefore be drained, and if 
very rough with heather, pared and burnt, and then limed. 
These operations will occupy a whole year — the draining in 
winter, the paring and burning in summer, and the liming in 
autumn. The lime and ashes being spread over the surface, the 
land is plouglied rather shallow, and left till spring, when it is 
cross-ploughed and worked down to a fine tilth, and afterwards 
ridged up and sown with yellow turnips, manured with a mixture 
of bones and superphosphate at the rate of 12 bushels of the 
former and 2^ cwt. of the latter per acre. The manure should 
be sown broadcast over the drills, and covered by splitting these 
witli a double-mould plough. The after cultivation of the crop 
need not be detailed, as it has already been noticed, and is much 
the same on all kinds of light land. Two-thirds at least of the 
crop should be consumed on the ground by sheep. The land is 
afterwards ploughed up shallow and press-rolled, and so left 
till spring, when it is sown with Tartarian, sandy, and potato 
oats. Next year the crop, after the oats, should be rape and 
mustard sown at different times, c.~:d manured with a mixture cf 
guano and superphosphate, and fed off during the latter end of 
summer and autumn. The next crop is rye, which should be 
dunged with farmyard manure to supply silica for the straw, or 
if a gravel or sand-pit be near, the whole surface of the land 
should be laid over with it. The rye is sown eariy in spring, 
and a mixture of yellow and white clover, ryegrass, Timothy, and 
meadow foxtail sown along with it. The lend then remains 
three years in grass, pastured every year, and wnen broken up 
the six-course rotation mentioned at the beginning of this section 
may be adopted. If, however, the turnip crop should at any 
time show symptoms of finger and toe, it should be omitted from 
the rotation for one course, and rape and mustard substituted in 
its place. No subsequent liming should be given for a very 
long period, because it softens the land too much and renders 
it unfit for oats, which is the principal grain-crop of the rota- 
tion ; and when it is deemed necessary to apply lime in order to 
aid in keeping the land clean, it should be laid on in very small 
doses, and immediately after the oat-crop, and when preparing 
for turnips. The reason why rye is recommended as the pre- 
vious crop to the grass is, that it stands well, and allows the seed 
