22 
Rotations. 
cropping remains the same. Theoretically, of course, a light 
land rotation would not suit heavy land, but if both soils occur 
in one field it is probable that one rotation is practised on both. 
The second group of influences at work which control or 
affect the particular rotation of cropping adopted on a 
particular farm or in a district are those which are partly at 
least outside the actual soil itself, and are more or less beyond 
the control of the farmer. 
B. 
1. Influence of climate. 
It is manifest that the particular crops grown on a given 
farm depend partly on the rainfall of the district, the position 
north or south, the position high or low, and this in turn will 
influence the scheme of cropping. In the northern and western 
districts the rainfall is heavy ; in the eastern and southern 
country it is light, with, as we shall see, a corresponding 
influence on the cropping and rotations. The most noticeable 
fact is that in the northern counties of England grass for 
grazing is left down for two or three years — a system that is 
almost universal in Scotland. The writer was accustomed to 
this in his youth, and on removal to Essex practised it for 
many years, but eventually abandoned it as unsuitable to the 
dry climate of eastern England. The “ grass ” of course was 
a mixture of suitable clovers and grasses. The influence of 
the rainfall in this direction suggested the idea that in the 
wetter west of England there might be similar cropping to 
suit, and an examination of the returns from correspondents 
residing in Devon, Somerset, &c., reveals the fact that in a 
large number of districts the rotations preferred are those with 
several years down in “ seeds.” Per contra , throughout the 
drier Midlands and south-eastern parts of England the “ seeds ” 
are reduced to one year (often clover alone) or left out 
altogether ; thus the arable land is always under arable crops, 
while the grass land is more or less permanent grass — some- 
times prehistoric old meadows. It might be assumed that this 
state of matters was entirely due to the lesser rainfall reducing 
the growth of the grass ; but it is not always so, for there is no 
difficulty in some cases in getting a satisfactory crop to grow. 
The chief trouble in certain cases comes after the grass is 
broken up for subsequent cropping. The tough furrow-slices 
when turned over just lie like pieces of dry turf, and the result 
is that the corn (generally oats) never gets a proper root hold 
with the open spaces below, while the wireworms bred in the 
grass layer play havoc with the young plants. The conse- 
quence of all this is that the soil requires two years of 
cultivation to get it back into a proper state of tilth, and thus 
