ROTATION OF CROPS. 
183 
&c. 5 and yet your land wears out in twenty years. 
What sort of farmers (I beg your pardon, I believe 
you don’t call yourselves “ farmers,” but “ plant¬ 
ers ”) are ye ? Is the word “ rotation ” only known 
as applicable to office, and not to crops? From 
your description, or rather the inference drawn 
from your partial description, I should suppose 
that with such a subsoil, and such an ability to 
turn under two green crops, peas and oats, for one 
taken off, that such a soil in such a climate, with 
such management, would never wear out. . . . But 
what is the “ cow pea ?” I find such an article in 
the American Farmer’s Encyclopedia, but the de¬ 
scription is very meagre. If you please, Doctor, 
give us a full description—color—size—yield— 
both of seed and vine—when sown—when har¬ 
vested—and what good for, both pea and haulm. 
. . . And so you have done feeding your hogs on 
cotton seed ! Well, it is time, if I am rightly in¬ 
formed of the manner of feeding them, which I am 
told is often done in the same state that they grew, 
with quantities of the lint adhering, and as I be¬ 
lieve the seed itself has an outside hull around the 
oily kernel about as nutritious and digestible as 
dry hickory bark, it is no wonder that your hogs 
went to the buzzards instead of the smoke-house. 
. . . But let me inquire if you, and nearly every 
other large planter, do not own a grist-mill; and 
whether if you should grind your cotton seed with 
oats or peas, thus mixing fat, bone, and muscle 
together, it would not make good hog feed. Pray 
tell us something of the manner of using cotton 
seed for manure. How much seed grows upon an 
acre ? We cannot understand what you mean by 
saying that “ enough rye, oats, and peas, should 
be saved to plant the succeeding crop.” This may 
be all plain English in your latitude, but you must 
recollect. Doctor, that our paper is a national one, 
and I guess some of us don’t understand your 
Southern ways. If you only save the seed, pray, 
what becomes of the crop ? And what kind of 
grass is that which follows oats and rye ? I un¬ 
derstand sweet potatoes, and should like to be one 
of your “ poor, starved niggers,” long enough to 
eat my “ half-acre.” ... If all the straw of wheat 
were returned to the land, how much loss of pot¬ 
ash would there be there ? . . . Because you 
“ lose too much time fencing,” and you might have 
said because your rail fence in your climate is a 
very unreal estate, you will take to hedging. 
Well, that is better than nothing. But I wish you 
would read the article in the number of this paper 
now under review, upon fencing, and say if there 
is not more common sense in that writer’s views 
than in a system which takes “ too much time,” ail 
over the Union. Write again, Doctor. Don’t fear 
that we shall tire. Descriptions of your country, 
and method of cultivating your crops, given with 
much more minuteness, will be interesting up 
here. 
A Drill Cultivator and Marker, —What! an¬ 
other ! Is it possible that the world is not yet 
full! Now these may be very good implements 
for cultivating strawberries, and if I knew the in¬ 
ventor had not patented them, I would recommend 
him as a generous and liberal-minded man for ex¬ 
hibiting and publishing them for the benefit of his 
horticultural brethren. [He has not patented them: 
says any one is welcome to their use.] But if I 
knew that he had taken a patent, I would denounce 
the whole concern as a very picayune way of ad¬ 
vertising his wares for sale. The fact is, I am 
decidedly opposed to that spirit of- narrow-minded¬ 
ness among agriculturists, that prompts them to 
patent every little simple contrivance that they 
may chance to think of. One of this class of 
“small potatoes,” a few years ago, patented an 
apple picker, that any common farmer can make 
for an expense of sixpence. Very useful, true, 
but too small for a patent. Reviewer. 
We have so many communications crowded upoit 
us, we regret to say that we cannot give the whole 
of our correspondent’s agreeable article, but are 
compelled abruptly to bring it to a close. 
ROTATION OF CROPS. 
The primary points in relation to the proper ro¬ 
tation of crops with the farmer, before he can with 
prudence attempt the cultivation of land to any ex¬ 
tent with satisfactory results, should be a full 
knowledge of the climate and soil he is to occupy. 
By the term climate, is intended the nature of the 
weather in his particular district; and it is with 
regret that full and proper attention is rarely given 
by the farmer, to the nature of the climate under 
which he is to operate ; as it is a well established 
fact, that the system best adapted to maritime situ¬ 
ations is not so well adapted to those that are 
more inland; as also where a large portion of the 
country is covered with timber, there is a greater 
variation of the thermometer, between the extremes 
of heat and cold, than where the country is cleared 
of wood. In a woody country, the sun being par¬ 
tially excluded, the evaporation from the earth is 
not sufficient to dry the ground ; consequently parts 
of the day in summer are hotter, and the winters are 
colder than in a country cleared and under cultiva¬ 
tion, where a more equal temperature is obtained. 
By the term soil I would name clay, loam, peat and 
sand, which are the most popular with us, and 
neither so ungrateful as not to repay the husband¬ 
man, if he will only give proper attention to its. 
culture. In fact, a .favorable climate and soil are 
justly ranked as the “ first riches of a country.” 
Another important feature to be considered in rela¬ 
tion to a system of rotation of crops, is a proximity 
to, or distance from, a market. Under the former 
circumstance, the various kinds of root crops, vege¬ 
tables, hay, and all the more weighty articles, can 
be cultivated to advantage, while those more re¬ 
mote from a market have to confine themselves to 
grain, and the more valuable products. 
Too much attention cannot be paid by the culti¬ 
vator to the nature and qualities of the soil, by 
becoming familiar w r ith its natural properties, im¬ 
proving its good qualities, and removing its defects, 
the importance of wdiich is so self-evident to every 
intelligent farmer, that no general system of culti¬ 
vation can be given unless all the circumstances as 
to the nature of the climate and soil be known; 
and the force of habit is so strong, that a farmer 
who has been a long time accustomed to a certain 
variety of climate and soil, by removing to another 
