290 
BOYS' DEPARTMENT. 
know what percentage of some of our common 
vegetables is formed by each of them. I will 
therefore present you with Liebig’s classification 
of cultivated plants. 
Salts of Salts of 
Potash Magnesia 
and Soda, and Lime. 
Silica. 
( 
Oat straw with seeds, 
. 34.00 
4.00 
62.00 
Silica 1 
1 Wheat straw, 
. 22.50 
7.20 
61.50 
Plants, j 
I Rye straw, 
. 18.65 
16.52 
63.89 
_ Good hay, 
6.00 
34.00 
60 00 
( 
' Pea straw, 
. 27.82 
63.74 
7.81 
Lime 
; Potato stalks, . 
4.20 
59.40 
63.40 
Plants. 
\ Meadow clover, 
. 39.20 
56.00 
4.90 
( 
[_ Buckwheat straw and seed,29.00 
45.00 
26 00 
( 
Maize (Indian corn) stalks, 72.45 
6.50 
18.00 
Potash 1 
• Turnips, 
. 81.60 
18.40 
Plants, j 
| Beet root, 
. 83.00 
12.10 
( 
„ Potatoes, (tubers,) . 
. 85.81 
14.19 
By comparing any two of the above, taken from 
different classes, we see how different the propor¬ 
tions of their several ingredients; hence we infer 
that in most cases, our best way is to manage our 
rotation in such a manner as not to have plants 
belonging to the same class succeed each other. 
Still, such plants, under certain circumstances, may 
succeed each other without disadvantage. If, for 
instance, a soil abounds in lime, then different 
species of lime plants may follow each other; or if 
it abounds in silica or potash, then those plants 
requiring a plentiful supply of either of these, as 
the case may be, may be raised for several years 
consecutively. 
In order to show still more clearly the advan¬ 
tages of a judicious system of rotation, and the 
manner in which a soil becomes impoverished, we 
will briefly examine two plants taken from different 
classes in the foregoing list. Take, for instance, 
buckwheat and oats, the entire plant of each. 
The former, we see, contains 45 parts in 100 of the 
salts of lime and magnesia, and but 26 of silica; 
while the latter contains but 4 parts of the salts of 
lime and magnesia, and 62 parts of silica. Now, 
when a field, the soil of which contains the usual 
average of these ingredients, is cropped with buck¬ 
wheat for several years in succession, the demand 
for lime and magnesia will exceed the supply, so 
that this plant can no longer thrive. But oats 
require much less of these ingredients; therefore, 
when there is not enough of them to supply the 
wants of a crop of buckwheat, there may still be 
sufficient for a crop of oats; and as buckwheat 
draws from the soil but a small amount of the 
salts of silica, and oats require a large supply 
of them, we may reasonably conclude that oats 
would, in most cases, succeed on land which had 
been partially exhausted by buckwheat. I would 
here observe, that, when I speak of the soil being 
exhausted of any ingredient, I do not mean to say 
that no more of that ingredient is contained in it, 
but that it is exhausted of all that is sufficiently 
decomposed, or in a proper condition to contribute 
to the growth of plants. 
As regards the 'precise order in which crops 
should succeed each other, it is impossible to lay 
down any particular system that can be of univer¬ 
sal, or even of general application, although it 
has frequently been attempted ; yet there are so 
many circumstances by which it should be governed, 
that any plan that can be proposed is liable to lead 
some into error. Besides, those who have rules 
ov directions to guide them in an undertaking, which 
requires an exercise of judgment, are liable to place 
too much dependence on such rules, without going 
to the trouble to examine the principles, or bases, 
on which they are constructed. The better way 
appears to be to point out general principles, and 
thus, by enlightening the understanding, render 
every man competent to lay out his own plan, and 
such a one as is best adapted to his peculiar cir¬ 
cumstances. 
I will only add, in conclusion, that the system of 
rotation which appears to succeed best in this 
section, where the soil is a gravelly loam, is the 
following:—1st, corn or potatoes, on clover sod, 
with or without manure, as may be deemed most 
expedient; 2d, oats; 3d, rye; 4th, rye; 5th, clover. 
The latter is sowed on the rye early in the spring, 
and left two or three years in pasture, or, is sometimes 
mowed. It may be said, in objection to this 
system, that two silica plants , (oats and rye,) 
are here made to succeed each other; and again, 
that it is bad policy to put the same kind of 
rain on a field two years successively, as is 
ere done with rye. I admit the force of these 
objections, but reply that the system is a judicious 
one in this region , where the soil contains an 
abundant supply of silica. When we know 
our soil to abound in any one ingredient, we 
will almost invariably find it to our advantage to 
confine ourselves, as far as practicable, to the cul¬ 
tivation of such crops as require the largest supply 
of that ingredient. On most soils, rye is found to 
succeed better when raised several years in succes¬ 
sion on the same ground, than any other crop. 
Without manure, the produce of the second 
year is almost certain to be less than that of the 
first, and that of the third less than that of the 
second. J. McKinstry. 
Greenport , N. F, July 1st, 1849. 
INTERESTING- EXPERIMENT WITH WKE AT. 
I lately found among my papers, the following 
account of an agricultural experiment:— 
In August, 1795, Mr. Alsagar in Herefordshire, 
(England,) planted a single grain of wheat, and as 
soon as it had fairly rooted, he took it up, divided 
it into several parts, and transplanted each. In 
August, 1796, it was reaped, when it was found to 
have produced 137 ears; the average containing 
80 grains to the ear. The total produce from this 
single grain was 10,960 grains, besides the straw, 
most of which was seven feet high. This shows 
what a prodigious advantage there is in even the 
common mode of setting, or what is termed dib¬ 
bling, in comparison with the general practice of 
sowing broadcast. 
I believe there is no other method ever practised 
in the United States than the one last named ; but 
the question naturally arises, whether such a method 
as the one referred to in Mr. Alsagar’s experiment, 
could be made available on a large scale in any 
country; or, upon any scale in this, where land 
is plenty, and labor dear; except, perhaps, as an 
experiment for farmers’ boys. Would wheat, if 
planted in drills, or in hills, and cultivated like 
Indian corn, produce a proportionate increase of 
grain ? Corn, when sown broadcast, certainly does 
not produce a crop of grain worth the cost of 
gathering. E. S. 
