THE CULTIVATOR 
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION, DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE. 
I KNOW OF NO PURSUIT IN WHICH MORE REAL AND IMPORTANT SERVICES CAN BE RENDERED TO ANY COUNTRY, THAN BY IMPROVING ITS AGRICULTURE — Wash. 
VOL. V~. " NO. 3, WASHINGTON-ST. ALBANY, N. Y. MAY, 1838. ~~ NO. 3. 
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_ THE CULTIVATOR. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
The New Husbandry. 
IV. ALTERNATION OF CROPS. 
Alternation of crops is an essential requisite in good 
farming, and forms a part of it wherever it is consi¬ 
dered to have arrived at any degree of perfection. It 
is this which gave to Flemish husbandry a pre-emi¬ 
nence over that of every other country, long before 
the new system had obtained a footing in Great Bri¬ 
tain. It is this which has principally converted the 
county of Norfolk, and other disticts in England, from 
the poorest and least productive, into the most wealthy 
and populous portions of that country. It is this al¬ 
ternating system which has contributed, in a great 
measure, to the astonishing recent improvements in 
the agriculture of Scotland; and it is this which con¬ 
stitutes the pioneer marks of improved husbandry in 
our own land. 
In the preceding sections, we have suggested the 
importance and the modes of making our lands rich, 
and dry, and of subjecting them to good tillage. Let 
us now inquire under what method of management 
they are likely to make us the largest returns, with¬ 
out diminishing their intrinsic value. 
It is palpable to every observing farmer, that the 
old mode of permanently dividing our grounds into 
meadow, plough and pasture lands—is a most wretch¬ 
ed system of exhaustion, both to the land and its oc¬ 
cupant. The tillage ground deteriorates, with the 
scanty manuring it gets, till it ceases to make a re¬ 
turn for the expense of culture, or till it is thrown in¬ 
to old fields or commons. The meadow grasses run 
out, mosses and weeds come in, the soil becomes too 
compact and impervious for the ready admission of 
the great agents of vegetable decomposition and nu¬ 
trition, and the free extension of the roots of the finer 
grasses ;—and, as all is carried offi and little or no¬ 
thing brought back, the soil is annually becoming 
poorer and less profitable. The pasture is the only 
portion of such a farm that is improving ; and even in 
this bushes, brambles and noxious weeds are too of¬ 
ten permitted to choke and destroy the better herb¬ 
age. _ 
It is equally apparent, that we cannot take two or 
more arable crops, of the same kind, from a field, in 
successive seasons, without a manifest falling off in 
the product. The reason of this may be found in an 
immutable law of nature, which has provided for each 
species of plants a specific food, suited to its organiza¬ 
tion and its wants. Thus some soils will not grow 
wheat, or other farm crops, although abounding in 
the common elements of fertility, and although they 
will make a profitable return in other farm crops,—in 
consequence of their being deficient in the specific 
food required for the perfection of the wheat, or other 
particular species of crop. One family, or species of 
plants, requires a different food from that which an¬ 
other family, or species, requires; and it seems to be 
another law of nature, that what is not essential to 
one family, or species, shall be left in the soil, or re¬ 
turned to it through the excretory organs of the grow¬ 
ing crop. Of course, the specific food for any class, 
or species, continues to accumulate in the soil, the 
general fertility being kept up, till the return again to 
the field of this particular crop. Thus it is supposed 
to require ten or a dozen years for the specific food of 
flax, to accumulate sufficiently for a second crop, af¬ 
ter one has been taken from a field. Even the spe¬ 
cific food of clover becomes exhausted by a too fre¬ 
quent repetition of it in the same field: it being found 
necessary, in Norfolk husbandry, to substitute for it 
in every other course of crops, other grass seeds, so 
that this may not be repeated oftener than once in 
eight years. There are exceptions to the rules of 
practice which these laws inculcate. Some soils seem 
natural to wheat, others to oats, or grass ; and suc¬ 
cessive crops of these are taken without apparent di¬ 
minution of product. Yet it is better to regulate our 
practice by general laws, than by casual exceptions. 
In the cases noted as exceptions, there is probably so 
great an accumulation of the specific food of the par¬ 
ticular crop, that it has not been exhausted, though it 
evidently must have been diminished. It is in accor¬ 
dance with the natural laws we have noticed, that the 
grasses in our meadows change ; that the timber trees 
of the forest alternate—new species springing up as 
the old ones decay, or are cut down; and it is in ac¬ 
cordance with these laws that the alternation of crops 
has been adopted in all good farming. 
To simplify and render the subject more plain, the 
generality of tillage crops have been grouped into two 
classes, differing essentially in their character, cul¬ 
ture, and exhausting influence upon the soil. These 
two classes are denominated culmiferous crops, and 
leguminous crops. The first is so named from culm, 
the stalk or stem* of grains or grasses, usually jointed 
and hollow, and supporting the leaves and fructifica¬ 
tion. Our intention here is not to embrace the grass¬ 
es. Culmiferous crops are termed robbers, or ex¬ 
hausters of the soil. This class includes wheat, bar¬ 
ley, oats, rye, indian corn, tobacco, cotton, &c. These 
are particularly exhausting during the process of ma¬ 
turing their seeds. If cut green, or when in blossom, 
they are far less so. Leguminous crops, literally, are 
peas, beans, and other pulse ; but here the class is in¬ 
tended to embrace all which are considered as ame¬ 
liorating or enriching crops, as potatoes, turnips, car¬ 
rots, beets, cabbages—and clover. These latter are 
not only less exhausting than the culmiferous class, 
as most of them do not mature their seeds, and all, 
on account of their broad system of leaves, draw more 
or less nourishment from the atmosphere, but they 
improve the condition of the soil, by dividing and 
loosening it, with their tap and bulbous roots. For 
these reasons they are called ameliorating or enrich¬ 
ing crops ; and as they generally receive manure, and 
drill culture, they are peculiarly adapted to enrich and 
fit the soil for the culmiferous class. 
Good husbandry enjoins, that culmiferous and legu¬ 
minous crops should alternate, or follow each other in 
succession, except when grass is made to intervene ; 
and it matters little which crops are selected from the 
two classes. The good judgment of the farmer may 
here be exercised to determine which are likely to be 
to him the most advantageous. It may be proper to 
note two exceptions to this rule : Indian corn may, 
under certain contingencies, be made to precede or 
follow another grain crop to advantage, and oats may 
sometimes be profitably sown, as a fallow crop, to su¬ 
persede a naked fallow, preparatory to a crop of wheat 
or rye. Some soils, it is true, are more favorable to 
one kind of crop than another; as for instance, calca¬ 
reous clays and strong loams are better adapted to 
wheat, than silicious gravels and sands; while the 
latter are better fitted to carry Indian corn, turnips 
and clover, than clays. In other respects, such as 
the exhaustion of the ground, it is a matter of little 
interest with the farmer, what crops of each class are 
chosen to alternate with each other. 
Farm stock seems necessarily to be embraced in the 
system of alternate husbandry. Cattle convert the 
bulky products of the farm, into meats, butter, cheese, 
&c. These concentrated products are carried to mar¬ 
ket at comparatively trifling expense. Cattle also 
furnish labor, and manufacture into manure the straw, 
stalks, and other offal and litter of the farm, necessary 
to keep up its fertility ; for without manure, the soil 
will grow poor, and its products annually diminish. 
Manures, we repeat, are the main source of fertility 
to our soils, and the substantial food of our crops. 
Our supply of these will depend on the amount of 
stock we feed upon the farm; and the amount of 
stock we can keep profitably, will again depend upon 
the fertility of the soil, and the consequent abundance 
of its products. So that grain and grass husbandry, 
and cattle husbandry, are reciprocally and highly be¬ 
neficial to each other. It is maintained, by practical 
men, that grounds under good tillage, will yield as 
much cattle food, in roots, straw, &c. as the same 
grounds would yield in grass, thus leaving the grain 
as extra profit. 
The subject of clover, which we have classed with 
ameliorating crops, merits a further and distinct no¬ 
tice. We find that clover was cultivated at an early 
period by the Flemings, and constituted an important 
item in their excellent system of husbandry. Its in¬ 
troduction into Britian is of- comparatively modern 
date. Forty years ago its culture may be said to have 
commenced in the United States; but its progress was 
slow till within the last few years ; and even now, 
large portions of our country are practically ignorant 
of its improving and enriching qualities, its benefits 
have been great wherever it has been introduced, ac¬ 
companied with the use of gypsum ; and the two com¬ 
bined have hitherto been the principal basis of good 
husbandry. But their benefits are capable of being far 
more widely extended. We consider the use of clover 
for cattle food, great as it is, but of secondary impor¬ 
tance to the farmer—its most profitable use being to 
feed crops and ameliorate the soil. No green crop is 
so serviceable for the latter purposes; and we are 
satisfied from experience, that the practice of habitu¬ 
ally sowing it with small grains, for these purposes, 
where it is not intended to stock with grass seeds, is 
an excellent one, on all grounds adapted to its growth. 
Upon this subject we quote as follows from Chaptal : 
“Artificial grass lands [constituting a part of the al¬ 
ternating system, and in contradistinction to natural and 
permanent grass lands] ought now to be considered as 
forming the basis of agriculture. These furnish fodder, 
the fodder supports cattle, and the cattle furnish ma¬ 
nure, labor, and all the means necessary to a thorough 
system of cultivation.” 
V. ROOT CULTURE. 
The advantage of root culture to the soil, in the 
alternating system, has already been briefly alluded 
to; but this culture possesses higher claims to our 
notice than the bare influence it has in ameliorating 
the soil: It constitutes otherwise a valuable source of 
fertility to the farm, and of profit to the farmer. It 
trebles the amount of cattle food, and doubles the 
quantity of manure. Potatoes constitute a great por¬ 
tion of the bread and meat of the Irish peasantry, feed 
their cows,- fatten their pigs and poultry, and form an 
article of foreign commerce. The turnip has long 
been made an important crop in German husbandry. 
The beet has become so important in France, as to 
engage the attention of her scientific men, and of the 
government, in extending its culture. The field cul¬ 
ture of the carrot has long been profitably pursued 
among the Flemings. And as it regards Great Bri¬ 
tain, whose example in husbandry is deservedly held 
up for our imitation, her best writers on rural mat¬ 
ters, and her best practical farmers, all concur in say¬ 
ing, that her pre-eminent success in modern husband¬ 
ry, has been in a great measure owing to the intro¬ 
duction of turnips as a field crop in that island. We 
will here quote a passage from the New Edinburgh 
Encyclopaedia, in corroboration of what we say: 
“The introduction of turnips into the husbandry of 
Britain, occasioned one of those revolutions in rural art 
which are constantly occurring among husbandmen, 
and, though the revolution came on with slow and gra¬ 
dual steps, yet it may now be viewed as completely and 
thoroughly established. Before the introduction of this 
root, it Avas impossible to cultivate light soils success¬ 
fully, or to devise suitable rotations for cropping them 
with advantage. It was likewise a difficult task to sup¬ 
port live stock through the winter and spring months ; 
and as for feeding and preparing cattle and sheep for 
market, during these inclement seasons, the practice 
was hardly thought of, and still more rarely attempted, 
unless where a full stock of hay was provided, which 
only happened in a very few instances. The benefits 
derived from turnip husbandry are, therefore, of great 
magnitude: light soils are now cultivated with profit 
and facility; abundance of food is provided for man 
and beast; the earth is turned to its uses for which it is 
physically calculated; and, by being suitably cleaned 
with this preparatory crop, a bed is provided for grass 
seeds, wherein they flourish and prosper with greater 
vigor than after any other preparation.” 
Few of our readers are probably apprised of the 
fact, that English beef, so highly extolled, and of 
which John Bull so vauntingly boasts—and perhaps 
no people have better beef—is mostly winter fattened 
upon turnips and straw—very little hay being used. 
This will account for the high value which the turnip 
culture has obtained in Great Britain. 
All the above named roots are well adapted to our 
soils and climate ; and where their culture has been 
undertaken with spirit, and managed wjth judgment, 
success has been certain. The great objection to this 
culture has been, the labor which is required to se- 
