general success, which in part rests upon crop 
rotations, he uses to emphasize the value of 
the experiments that he reviews in the bulle¬ 
tin. In two years more the effects of the first 
round ol’ the six years’ farm rotation, ami its 
allieil practices, will have culminated, when 
he hopes that a full statement of its meth¬ 
ods and results may. by some one for the col¬ 
lege, lie given to our farmers. So fsr it has 
been singularly successful, and is shown to lie 
easily made use of by others, for none can be 
worse handicapped who have any start. 
As the experiment work of the college is 
carried forward in the direct interest of eco¬ 
nomical farming, he turns aside from the di¬ 
rect function of a bulletin, which is to relate 
the results of investigations, to state the rea¬ 
sons, in part, upon which, rotation is based, 
without, however, going into evidence in sup¬ 
port of said reasons: 
I. Rotations are valuable because plants 
vary in the area of the soil in which their 
roots grow, ami from which they derive the 
susteuunce of the plant, thus more completely 
utilizing the soil within their reach. 
1L. There is a remarkable variation in the 
power of plants to Appropriate) the various 
elements of plant, growth, due, at least in 
part, lo the character of the acids secreted by 
their roots. Thus one plant, like clover, has a 
high power of gathering nitrogen, and an¬ 
other, like wheat, a very low power. 
III. Plants vary in their weight of roots. 
As an illustration, clover carries several times 
the weight of roots that wheat does, and inas¬ 
much as clover roots are very much richer in 
nitrogen than wheat, and carry enough nitro¬ 
gen to grow a crop of wheat—wheat will 
most advantageously follow clover. Thus, 
likewise, other plants follow each other ad- 
vautageously. 
IV. Rotation of crops bailies, in a large 
measure, the root enemies, both insect and 
fungoid, that prey upon the various crops. 
Each plant having its own peculiar enemies, 
the chauging of plants removes them to fields 
uuoeeupied by such enemies This is true of 
the enemies of the above-ground growth of 
plants to an important degree. 
V. Plants vary in the amounts of the vary¬ 
ing elements of nutrition actually taken up iu 
growth. Thus, while wheat takes only 1 
pound of potash for every pound of phosphor¬ 
ic acid, potatoes take 3 ' 4 pouuds of potash for 
each pound of phosphoric acid. Continuous 
growth of potatoes would exhaust the potash 
of the soil or of supplied manure long before 
the phosphoric acid would give out. 
VL The leaves of plants vary in their 
power of gaming food and of vaporizing wa¬ 
ter, and are roughly divided into broad and 
narrow-lcuved. 
VII. leaves vary in their season of active 
growth. Those plants maturing iu midsum¬ 
mer and early fall generally gather nitrogen 
(corn and turnips arc good examples), follow¬ 
ing in their growth the decomposing influence 
of the sun, more easUy and fully than other 
crops do. 
VIII. Rotation conserves soil fertility and 
yet aids iu soil decomposition by alternation 
of grass, or clover crops and hoed crops. Uu- 
der a continuation of plow and tillage crops, 
leaching, volatilization and washing ol' fer¬ 
tility are more rapid and more of it may be or 
is carried away by crops, especially nitrogen. 
IX. Rotation of crops distributes labor 
over the year and thereby economizes it, and 
gives regular help and aids in the solution of 
the labor problem of the farm. 
X. Rotation is the system best calculated 
for home consumption of crops and the return 
of the fertilization of the farm. 
XI. Practice of 2,Out) years confirms the 
value ol rotation. Each of these factors has 
the bearing thatcumlOt be here presented, but 
all together afford very strong and almost, if 
not quite, imperative reasons for rotations. 
ROTATION TRIAL. 
The trial was made on upland long in use, 
the last crop on which was Timothy. Soil, a 
clay loam over a limestone formation; subsoil 
so compact that surface ponds readily retain 
water. 
The five plats of 1-10 acre each were treated 
as follows: 
Plat l. Wheat after wheat—unmanured. 
Plat 3. Wheat after wheat inauured—six tous per 
acre yearly. 
Plat 3. Crops, wheat, clover, corn, potatoes and 
wheat six tons niauure per acre yearly. 
Plat I. Wheat, corn, wheat, com, and soon six tons 
manure per acre. 
Plat .i. The same as plat 3, except that it was man¬ 
ured . 
It will be seen that the full rotation period 
is four years, when the same round is to he 
repeated again. The above rotation is uot a 
good type of a scientific rotation, which 
should alternate shallow and deep-rooted 
plants, broad and narrow-leaved plants, and 
plunts of ttLiliko reeding characteristics, and 
should not have a succession of hoed crops. 
Neither is it a good typical practical rotation. 
Thus no one will look to this rotation for an 
example to literally follow. 
The principle that rotations are successful 
was the one idea sought, and with some neces¬ 
sary impatience it was laid out to obtain re¬ 
sults as quickly and directly as possible. For 
this reason the rotation started with all plats 
wheat, in order that, at the fifth year a clear 
contrast with the first year could be made. 
Notwithstanding the apparent evenness of 
the ground, the first crop was uneven. This 
disappeared before the conclusion of the trial. 
The second year the weight of a couple of 
plats was lost, and so all are omitted for this 
year. The third year the winter was severe, 
and killed the wheat severely. In its room 
Timothy came iu and was allowed to grow. 
This, aud tho wheat, were all weighed in to¬ 
gether, with flic wheat uuthrushed. 
Omitting the table, which is not exactly 
clear to us, the following observations will 
give the results: 
I. All the series of plats tell one truth, and 
that in lavor of rotation. 
II. The total yield of the rotation plats or 
No. 3, for four years, is greater than No. 2, or 
the non rotation plats, by 45 G per cent., after 
properly reducing the watery potato rotation 
crop by over 4,000 pounds. 
III. The crop of wheat for 1387, or the open¬ 
ing of the second rotation round of four years, 
when all of the plats are in wheat, is the crit¬ 
ical test, and the one sought for. This gives 
the following results: 
a. The four years’ rotation plat gives 67 per 
cent, more wheat than the plat where wheat 
follows wheat, notwithstanding this is one of 
the best wheat years known in the history of 
the State. 
This rate of increase applied to the State 
would make it an average of 13,000,000 bushels 
of wheat above the present yield, or would add 
to a farmer’s reveuuu, who receives 11,000 in 
wheat money, $670.00. 
b. The two years' rotation, or plat 4, in¬ 
creased the crop over the non-rotation yield35 
per cent. This shows that a short rotatiou in 
accordance with general laws, is not as effica¬ 
cious as a longer one, yet it is a great gain. 
e. Four years’ rotation is shown to be more 
efficacious than on manured non-rotation crop. 
It cannot be said that manure is of no use as 
an explanation of the result, as the uumanured 
non-rotation plat is but about one-half the 
yield that the manured non-rotation gives, or 
as 13.91 bushels is to 24.28 bushels. 
cl. Four years' uumanured rotation is about* 
as good as a two 3 'ears' manured rotation. 
These results cannot be said to be due to plat 
variation, as the poorest yield the first year 
was gained on the rotation plats. Further¬ 
more, all the plats tell one story, and the five 
years’ aggregate is in one direction. Again, 
these plats are joined by many other plats in 
wheat after wheat, both inauured and unma- 
nured. and none of them came up to the rota¬ 
tion plat. Again, the whole farm is farmed 
on a six years’ rotation scheme better organ¬ 
ized than these plats were. It is corn follow¬ 
ing Timothy, then oats, clover, wheat, Timo¬ 
thy fifth year and Timothy sixth year. The 
crops on the farm, as noted, are superior to 
the plats and its tillage area is now very pro¬ 
ductive. While rotation is only one of the 
important factors in his farming, yet Prof. 
Sanborn is entirely confident that the adoption 
of systematic rotation of crops by our farm¬ 
ers will do much to add to their comfort aud 
wealth, iudeed, revolutionize our conditions. 
Good Outlook for Southern ('rods.— 
The Manufacturers’ Record of Baltimore. A 
careful authority, COUtaius about five pages of 
special reports from the entire South as to the 
crops and the condition of business. The corn 
crop of the South is unprecedented!y large, ex¬ 
ceeding the yield of 1886 by over 50,000,000 
bushels, the yield of 1KS5 by 70,000,000 bushels 
ami the yield of ISN 4 by 107,000,000 bushels. 
The South will, this year, it is said, be uearly 
self-supporting in the matter of corn, aud 
many millions of dollars that have heretofore 
gone West for corn will this season bo saved 
to Southern farmers. While recent unfavor¬ 
able weather has damaged to some extent the 
cotton prospects which a month ago promised 
such ail enormous yield, the crop will still lx) 
a large one. Advanced prices for tobacco 
will, it is claimed, counterbalance to the 
farmers the decrease iu yield due mainly to 
decreased acreage. Ot her crops have with a 
few exceptions been very good, aud it is said 
that the farmers will eujoy greater prosperity 
than for many seasons. Business prospects 
are reported brighter than ever before, and 
one correspondent predicts that this will be 
a debt-paying year. 
BY THE SHORT WAY. 
L. C. Benedict says that to make fail's 
generally attractive, there should be from 
each farm iu the surrounding country au ex¬ 
hibition of the best products of the year, 
whother these be from the garden, field, dairy 
or housewife’s pantry and work-room. Even 
if no prize is taken, the effect will be a good 
one. on both the farmer and his family. A 
spirit of livalrywjll be created that will 
stimulate alike the young aud the old to re¬ 
newed efforts towards the attainment of bet¬ 
ter things daring the year to come. 
Prof. Budd, of the Iowa Ag. College, says 
what we well know to be true, that he “is run¬ 
ning the largest line of experimental work 
yet attempted in the West,” ns he has liter¬ 
ally hundreds of sub-trial stations to which 
he sends trees and shrubs for trial... 
Sachs says that the cultivated varieties of 
Indian corn are probably descended from a 
single, primitive wild form, but it seems 
doubtful whether the native Brazilian species 
—the only one known in the wild state—is the 
primitive form. If it is not, then no plant is 
now known which can be considered as the 
ancestral form of our numerous varieties 
The N. Y. World says, “In a recent 
issue of the Rural New-Yorker farmstead 
sanitation is very forcibly introduced to the 
notice of readers. This is a subject which re¬ 
ceives less attention from the agricultural 
press than most others, and it is also a subject 
sorely neglected by the farmers themselves, 
aud yet most of the virulent types of dis¬ 
ease common on the farm, are due to alack 
of sanitary precaution about the dwelling 
and farmyard.” Mr. Libby the energetic editor 
of the Garden, with his family of live or 
six, has been living in Orange up to a week 
or so ago. The family, with one exception, 
were attacked with what seemed to be a malig¬ 
nant form of malaria. The family doctor, after 
inspecting the place, expressed the opinion that, 
the disease was caused by the proximity of a 
cesspool located about *20 feet from the house. 
How mauy similar cases of sickness in the 
country may be traced to similar unsuspected 
causes ?... 
A writer in the Pioneer Press says that his 
field of green barley being threatened by 
chinch bugs, he plowed a deep furrow about 
this field and banked it. Taking six-inch 
fence boards, he set them on the edge 
along this bank, lapping and staking them 
down. Twice a day he wet this board with 
kerosene about two inches from the top, and 
the result was that when the hugs approached, 
they at once turned aud marched away. By 
this means a 33-acre crop of barley was 
ready for the sickle instead of worthless. He 
treated a 65-acre field of com in a similar 
manner, with most satisfactory results. Here¬ 
after he expects to use a mixture of cheap 
kerosene and coal tar... 
An article published some time ago by the 
New York Herald, on the extent of the dairy 
industry' of this country, has been “ going the 
rounds ” in full, or in a condensed form. The 
data on which it is based were attributed to 
Mr. J. R. Dodge, Statistician of the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, aud they were so curious¬ 
ly exaggerated that wt* doubted whether he had 
given them. The article starts out by saying 
there are 21,0UO,0UG milch cows in the country, 
and the whole of it is based on this false state¬ 
ment. According to the census, there were 12,- 
443,420 milch cows here in June 1880; aud the 
report of the Department of Agriculture for 
last year gives the total number at 14,235,388 
As the premises on which the article was based 
are incorrect, the conclusions must be so. 
Statistician Dodge indignantly denies that he 
is in any way responsible for the exaggerated 
statements attributed to him . 
Many men of means are hesitating at pres¬ 
ent about buying cattle; and any one may 
well hesitate to buy scrub cattle and continue 
breeding such, says the National Live-Stock 
Journal. There is the improvement policy, 
however, which always rescues one in such a 
crisis. The man who buys common cows or 
yearling heifers aud breeds them to a pedigree 
bull of good individuality, cannot fail to meet 
with good returns on his investment; but the 
man who follows this plan must act promptly 
in order to double his number of cattle as 
soon as possible. \V ith well-bred cattle aud 
feed he is sure to win... 
The sheep-shows at the fairs are improving 
iu the direction of honesty, the National 
Stockman thinks. Close observers find less 
evidence of the use of oil and lampblack in 
fitting up fine-wool stock to pass under the 
eyes of the judges, and of trimming of the 
wool to remedy defects in symmetry of car¬ 
cass, as well as of other old-time tricks so well 
known to the trade. Whether this is due to 
an elevation of the moral status of breeders, 
or to be a bolter kind of judging, we will not 
attempt to say; but the improvement should 
be hailed with satisfaction. 
Pray don't go to law while au amicable 
settlement is possible. As the good physician 
will advise you not to take medicine, unless it 
is necessary, the good lawyer .(and there are 
good lawyers), will restrain you from going to 
law. 
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