130 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
fit. Many years before I saw an agricultural paper,, I 
employed one of my neighbors to plow the first acre I 
ever owned, and miserably poor it was. I urged him to 
put in the plow. Said he, “you will ruin your land.” 
My answer was, it is now good for nothing on the top— 
if it is any better below, I will have it up. The conse¬ 
quence is, that now, with the little care I have taken, I 
have a lot with deep soil, that will grow any crop I put 
on it. I have done much at blind ditches filled with 
stones, thus reclaiming many spots that were before use¬ 
less. I have never used the sub-soil plow, but have a 
high opinion of it; I intend to try it this season if I can. 
Mine is a hard retentive clay subsoil, which doubtless 
would be much benefited by being broken up. 
C. Osborne. 
Westfield , Essex co., N. J., Feb. 5, 1845. 
ROTATION OF CROPS. 
Mr. Editor —It is indeed a matter of astonishment, 
diat at this day after so great improvements have been 
made in agriculture, and so much light thrown upon the 
subject by scientific men of almost every country, any 
should be found, who will not give assent to the doctrine 
of rotation; or who will not admit that a judicious sys¬ 
tem of alternation of crops should be adopted by every 
one who would cultivate the earth with success. Yet it 
is no less true than strange, that there are thousands who 
still cling to the old way of cropping their fields conti¬ 
nually with the same kind of grain or plant, until they 
hardly make a return of the seed they have received. To 
such men, farming will prove to be a sinking business. 
These too, are the very men whom we always hear find¬ 
ing fault with their crops and almost charging the Wise 
Dispenser of all things, as being less favorable with them 
than with some of their more wise and prudent neigh¬ 
bors. They do not once think, that they have violated 
the laws of nature, and placed every obstacle in the way 
of her performing her kind offices. The truth is, they 
have tired out the land. It has become exhausted of the 
specific food which the plant requires, and utterly refu¬ 
ses to produce. Such farmers may sow, but they cannot 
reap; and if they persist in this ruinous course, they 
must sooner or later feel the evils of an empty purse. 
No man ought to expect a return for his labor, unless he 
give back to the soil, in some form, a part at least, of 
what he takes from it. It is to obviate in a great mea¬ 
sure the evils consequent upon the practice of taking all, 
and returning nothing to the land, that is proposed to be 
effected by the rotation system. We do not say, that none 
of those who follow the old and hackneyed path, have 
raised large crops, or been in a degree successful in the 
business of farming; on the contrary, we know that by 
heavy manuring and high cultivation, land may be made 
to produce one kind of grain, perhaps abundantly, for a 
number of years in succession. But we do say, that the 
soil cannot without great expense of labor and manure, 
produce two or three crops of a kind without a percepti¬ 
ble falling off in the product. Neither is it contended 
that manure can be dispensed with in the rotation sys¬ 
tem. But one manifest advantage which this system has 
over the other modes of cultivation is, it enables the far¬ 
mer so to economise in the management and use of his 
manure, as that he may receive a two fold benefit from 
it. For instance, his manure may be applied in an un¬ 
fermented state to roots and other hoed crops, and they 
receive their supply of nourishment from it, and at the 
same time it remains unimpaired for the use of the small 
grains that succeed. We will now proceed to state a few 
general principles on which this system is founded. And 
they are principles that are established by scientific in¬ 
vestigations and experiments, and should be familiar to 
every one engaged in this most laudable pursuit. 
And 1st. Soils, however fertile, or highly cultivated, 
will lose their productiveness, if continually cropped with 
the same kind of plant. 
2d. The degree in which a plant impoverishes the soil, 
depends much on the amount of food it returns to it, in 
the decomposition of ils stalks and roots that remain. 
3d. One plant draws its nourishment from a depth in 
the ground, another from the surface. 
4th. Some plants receive nearly all of their food from 
the earth, while others are fed almost wholly from the at¬ 
mosphere. 
5th. The cultivation of the small grains, renders the 
land foul; the hoed crops tend to free it from weeds. 
6th. Those plants that are permitted to ripen their 
seeds, are great exhausters of the soil; while those that 
do not mature their seeds, exhaust it comparatively lit¬ 
tle. If these principles are founded in truth, they will 
serve us as a guide in arranging our different crops of 
grain, roots and grasses into a regular system of rotation. 
In making choice of crops to alternate with, care should 
be had to select those that are best adapted to the soil. 
In this, the judgment of the farmer will enable him to de¬ 
cide, as he is best acquainted with the nature of the land 
that he cultivates. It will also be an easy matter for him 
to determine which kind of plants should, and which 
should not succeed each other. 
In conclusion, we would say that a system, whose op¬ 
erations conform so completely to nature’s laws, and the 
effects of which are so well calculated to improve the 
soil, aud the condition of the farmer, commends itself to 
the consideration of all. And it is to be hoped that this 
subject will receive that attention which its importance 
demands. A Subscriber. 
Livonia , N. Y., Feb. 1845. 
SHEEP’S TAILS. 
Mr. Editor —In consequence of what was published 
in the 8th volume of the Cultivator, from Messrs. Mor¬ 
rell and Bliss, on the subject of sheep’s tails, I determin¬ 
ed to let my sheep wear theirs, till I satisfied myself 
whether Mr. Morrell’s objections were real, or only ima¬ 
ginary. I had lived to see the fashion of maiming hor¬ 
ses, hogs and dogs, in that way, become almost obselete, 
and was not sure but docking sheep, might be dispen¬ 
sed with also; although I had many doubts on the sub¬ 
ject. I remembered having read that naturalists insist 
that the works of the Creator are always perfect and pe¬ 
culiarly adapted to the purposes they are intended to sub¬ 
serve; still I could hardly believe, but that a long tailed 
sheep would always be dirty, and was sure they would 
look singular; but now after three years trial, I am fully 
satisfied that all the objections to long tails, are without 
foundation; and that the tail is not only useful, as it pro¬ 
tects the tender parts it was designed to cover, from ex¬ 
treme cold or heat, but also ornamental, the animal not 
wanting a member, designed by nature for its comfort. I 
must say that although Mr. Bliss was called eccentric,for 
supposing a sheep should wear its tail, I think that with¬ 
out one, if it does not look absolutely vulgar, it does very 
ungenteel. I have now about three hundred long tailed 
ewes-; and shall have all my flock so after my old stock 
is gone. If the tails are shorn before the sheep are turn¬ 
ed to grass, there will be no more dirty ones, than if they 
had no tails; and the wool of course will pay more than 
four fold for shearing. Will not many try this humane 
experiment to satisfy themselves; at any rate, none should 
condemn it without a fair trial. Daniel S. Curtis 
Canaan Centre, Feb. 10, 1845. 
ASHES—CORN AND POTATOES IN ALTERNATE ROWS. 
Editor Cultivator —I have the past season made 
some experiments with ashes and plaster on corn, but 
they were not conducted with sufficient accuracy, though 
they enable me to guess, to my own satisfaction, that the 
best way is to mix one part plaster to five of leached and 
unleached ashes, and apply a handful after the corn is 
above ground. On dry ground it produced the greatest 
effect. 
I have planted corn and potatoes in alternate rows, and 
have guessed that I obtained almost as much corn as if 
every row was corn, and half as many potatoes. I wish 
some of your correspondents would try it. I have tried 
it in hills and drills. They will bear to be nearer toge¬ 
ther than if every row was corn. Yours, &c. 
Henry Hull. 
Claverack , Columbia co ., N. F., 1st mo. Hth, 1845 
