230 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
it easier to accumulate still more from the atmosphere. This 
experiment gives us the key note to the successful manage¬ 
ment of our sandy land. 
We see that it is far easier to keep up the original fertility 
of the soil, than it is to restore it when once exhausted. As 
yet the processes have all been exhaustive—nothing has been 
restored. The great law requiring compensation, which God 
so implicitly obeys in the management of the universe, has 
been utterly neglected. Much has been lost, but still much can 
be done, not only to restore, but even to exceed the original fer¬ 
tility of the soil. 
Boussingault tried the same experiments with other plants 
with simdar results, but the leguminous plants, to which clover 
belongs, have so far proved the most satisfactory. 
Other plants of heavy annual growth might be profitably 
sown and plowed under to restore the worn out lands, but 
clover properly handled is sufficient to accomplish it all. It 
can be sown with other crops; it affords both pasture and hay, 
and is hardy in our climate. 
The proper rotation of crops to adopt in view of the neces¬ 
sities of the case will be clover, corn and small grain; the 
ground when sown to small grain of any kind, to be always 
seeded with clover. I would divide the farm as nearly as pos¬ 
sible into three equal parts. This rotation, if clean work is 
made with each part, will give uniform annual products, varied 
only by the accidents of the season. As the harvest of each 
field is secured, the lot can be pastured, if desirable, without 
interfering with the other crops. 
I would sow the medium clover, which, in favorable seasons, 
will give a crop of hay followed by a growth which can be cut 
for seed, or used as pasture, as the farmer pleases. If it is well 
filled, it should be cut for seed, as a man must raise his own ; 
when the seed is once secured the farm must not be sold short. 
One or even two year’s supply should be kept on hand. If 
the second growth is not heavy enough to meet the expense of 
cutting for seed it will still mature enough to re-seed the land. 
If allowed to get a good start, it may be moderately pastured 
