state Convention—rotation of Crops. 223 
sowed to clover, it will be hard for them to prosper. The young, 
clover, growing with the wheat, shades the ground and helps to* 
keep them in check. The next years’ clover will give them the 
most unfavorable conditions possible, the ground will be kept 
cool and moist and they will be destroyed. 
A short rotation persisted in will effectually destroy weeds. 
They will sprout up among the clover, but before they can mature 
seed they will all be mowed down. The second crop of clover 
takes immediate possession and in due time it is again mowed. 
By parting the clover and looking closely on the ground that has 
been weedy, thousands of immature weeds may be seen. The 
seeds have sprouted but perish without bearing fruit. The 
manure made will also become free from foul seeds, the whole 
farm will be subjected to the same process in its turn, and in 
a few years the land will become clean. Under some judicious- 
system of rotation, the productions of the farm would be as nearly 
uniform as possible, subject only to the contingencies of the sea¬ 
sons. A man would soon learn what number of hogs and cattle 
he could safely keep. He might not attain to any astonishing suc¬ 
cess in a single season, nor would he be liable to disastrous fail¬ 
ures. Taking a series of years together, the results could hardly 
fail to be satisfactory. It might be objected that a third of the 
land in corn would be too large a proportion ; but it must be re¬ 
membered that our corn crop has sustained itself better than any 
of our small grains, and that in proportion to its exhaustive effect 
on the land, it yields us the greatest profit. It is our cheapest 
fattening grain, producing the best quality of beef, pork and mut¬ 
ton, and it is not probable that the reputation of our western beef 
and pork could be sustained by the use of any other feed. 
The corn-ground will receive the coarse manure of the farra r 
which by a seasons culture will become thoroughly rotted and in¬ 
corporated with the soil, and so fitted for the crop which is to- 
follow. The year of cultivation in corn, will stand in the relation 
of a summer fallow to the crop which succeeds it, and would as 
nearly answer its purpose as anything could and still give a 
profitable crop. Experience has taught us that wheat does not do 
well on a freshly turned sod. The roots of the grass must have 
time to rot before they can nourish the growing caops. Wheat in 
