ROTATION OF CROPS.

It may perhaps be thought, that what is stated under the preceding head, would be sufficient on this subject; but the due rotation of crops is a matter of such vast importance to the farmer, that it cannot be too often pressed upon his attention; and the constant change of crop is as applicable to a farm of five, as to one of fifty or five hundred acres, and is alike necessary

in all.

The simplest rotation is that of wheat and beans alternately, without intermission; but this can only be adopted in the very richest soils, and is of rare occurrence. Another almost equally simple rotation is that of barley and turnips alternately, with an occasional crop of clover, the turnips being fed off by sheep. But perhaps the oldest rotation known, and which has been in use throughout Europe since the time of the Romans, is the triennial rotation of fallow, winter corn, and summer or Lent corn; that is, wheat or rye sown in autumn, and barley or oats sown in spring. This rotation had some advantages, or it probably would not have continued so long in use; but the loss of a third part of the land by fallow, which it caused, at length forced on the cultivation of other crops less calculated to exhaust the soil. One of the first of these was clover, and afterwards turnips; and by the introduction of these crops, a most important change has been effected in the whole system of European husbandry.

By substituting turnips for an entire naked fallow, and interposing clover between the summer and winter corn, the improved Norfolk rotation has been obtained, viz.-1. Turnips, manured; 2. Barley; 3. Clover; 4. Wheat. The inconvenience of this rotation is the frequent failure of the clover, if sown every fourth year; and this has compelled the farmer to resort to other crops instead, such as rye-grass, tares, &c., and to vary and extend the rotations according to the nature of the soil, and other circumstances.

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With the small farmer, the rotation should generally be what is called a five-years' shift: that is, the first year, potatoes or turnips, manured; in the second, barley and grass-seeds; the third, hay; fourth, pasture; and fifth, oats. Barley may sometimes be sown after oats, if the land is clean and well pulverized, and if manure can be spared; but as a general rule, oats should follow grass; turnips, potatoes, or mangelwurzel, should follow oats; and barley with clover, and grass-seeds, should follow green crops.

Wheat is not included in the above rotation; but where the soil is suitable, wheat may be cultivated with advantage, and should come in upon the clover-stubble, or else after turnips or potatoes, instead of barley.

Some persons may suppose that the land will not bear this constant turning and ploughing, but this is a great mistake. If repeated ploughing were injurious, how happens it that the land produces good crops after a naked summer fallow, when it has been ploughed perhaps four times, with little intermission? It is not the constant ploughing that does harm, but the constant grain crops, without regard to rotation. Ploughing is always beneficial, if a proper change of crop is observed.

As a general rule, it must be remembered, that two grain crops cannot be taken in succession without injuring the land, and in the end causing a loss to the farmer. By interposing an alternate green crop, full as many grain crops may be had off the same land, and with the same quantity of manure, within a given number of years, as could be obtained by taking them in succession; with this additional advantage, that you have the benefit of the green crops, and keep the land always in good heart.

Continued cropping with grain, will in the end leave the soil so exhausted, that it will not yield even grass: but if grass-seeds had been sown with the first crop of grain, there would have been a crop of hay and aftergrass in the second year, and the next crop of grain would have been as good as the first. This is what ought to be done, where the land is not suited to

clover; and the last exhausting grain crop should be put in upon land intended for potatoes, turnips, clover, or other green crop in the succeeding year, which will restore it to a state fit to produce grain again the year following.

There are particular juices in the soil suited to the nourishment of particular crops; and each crop exhausts its own particular juices, leaving the land unfit to bear another crop of the same kind. A bean-plant was taken up, and its root put into clear water; the plant continued healthy for some time, but the water became coloured by a discharge from the root of the bean-plant, which soon withered. The root of another healthy bean-plant was then put into it, but it withered immediately. The root of a wheat-plant was next put into the same water, and it not only lived and flourished, but it absorbed the colouring matter left by the beanplant, and cleared the water completely.

By experiments of this kind, it has been ascertained, that one crop not only exhausts the soil of particular juices, but actually leaves matter in the soil injurious to another crop of the same kind; but which matter is absorbed by a crop of a different sort, whose growth it will not check, if it even does not promote it. Therefore corn, the roots of which spread near the surface, ought to be followed by a green crop-such as beans, potatoes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, carrots, or clover, &c., whose roots descend deeply, and extract nutriment of a different sort from that which supports corn. All drilled green crops likewise admit of horse or hand hoeing, and thus afford the benefit of a summer fallow, whilst their consumption by the cattle creates rich manure so that by the intervention of drilled green crops, the land is in fact prepared for the most vigorous growth of corn crops.

If the soiling of cattle in summer, with green-crop feeding in winter, were to come into general use, there can be no doubt that the farmer's profits would be greatly increased, whatever the size of his farm. It is the sure characteristic of a good system, that it may be pursued with advantage even on the smallest scale; but if prac

tised on a large scale, a proportionally greater profit will of course be derived from it.

On a small farm, one-fourth of the land might be under potatoes, mangel-wurzel, beans, or turnips; onefourth in barley or oats; one-fourth clover, vetches, rape, or lucerne; and the remaining fourth in wheat, if the soil be suited for it. Let the small farmer once bring his land into this rotation, and it will afterwards be easily kept in order, and yield him a great increase of produce.

The following four-years' rotation has been recommended for a small farmer, holding about twenty acres of land, and having, by means of stall-feeding his cattle, secured a sufficiency of manure:-In the first year, five acres, properly manured, are to be planted with green crops, in which are included potatoes, turnips, cabbages, beans, and mangel-wurzel, according to the nature of the soil and other circumstances.

The next year five acres more to be manured and similarly planted; and the same the third year; and in the fourth year, the whole farm will thus have been gone over. After each manuring, the land should be occupied with the following succession of crops :-First year, green crops as above; second year, wheat, oats, or barley, with clover; third year, the clover to be cut for the cattle, making into hay whatever there may be to spare; fourth year, oats, wheat, or barley. The fifth year the same rotation may commence again, five acres, well manured, being again placed under green crops, and the other crops in succession, as before. The farmer will thus get four productive crops from one manuring, and will always have one-half of the entire farm in grain, onefourth in clover, and one-fourth in potatoes, turnips, &c.

To make the above rotation more simple, all the manured land is supposed to have clover sown with the first grain crop; but the farmer may sow only half in clover, and put the other half in vetches, Italian ryegrass, or cabbages, if he wishes to have variety of food for his cattle, which is generally desirable-the only point insisted upon being, that two crops of grain are

not to be taken in succession off the same land. It may also be observed, that the dung obtained by house-feeding the cattle, will enable the farmer to manure the stubble of the last grain crop; and then to sow or transplant rape, which will yield a good return, and be off the ground in time for the potatoes and turnips which precede the second grain crop.

The above rotation is not recommended as being invariably the best, for the variety of soils and circumstances is so great, that no single plan of rotation can suit every case; but the principle on which it is founded is of universal application, and is as suitable to a farm of five acres, as to one of fifty or five hundred.

When wheat is cultivated, the usual mode is to put in the crop directly after turnips, clover, or other green crop, adding some lime harrowed in with the seed. The farmer who has not sown clover with his wheat, should on no account put in oats the following year, but take a crop of vetches or fieldbeans, which will leave the ground in a fit state for either oats or barley; and then it ought to return again to potatoes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, or other green crop, and go through the rotation anew. By this mode two manurings give, first, turnips, or potatoes, or mangelwurzel; then wheat; then vetches or beans; and lastly oats or barley-that is, four crops from two manurings; but the rotation previously suggested gives four crops from one manuring, which is a better return, if the land be strong enough to bear it. It also keeps one-fourth of the land always in clover and vetches, by which provision is made for the cattle, and for the accumulation of stable-yard manure to be used instead of lime; for it must always be remembered that lime cannot be safely applied, year after year, to the same land.

The four-years' rotation is termed the Norfolk course, and it is in a great measure by its adoption, that the husbandry of that county has become so celebrated. Other rotations may be produced, simply by prolonging the period for which the land sown with grass-seeds, is allowed to remain under grass.

When a five-years' course is intended, the land will