The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1827-02-15
From Loudon's Encyclopedia of Agriculture.
OF THE ROTATIONS OF CROPS SUI
TABLE TO DIFFERENT DE-
SCRIPTIONS OF SOILS.


The kind of crops te be raised are deter
mined in great measure by the climate,
soil, and demand; and the quantity OF each,
by the value, demand, and the adjustment
Of farm labor.
In the adjustment of farm labor, the great
art is to divide it as equally as possible thro'-
out the year. Thus it would not answer in
any situation to sow exclusively autumn
crops, as wheat or rye; nor only spring crops,
as oats or barley; for by so doing all the la
bor of seed time would come ON at once, and
the same of harvest work, while the rest OF
the year there would be little to do on the
farm. But by sowing a portion OF each OF
these and OF er crops, the labor both OF seed
time and harvest is divided and rendered ca
sier, and more likely to be done well ana IN
season. But this point is SO obvious as not
to require elucidation.
The succession or rotation of crops, is
point on which the profits of the farmer de-
pend more than on any other. 1t is remark
ed by Arthur Young, that the agricultural
writer's, previously to the eighteenth centu-
ry, paid but little or no attention to it. They
recite, he says, courses good, bad. and exc
cradle, in the same tone; as matters not open
to praise or censure, and unconnccted with
anv principles that could throw light on the
Arrangement of fields. The FIRST writer
who assigned due Importance to the subject
OF rotations, seems to have been the Rev.
Adam Dickinson, in his "Treatise on Agri-
culture" published In Edinburgh, in 1777;
and soon afterwards. Lord kaimes, in his
Gentleman Farmer illustrates the import
ance Of the subject; both writers were prob
ably led to it by observing the effects OF the
Norfolk husbandry, then beginning to be IN
1roduced to Berwckshire. But whatever
may have been the little attention paid to
this subject by former writer's, the import
ance of the subject of rotations, and the rule
founded on the principles already laid down,
that culmiferous crops ripenlnS their seeds
should not be repeated without the interven
tion of pulse roots, herbage, or fallow, is
now Recognised in the practice and writings
of all ludicious cultivators, more generally
perhaps than any other"
Edit. of Farm. Nag.
The sy stem of rotations IS adopted ior G
very soil, though no one particular rotation
can be given for any one soil which will an
swer in all cases, as something depends on
climate, and something also OH the kind OF
produce for which there is the greatest
market demand. But wherever the system
of rotations is followed, and the several pro-
cesses of labor which belong to it properly
executed, land will rarely get into foul and
exhausted state; or, at least, if foul and ex
hausted under judiclous rotation, "matters
would be much worse was any other system
followed"
The particular crops which enter into a
system of rotation must obviously be such as
are suited to the soil and Climate, though,
as the valuable author, so often quoted, OBJ
serves, "theY will be somewhat varied by
local circumstances; such as the proximity
of towns and villages, where there is great
er demand for turnips, potatoes, hay, &c.
than in thinly peoped districts. In general,
beans and clover, with rye grass, are inter
posed between corn crops on clayey soils
and turnips, potatoes, and clover and rye
grass, on dry loans and sands, or what is
Technically known by the name of turnip
soils. A variety of other plants, such as
peas, tares, and carrots, occupy part
though commonly but small part, of that
division of a farm which is allotted to green
crops. This order of succession is called
the system of alternate husbandry and on
rich soils, or such as have access to abundant
OF putrrscent manure, 1t is certainly the
most productive of all others, both i'll food
for man and for the inferior animals. One
half of farm is, in this course, always un-
der some OF the different species Of cerea
gramina, and the other half under pulse
roots, cultivated heritage, or plain fallow.
But the greater part of the arabic land Of
Britain, cannot be maintained in fertile
state under this management; and sandy
soils even though highly manured, soon be
come too incohesive under course of con
slant tilage. 1t, therefore, becomes neces
ssry to leave that division or break that car
ries cultivated herbage, to be pastured fo
two years or more, according to the degree
of its consistency and fertility; and all th
fields of the farm are treated thus in thei
turn, if they require it. This is called TIL
system of convertible husbandry, a regula
change being constantly going on from ara
tion to pasturage, and Uice Versa.
Not to repeat the same kind of crop at to
short intervals is another rule with regar
20 the succession of crops. Whatever ma
be the cause, whether it is to be sought to
in the nature of the soil, or OF the plant
shemselves, experience clearly proves tn
advantages of introducing diversity OF spt
cies into every course of cropping. Whe
again under the plough, there may be LEI
need for adhering steadily to this rule; o'
the degeneracy of wheat and other cor
creps recurring upon the same land ever
second year for long period, has been vel
generally acknowledged. 1t is the same wit
+ what are called green crops; beans and pea
potatoes, turnips, and, in an especial mai
rsd rloyer become oil Of theun tpur