Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1859-03-25
Frou lhs M...aehu.,il. rlou.bman.
Rotation OF Crops

. land who Is TO obtain living by farming.
Rotation in this quarter of the country is
more important than in new States, where
the sol has not been exhausted.
Sixty year. ago rotation Of crops was eS-
,rcmeIy limitd. Farmer. usually chang d
their tilasc lands - much that corn was
grown this yrar, and rye or oats the next.
Potatoes as, began tn look up and claim a
place IN ,re rotation. Potatoes and corn
then filled the uIlasc land this year and the
English grains followed.
Hot the idea of changing grass land. to
,ilIace seems not % have been entertained
6lty or sixty years ago. And then to
change them hack again from tillasc to
moving seemed TO be ,riaiue with the com.
mon ,rnsc Of common farmers.
In confirmation of thi. statement. which
an our oH farmer, will assent %, We need
only Q, rcai the advertisements. a, they are
u.aally written in stereotype style. ds.srih-
tuc ,He quality and importance of farms of.
icrcd irr sale Most of ih,.r advertisements
recommending f,rus f.r sale. tell u- that
'' they are suitably divided mt, moving,
t,lhs', orchard grounds, and ras'urius
~, word b. aid in these advertisements
in re-.rI ,n ,h, feasibility Of oiarrigs from
moving o. tilhse and from tilbsc {, mov-
iu: Yet thi. operation has been OF more
imTortanc, o. Mldlly,ex farmers than all
the c,ntriun,rs which have been RECON-.
meni,i by -cien,if, writer. 70 make ma.
uur, out ct nn,hir:, and 10 analyI1 the
constituents 90 our poor soils.
Farmer, in MilIg,,K county have im.
pro,cl much IN laI,cr y'trs. And we ini
many farms which now harvest ten told
rn,-c Of merchandise hay than they d,d
fifty year. aco. rhi. 6. done on old f,rm'
Supposed G, O., run out before the rotation
system wa- in,r,lucei
We ulv So farm. % 100 acres yiellin:
ten lu,i moro % mrrchlnahl, hay than
they dil when t,ey ksP, one field IN grass
and ,hc other fr ,iilbc.-''rp and p,tlto,.
and beau. thi. year, and rye aud oats
next ycir-'' the who'' family suitably 81.
y,dci into moving, ,illasc, pasture, aud or.
cblri
We thu. invite attention &, n, common
practice ot our good farmers sixty year,
as1. not tn csn,ur, their god ulI practices,
bat % note the very remarkable improve
mems which thcy have mad, in latter years,
and Co show why ir b. that We have =, much
NOR, good hay on our farms ,han We had in
old times.
Rotation d. The secret which has ipcrels-
Ell our hay crop. ten told. Tho ry,san d.
plain when wc CONSIDER how the scheme OPP
crates, Instead Of pl,n,in: tor years 10
succession the same grounds, farmers now
rl,v the sr-en sNarI which has been used
,or moving, and have the benefit ui the Tot.
rns sd in addition TO the mauurcs applied
.rom ,he barn ya'i.
Nlw this green sIi will rot. aud af,ri at
lsls, bali dressing Tor corn, potatoes, ur
beams. Aud Of course two acres instead
Of one may Dc planted each year, with the
a,i OF the common suPPly from the barn.
yard.
On tie other hand the ,lilasc land i laid
down to sras.-clo,rr. hcrd.srass, rel top.
sc. Thi. new moving ground yields more
than twice as much as the era'' land which
has not been disturbed or Ilowcd up Tor
many years.
Tnu. modern farmers gain both ways hy
rroper practice Of Rotation They raise
better crops by ullips on grcensward-,av-
us half thc. MANURE compared with crops
1u Old aud long titled fields. While a, the
same time they obtain twice "a, much hay
pr acro IN tDy grouuLs sJwn with fresh
seed.
.hc objections to ~, system of rotation
are. that the ploWins Of srrensvarl is
mor, laboriou. than the pIuwins Of land
that has been long titled. Th. !, true, Yet
since our cas, iron plows have oeen brought
nearly to perfection, We have not that
dread % breaking up srcynsvard land to -
planted which prevailed extensively in the
a.tuse.
Twas common case TO End farmers
breaking up" greenswarl land with
three pair, % o1en-r two Ialrs AMI "a
bor... But now one yoke Of otru makes
team strong enough with modern iron
rlow.
w,ll. one yoke Of oxen. well trained, will
follow the frrnw without a dri-cr The
pl,vuap would not give hr'hins for a
boy or a man to drive his team OF two oxen
or two horses.
Hero .. great sasins of expense in
plowiug--ouc-halr at least compared with
former usage. Thcexpsnse. then, Of chang
in. lands lrOw grass 10 tlhsc Is iriling,
lnd all our gool farmers who have farms
which admit Of the rotation system are in-
clin,d to practice Il.
\ Another Objection is tho COS, Of grass
seed and the ri.k OF summer killing aud
winter Killing. It is true that grass seed
Gusts money unle.. We raise it on our own
farms. Fifty years agl bot little grass seed
was bought. Farmers relied on the chAn
,ha, could be collected on the barn h1or''