American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-04-12
Che farmer's department.
System Of Rotation on Grain Farms

w nat Is Ine LiUSJ pIOhtdDiV SChCi
al system of farming for those who
have say from 80 to 200 or more acres
o. grain land and who, remote from
citv markets, are limited to cereals
and grazing? Satisfactory results
during the last twelve years, or more
have led to the opinion that a six
years rotation, three years in clover
grazing and three years in grain, a
gran crop each year is the most prof
table.
If you have timothy meadow enough
for hay, bring more than one-third,
if you have not, bring about one-third
of your grain land into the condition
of having been grazed three years !;
the residue of your grain land being
devoted to clover grazing or hay, or
in process of preparation therefor.
The three years grazing will give you
heavy and rich soil. If clayey,
plow at the proper time in the fall;
if friable, in the spring. The land
is too rich for fallow and winter wheat.
Let the first years crop be corn, beans
potatoes, roots, sorgo, broom or broad
cast corn according to the labor at
command and the probable profit.
The third years crop snould be
winter wheat or barley, that the land
may be seeded not less than ten
pounds of clover seed per acre, ap-
plying timothy seed in the fall, and
only on the low and wet spots, apply
ing plaster early in the spring.
The second years crop, like the
first, is flexible, and may be adapted
to profit, or to the convenience or ne
cessitios of..wintering stock. 1t may
be corn, if preceded by beans, and
followed with wheat or winter barley.
1t may be spring barley, peas or oats
or beans if preceded by corn. 1t
may be winter barley followed by
wheat, or the reverse. Much as the
practice of two successive crops of
wheat or barley is deprecated, in one
and the only instance of trying it,
the second crop was 25 bushes of
wheat per acre, while the first was
only II bushels. [ seldom SOW win
ter grain after corn, because of the
labor Involved, occasionally reserying
corn enough for the second year, or
substituting peas. A crop of beans
or peas is desirable in the rotation,
as notmaterially y diminishing the yield
of cereals.
NATURALLAWSF FAvORING THIS SYSTEM
First: In addition to the fertility
induced by grazing, three years will
produce heavy and rich soil, of un-
appreciated value, which is the cheap
est and most essential basis of fertil-
ity. This is a very important point.
Second ; Three years is assumed
as the longest period of rest that
economy will warrant for lands adap-
ted to grain. Two years may be
equivalent if the land is assisted by
surface manwes applied in connec-
ton with the grass. During these
three years it is claimrd that the par
ticles of the soil assume new cOndi-
tions, becoming, upon cultivation,
fine, and more friable, and retaining
these qualities during the three years
of cropping. However we'll manur-
ed, the particles Of most garden soils
that are constantly hoed, will be
found to vary from the size of wheat
to acorns. Seed to clover two or
three years, and the ABOVE results
follow. Old pioneers remember
that new land was cultivated with
little or no grass, and remained mel
low from fifteen to twenty-five years,
but finally became gritty and heavy.
1t is claimed that the benefit of
giving land rest has not received due
attention.
SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS
SYSTEM
You do not commit the sin ofstop-
ping grass from growing and trying
to get something out of land when
there is nothing in it. Impoverish-
ed land if well seeded will attain a
remunerltive fertility, and persist
ance in the system will improve the
land, and enable you, at the smallest
cost, to carry all the stock, and raise
all the grain, that the land is capable
of. Your land, whether opened OF
closed, is doing its utmost in the pro.
duction of graiu or grass, and nc
time is lost. There is economy Of
money and labor in seeding but once
in six years, and you can afford to dc
it thoroughly. The third years croT
is not apt to lodge, and the seed takes
well,--a least l hvve not failed in !
single instance Imperfect seeding
and ceaseless tillage are the bone O
american, agriculture, and are an
incalculaJle loss to the country. You
manure whether coaurse or fine, may
be applied on the surface at the mos
proper time, when the grass is short
Your breaking up is done in the fal
or spring, when the land is in prop
er condition of moisture, and the SOC