Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1883 — THE BEST ROTATION CROPS. [ARTICLE]

THE BEST ROTATION CROPS.

The following is the prize essay of T. Q. Nourse, written for the Massachusetts Agriculti:r i] College: There was an old practice of fallowing to give the land rest and thereby enrich it. This, however, is going out of practice, from the fact that it gives so great a chance for loss by drainage. Now a general farm does not offer the same chance for losses, for it is very easy to adopt a system so that a crop may b>‘ kept growing all the time; for if a crop comes off early in the season, but not early enough to allow another crop to ripen, it is very easy to sow rye, and either feed it off in the fall or spring, or plow under for green manure. It has been found from repeated experiment that one crop will not grow on a piece of land for a long series of years and give good results. This is probably due to the fact that a large proportion of the particular elements needed by that plant are exhausted, while if these are rotated with those of another nature the former will soon grow as well as ever. For a rotation of crops the following may be a good one in many locations: First year, corn; second, roots; third, oats; fourth, wheat; fifth, clover, and sixth, clover. This is for a six year rotation, and can, of course, be modified to admit it to the circumstances and location, as, for instance, in Canada, peas may t'ske the place of corn, for there a large crop of peas may be grown, and make a very valuable one, too, while further South this would not be possible on account of the pea weevil. The Norfolk rotation, which is theoretically a perfect rotation, is as follows: — First, wheat; second, turnips; third, oats or barley; fourth, clover. However, this is hardly admissable in most locations for so large a proportion of the turnips would not be fed to advantage, and might well be modified by placing the barley before the roots, and inserting a wheat crop before the roots and clover.

Ripe Tomatoes. —Tomatoes may be kept almost any length of time, and come out as fresh as when first picked, by preserving in pure vinegar diluted with water —one gill of vinegar and two of water. Pick when ripe, but not very soft; leave the stems on, but do not break the skin. Put into wood or stone, and put the liquid on them cold. After you get thro’ putting them in, put something on them to keep them under the liquid, and take them out as you may wish to use them. Can use them as Sou would tomatoes fresh from .ie vines.- This will not fail if your vinegar is pure and diluted according to directions It is highly probable that cucumbers might be preserved in the same way, selecting those of medium size and leaving on the stems. Jesse Wright, residing four miles west of Indianapols, has a yield of 33 bushels of wheat to the acre, from a field which had been underdrained. Remember! the Francesville Fair.