239. AGRICULTURE, Rotation of crops.—[continued].
I find * * * that a ten years abandonment of my lands to the ravages
of overseers, has brought on them a degree
of degradation far beyond what I had
expected. As this obliges me to adopt a
milder course of cropping, * * * I have determined
on a division of my farm into six
fields, to be put under this rotation: first year,
wheat; second, corn, potatoes, peas; third,
rye or wheat, according to circumstances;
fourth and fifth, clover where the fields will
bring it, and buckwheat dressings where they
will not; sixth, folding, and buckwheat dressings.
But it will take me from three to six
years to get this plan under way.—
To President Washington. Washington ed. iv, 106.
Ford ed., vi, 509.
(M.
May. 1794)
