LIGHT SOILS— HOW THEY CAN BE WORKED. 69 



the loss of one crop compared with the increased production of two will 

 amply pay for the buying of manure at a high figure. Then there is another 

 ■question, Avhether it would not pay better to cut green crops and feed it to 

 stock and return it to the land. There is no doubt that clover is the 

 manurial crop that can be plowed under. The chemical effect of plow- 

 ing under clover and other green crops is simply to return to the soil all the 

 ■elements of plant food tliat the plant lived upon. 



Then I say: " A good crop of clover, which has produced one heavy crop 

 ■of hay, and which has been allowed to stand for seed, will add to the land a 

 fertility for wheat which could not be attained with the heaviest practical 

 •dressing of guano." But to this I further add: "The clover must be 

 treated so that it will produce and leave on the ground the greatest possible 

 amount of leaf and roots, for in these two portions of the plant consist the 

 virtue of clover." But as I said before no one's means should be relied upon 

 by the farmer. lie should study the nature of plants and his soil, and draw 

 plant food from all sources by plowing under green crops, using com- 

 mercial fertilizers, ashes, barnyard manure, (by keeping a good stock of 

 animals) in fact everything that will make two blades of grass grow where 

 only one grew before; experience, a knowledge of agricultural chemistry, 

 circumstances and the intelligent application of capital and labor, should 

 dictate to the farmer more than anything else which is the best practice to 

 pursue in restoring fertility to a sandy soil. What would be a profitable 

 practice to one farmer might not be to another. 



Proper drainage, thorough culture, and rotation of crops can be profitably 

 practiced by all farmers, and will make up for a great many deficiencies in 

 plant food. A good rotation is the following, beginning with a rich clover 

 sod. Cut the clover the last of June, and let the second crop grow until 

 about the first of September, and manure very heavy with well rotted barn- 

 yard manure, all that can be ploughed under. After two weeks the clover 

 will grow up through the manure, and with proper care may be plowed 

 under in good shape. Then cultivate well until late in the fall, and the sod will 

 te well decomposed and in good shape for a crop of beets or carrots in the 

 spring following. Put in the seed without plowing in the spring, and by 

 this method of culture a crop can be grown with very little trouble and will 

 keep our sandy soil in a rich and fertile condition. By the use of clover and 

 barnyard manure land will grow two good root crops, with a top dressing in 

 the spring. After fall plowing the next crop should be oats or barley, 

 well seeded with clover, about eight quarts to the acre, and then plowed 

 under in the fall and sowed with wheat, and again seeded with clover and 

 timothy and left for two years, and plowed down. By this process our 

 sandy soil can be kept up as rich as any soil and be very early tilled. Beets 

 and carrots should be sown as early as the 1st of IMay, and turnips from the 

 2nd of June to the 1st of July. Potatoes from the middle of May to the 

 middle of June; be careful in planting your potatoes and not get too much 

 seed in the ground or you may grow small potatoes. The great secret in 

 growing a root crop is attending to them in proper time and in the proper 

 way, so it may not cost any more ^o grow them than a potato (^op, com- 

 mencing to work in tliem as soon as they are out of the ground, and do not 

 be afraid of getting them too thin. I sow twenty-eight inches between the 

 rows, and cultivate with a horse. There should be no coarse or raw manure 

 put on hind for a root crop in the spring, for coarse manure will cause your 

 roots to grow crooked and prongy. 



