72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



bare fallow could be had, and a crop also ; hence, such crops came 

 to be known as fallow crops, as turnips, &c., for during their culture 

 the land could be avcU stirred and exposed to the air, and the wide 

 spaces between the drills permitted the thorough eradication of weeds, 

 and in addition to this, there is an actual gain bj their using some 

 elements of fertility not required bj the grain crops. In the decom- 

 position of feld-spar, for instance, by the combined action of air, 

 frost and water holding carbonic acid in solution, there are liberated 

 one equivalent of potash for every one of silica, and of these, grains 

 require five or six parts of silica to one of potash, while root crops 

 appropriate to themselves largely of potash, but very little of silica, 

 so that there is economy in saving so much of plant food ; and if the 

 elements of fertility thus used by the crops are returned to the 

 soil in manure, the product of their consumption, the fertility may 

 be maintained, and gradually increased. 



The advantages of fallow crops over naked fallows are so great 

 that they have taken their place in nearly all good practice, the only 

 exception being in the case of very stiff clays, where they are by 

 some yet retained. It is on soils which contain largely of alkaline 

 silicates, as in clays, that the practice of bare fallowing is most advan- 

 tageous. 



Fallow crops will be considered more at length in connection with 

 the subject of rotation. 



We will now notice a third method pointed out in the recom- 

 mendations following, viz., that of green manuring: 



" In answer to this question, 1 can do no better than co give you my own 

 esporience. Seven years ago this spring, 1 houglit a piece of land that Iiad 

 an old worn out field of twelve acres upon it, that had been mowed as long as 

 it would bear any thing, then tlio best spots mowed, and the remainder left to 

 grow weeds and bushes. I repaired the fences around it, and turned iu a flock 

 of sheep, and in tl)e course of the summer cut the bushes. The following 

 spring I fenced off four acres, plowed it in June, and sowed to buckwiieat. 

 Tiie first of September I rolled down that crop, and plowed it in. I sowed 

 buckwheat again the next season, putting on twenty-five bushels of clover 

 chaflF to the acre, and 1 iiarvested about one hundred bushels of l)iickwheat. 

 The next year I put on what manure I could spare, and planted to corn and 

 potatoes. The fifth year I sowed to wheat, and seeded down. I have not 

 failed of a fair crop since; and this year I have eight acres to grass, from 

 which I shall undoubtedly cut twelve tons of hay. The remaining four to 



