206 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



fence, one or both of these substances was probably not present 

 in sufficient quantity to develop the starveling clover plants and 

 to start their deep roots into the soil ; but with that start, there 

 is no reason why that land could not be made agriculturally 

 profitable. It could never be converted into such soil as the 

 Genesee region or a western prairie, because the original consti- 

 tution or strength was not there ; but it was a soil which might, 

 by judicious management, be improved, and brought up to a 

 reasonable degree of fertility. It would be hopeless to undertake to 

 reclaim any such field as that by the use of wheat grown for seed ; 

 it might be done by rye cut green, but it would be a much slower 

 process than by clover. The fields in that neighborhood had been 

 cropped with rye beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant. 

 The plan had been to take off a crop of rye once in three years, 

 getting about nine bushels to the acre, leaving the soil to itself 

 the other two years. Three years of weathering, and atmospheric 

 action on that soil, put it into a condition to make a rye crop of 

 nine bushels to the acre. If that rye were turned under, instead 

 of •being cut off, so as to make the soil more retentive of moisture, 

 it could be brought up ; but the clover plant is adapted to do that 

 thing muc-h more rapidly than the rye plant. 



We now come to an important question, viz., the possibility of 

 continuing the same crop on a field indefinitely. Should you ask 

 me if that can be done, I could answer both '• Yes" and "No," 

 and be equally right in each reply. There are quite a number of 

 agricultural questions that can be answered in just that way. 

 Instances can be brought up in which almost any crop has been 

 grown continuously, without interruption, or with no more inter- 

 ruption than the nature of the plant requires, for a term of years 

 — in many cases for a long period of time. I mentioned yester- 

 day the experience of Mr, Lawes, who has grown wheat twenty- 

 seven years in succession on the same soil, and, without any 

 manure has got an average crop of 16 bnshels to the acre ; while 

 with manure he has averaged 36 bushels to the acre. We know 

 that tobacco can be raised year after year on the same soil, with 

 the help of manure and thorough tillage. The same is true of 

 onions, buckwheat, rye, in fact, I do not know of any crop that 

 may not be grown in that way. And yet, "circumstances alter 

 cases." Clover will not grow on this or that farm, or on this or 

 that field, with such and such culture, to advantage, unless an 

 interval is allowed between the crops. In some sections, you 



