TURNING UNDER GREEN CROPS. 299 



were light. I was desirous of improving the land, and in- 

 creasing the crops. I had not the manure to do it with ; and 

 I had read glowing accounts of how cheap and quickly land 

 could be brought up by ploughing in crops of buckwheat: so 

 I prepared four acres of that lot, and sowed it to buckwheat, 

 with the intention of ploughing it under at its full growth, 

 and sowing rye after it. The buckwheat grew finely, and made 

 a heavy crop. Just before the time for turning it under, there 

 came a shower, with high winds, and laid it down flat. I 

 attempted to plough it under, but found it difficult. I put 

 on a drag, thinking to straighten it out, so that I could 

 plough it ; but it pulled up and dragged into heaps, so that 

 it would not work. I called on extra help with hooks and 

 forks, and, after getting over one acre of it, gave it up. I let 

 the rest of the piece stand and ripen for seed, then mowed it 

 off, but had to mow it close, it being lodged so badly. By 

 that time, it was too late in the season to sow rye. The next 

 spring I ploughed the whole piece, put on a light dressing of 

 manure, and planted it to corn ; and to my great disappoint- 

 ment, when the corn came to grow, the very poorest part of 

 the piece was that where I turned under such a mass of green 

 stuff. The corn looked yellow and sickly all the season ; and 

 by standing up on a bank so as to overlook the piece, one 

 could see a vast difference in color and growth. It seemed to 

 poison and sour the land to such an extent, that it took at 

 least three years to get over it. 



I cannot say but results might have been different with a 

 rye-crop ; but I have never sown a patch of buckwheat 

 since. 



It seems to me to be a very important question here in 

 New England, how shall we best improve our pasture-lands. 

 To a large extent, they are too high and liilly, and so far 

 away as to put it out of the question to haul manure for 

 them, even if we had it to spare. Many of them, in the days 

 of our fathers, were the strongest and most productive part 

 of the farm. They were formerly cropped with wheat, rye, 

 and corn, until reduced too low to make it pay. Then they 

 were given up to pasture ; and the constant drain upon them 

 since, in the form of beef, butter, cheese, mutton, and wool, 

 has reduced them, so that they hardly pay for fencing and 

 bushing, to say nothing of taxes, and interest on capital. 



