FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 329 



to endure the rigor of winter, -while if in proper condition it Avill remain unin- 

 jured. By this method crops of 30, 40, and even 50 bushels to the acre have 

 been secured. Numerous instances can be cited where the practice described 

 lias been followed for years with entire success ; and failures, if any, have been 

 occasioned by a surplus of water during the Avinter, while the ground was frozen, 

 and when there Avere no channels for it to pass off. 



Wheat sown after wheat, oats, or corn, may, and occasionally does, result 

 favorably, but it is always uncertain, and if continued it never fails to bring 

 waste and loss. There is every reason to believe that the product of Michigan 

 wheat can be doubled, without any increase of the area sown, simply by adopting 

 a more intelligent and careful system of cultivation. 



We now come to the second question, "Can we increase the product and not 

 exhaust the soil? " This point has been much discussed. Science and the labor- 

 atory have been aj^pealed to, and yet nearly all we know in regard to it has 

 been gained from experience and careful observation. We do not, cannot 

 know the elements that compose a single rod of our soil. We do not and cannot 

 know tlie changes that are constantly taking place in that soil, caused by 

 agencies that we are ignorant of, and by methods that we cannot understand. 

 But we do know that every load of Avheat that goes from the farm contains 

 some of its elements of fertility. We also knoAV that lands in older States, 

 which produced good crops of wheat 40 years ago, do not now yield wheat 

 enough to jiay for cultivation. 



We have come to realize that no soil is inexhaustible : that the constant takins; 

 away, when no return is made, tends to poverty and barrenness. These consid- 

 erations will be ever present to the mind of the Avise and prudent farmer. He 

 will regard his farm as his capital. He Avill remember that the tendency of 

 nature is always to restore ; that he has at all times within his reach the means 

 to make his farm more valuable and more productive ; that the man Avho as the 

 result of cultivation makes his farm better year by year is the man most sure 

 to produce good crops, Avhile doing honor to himself and to mankind. 



DISCUSSION. 



J. J. Bush. — What is the propriety of only once ploAving? It seems to me 

 that tAvice ploAving Avould be better. 



J. N. Smith. — I believe our Michigan lands are capable of producing twice 

 13^ bushels of wheat per acre. Do not think it Avould tax the land in propor- 

 tion. When I raise a good crop my land is always better for the next crop. 

 On lands not fully subdued twice ploAving is a necessity, but after subduing the 

 land thoroughly once plowing Avill answer. 



Mr. Caruss. — I do not like summer-falloAving; think Ave cannot afford it. I 

 ploAV my sod and plant to corn, manure this land the next spring and sow to 

 barley, f olloAving this Avith Avheat, and then seeding doAvn. In this Avay the land 

 is used every year. My barley and Avheat croji together have brought me $57 

 per acre. 



W. A. Dryer. — I plow once and keep my fallow clean Avith a flock of good 

 merino sheep. I would like to ask a question or two : first, how large must 

 Avheat be to be too large? second, A\'ill wheat joint until after it has had the 

 action of frost upon it? I think it Avill not. 



Mr. Caruss. — I haA'e seen Avheat that jointed in the fall. Mr. Wilcox, of St. 

 Johns, once lost 17 acres by its jointing and Avinter-killing. 



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