184 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



really profitable, and they cannot be produced if enriching the soil is neglected, 

 though much may be accomplished, in my judgment, by judicious fallowing of 

 the ground. And this brings me to sj^eak of plowing and preparing the field 

 for the reception of the seed, although I can scarcely say enough on the subject 

 of supplying the soil with the materials we are constantly demanding from it. 



Deep plowing is of the first and greatest importance. Many farmers think 

 it necessary to plow the land twice to procure a good crop, but unless the land 

 is very stumpy I should not think it necessary, and if the field is free from 

 stumps, as every field should be as soon as possible, I should recommend one 

 deep plowing, and then a thorough use of a wheel cultivator. But if it must 

 be twice plowed, it would be well to begin on the outside and plow around the 

 field toward the center, then begin the second plowing in the center, working 

 toward the outside, thereby leaving the field as level as possible for the use of 

 machinery. It may not be amiss to say that many failures may be attributed 

 to hasty and careless plowing. The furrows should be straight and of uniform 

 Avidth and depth, using the jointer when plowing sod. But the second plowing 

 would not supersede the use of the cultivator, as there is the greatest benefit to 

 be derived from its unstinted use, thus exposing fresh surfaces to the action of 

 the atmosphere and keeping the grass and weeds in check by the constant stir- 

 ring of the soil. If the soil is inclined to be lumpy, it will be necessary to use 

 a roller before commencing to sow tlie wheat. It should be brought into use 

 again in the spring. My plan is to sow grass seed on the wheat (in the spring), 

 then harrow the field and afterwards roll it. It is said that the harrowing and 

 rolling in many cases kills the fly, which in some localities is so destructive to 

 the wheat crop. I read, not long since, a caution from an eminent agricul- 

 turist against too much working of the land, as it might render it too light for 

 raising a good crop of wheat. I have never known of such an instance. On 

 the contrar}', there is a tendency to work land too little. 



I have seen two crops raised on the same field with but one plowing. I refer 

 especially to the practice of sowing wheat on corn ground, only making slight 

 use of the cultivator after the corn is drawn off. And, indeed, there were fields 

 sown last fall with the corn still in the shock ; I will venture to say the yield 

 from the fields will not be nearly as large as their soil is capable of producing. 

 I know from experience that a heavy return of wheat may be realized from 

 summer-fallowing corn ground. But I have never tried the other method, and 

 hope I shall never be obliged to. I remember seeing a field of wheat sown on 

 the corn stubble without plowing, and the owner confidently expected a good 

 yield, but the result was what might be anticipated, about five bushels per acre, 

 and that on land capable of producing at least twenty-five bushels per acre, 

 with only decent treatment. 



I once asked a farmer his object in sowing on corn stubble. He replied that 

 in so doing he could get a crop each year, when if he should wait and summer- 

 fallow he would only receive two crops in three years. His reasoning was quite 

 correct, of course, if the land was strong enough to raise two crops with but 

 once plowing. But I have yet to see the land that will endure that kind of 

 treatment long, with as little enriching as farmers usually give it. It seems to 

 me that one trial of sowing on corn stubble would be sufficient to convince any 

 farmer that it would be a better plan to raise twenty-five or thirty bushels per 

 acre with fallowing rather than five or ten bushels sown on corn stubble. Many 

 farmers do not consider that it recpiires just as much seed where the return is 

 but five bushels per acre as where it is twenty-five, while the cost of harvesting 



