426 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



This is a crop of great importance in the north part of the State, where this 

 process is always resorted to. In the central and southern parts of the State, 

 where fall ploughing has not as yet obtained to any great extent, little spring 

 wheat is grown, and in case of a wet spring the corn planting is much delayed. 



We now propose to show another advantage of the two-horse cultivator, and 

 how it will dispense with the harrow in connexion with the roller. 



In the first place, we Mill suppose a rotation of crops : say wheat on a clo- 

 ver sod turned over in August, to be sown in September with winter wheat, 

 or in February or March with spring wheat. As soon as tjie crop is off" the 

 stubble is to be turned over Avith the plough, or stirred up with the rotary 

 spade, say to the depth of seven or eight inches. This can be worked over 

 with a six-shovel two-horse wheel cultivator, at the rate of eight acres a day, 

 to the depth of four inches. This will pulverize and level the surface, and 

 nicely prepare it for the seed, which can now be sown with a hand seed-sower 

 at the rate of twenty-five or thirty acres a day. Sow to oats, barley, or other 

 crops. Pass the harrow over this once, which will cover the seed, and roll ; 

 or if the land is in good order, the seed can be sown and cultivated, dis- 

 pensing with the harrow. The roller will pulverize the small clods and press 

 the soil on the seed so that it is sure to germinate. The seed will come up 

 even and make more rapid growth, thus largely increasing the crop over the 

 old process. 



Vie always have a few days of good weather early in the spring, and if the 

 land is ploughed the seed can be sown, but if neglected the ground becomes 

 too wet to 2:)lough, and the crop is sown so late that a light crop is the result. 

 We 7nust have the benefit of the spring rains to insure a good crop of the cereals; 

 and with the use of the two-horse cultivator and roller we can have it if we 

 Vv'ill but plough in the fall. The stubble of this crop is again ploughed in au- 

 tumn, and the ground cultivated as before for corn. Of course, this enables 

 the farmer to get in his crops early, by which he insures a good crop under 

 almost every subsequent contingency. In this crop we use no harrow. In 

 the fall the corn is cut close to the ground, or the stalks are cut during the 

 winter at the surface with a hoe, raked up, and burned. We should never 

 feed stalks in the field and have our land poached up with cattle. The six- 

 shovel cultivator, by adding two extra shovels to the one before mentioned, is 

 now all that is required to prepare the corn stubble for spring wheat or barley, 

 which is cultivated in at the rate of six to eight acres a day with the use of 

 two horses, nearly double the amount that can be done with the harrow, and 

 in a much superior manner. This is followed with the roller to level down the 

 loosened corn hills and to closely pack the soil on the seed. Clover and 

 herds grass can be sown with this crop to be mown or pastured two years, 

 when it is to be broken up at the close of the second year. This completes a 

 rotation of two years in wheat and one in oats, one in corn and one or two in 

 clover, making a five or six years' rotation, and without using the harrow more 

 than once in the whole time, and even that can be dispensed with. The ad- 

 vantage of the fall ploughing and use of the cultivator in stirring up the sur- 

 face that may have become packed by the winter's rain in all cloggy soils can 

 be apjireciated in all locations north of 42°, where the springs are compara- 

 tively short, and south of that point where it is an object to take advantage of 

 the spring rains, so as tx) have the crop advanced before the usual summer 

 drought that too often makes the failure of the crops a rule rather than the ex- 

 ception. 



It will be seen that the two-horse cultivator can be made to play an 

 important part in the culture of small grains, not only in the saving of labor, 

 but in the increased yield. 



