374 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



small grain it will not. It is a fact that wheat, oats, rye, 

 &c. grow without manure extremely luxuriant in favor- 

 able seasons. In this vicinity, our wheat is extremely 

 likely to winter kill — generally by heaving out; but last 

 winter it was to a very great extent killed in another 

 way, which I will describe. The ground, previous to the 

 January thaw, was but little frozen, and the wheat re- 

 mained green under the snow, which was melted off, and 

 by a sudden change to severe cold, was formed into a 

 complete coat of ice over the level surface, so as to ex- 

 clude the air from the wheat, killing entirely thousands 

 of acres, while the roots remained firm in the ground. 

 Where the snow remained on the ground, as it did in 

 hollows and uneven land, or where wheat had been sown 

 among corn and the stalks left standing, the wheat lived 

 and produced one of the finest crops ever raised. Many 

 persons, finding the crop dead in the spring, harrowed 

 in spring wheat without plowing, and thus in all instances 

 where it was sown early, obtained a good yield. It is a 

 common and good practice, to sow wheat among corn in 

 this country. It is also a good practice, and almost the 

 only sure one, to plow the ground in the fall for spring 

 wheat, and harrow it in early in the spring as can be 

 done. The reason of this is, that our spring usually opens 

 late, and the surface of the land is too wet to plow, but 

 the seed can be harrowed in, although in the mud. 



The surface of the prairie is composed of the fibers of 

 the grass roots, 6 or 8 inches deep, which when rotted by 

 two or three years cultivation, is so soft and friable, that 

 when wet, it much resembles in consistence, wet leached 

 ashes; being as easily displaced when you set your foot 

 upon it, and of course when dry, unless baked together, 

 as it sometimes is in dry weather, it is very easily 

 plowed. When well cultivated it is exceedingly fertile; 

 but how long it will remain so under the "skinning" sys- 

 tem, is a problem yet to be solved. My own opinion is, 

 that we might even now, take some useful lessons from 

 some of the manure making farmers of the east. 



