70 



(2) In sod (meadow or pasture) for spring crop. After one or two, 

 but not more than two, crops of hay or pasture, plow shallow (not more 

 thnn four inches) early after harvest, say the 1st to the 15th of August, 

 and harrow at once. Let it stand a couple of weeks and then cultivate the 

 same way it was plowed, two or three inches deep, with a spring-tooth 

 cultivator. After a while cross-cultivate a little deeper. If possible 

 cultivate a third, or even a fourth time, going a little deeper each time. 

 Then, if you can manage to do so, rib it up with a double mould-board 

 plow the last thing in the ' fall. This will make a good foundation for 

 any crop the following spring grain, roots, corn, or rape and if the 

 portion in hoed crop is thoroughly cultivated with horse and hand hoes, 

 very few, if any, thistles will be left. The portion intended for rape 

 must be kept clean by surface cultivation till the time for putting in the 

 crop, say the last half of June or the 1st of July, after which it should 

 IDC treated like other hoed crops. 



Some recommend a crop of fall rye on land which is intended for 

 rape the following summer, but the rye takes so much moisture from the 

 soil in the spring that the rape after it is apt to be a poor crop, unless in 

 favorable seasons. 



If summer-fallowing is resorted to, it will be well not to plow any 

 more than is necessary, but to rely on surface cultivation with the broad - 

 share cultivator and the harrow, done in such a way as to cut the plants 

 two or three inches below the surface, without bringing up any of the 

 numerous rootstocks which run along a little lower down. It will also 

 be well to keep the fallow covered part of the summer by growing some 

 kind of green crop, say a crop of buckwheat, sowed rather thick and 

 plowed under when coming into bloom. This will help to prevent the 

 loss of nitrates which bare land suffers from washing, and will improve 

 the soil by increasing the supply of vegetable matter in it. 



When necessary at any stage in the above method of cultivating either 

 stubble-ground or sod, say for mangels, use a grubber or sub- soil plow to 

 stir the soil to a greater depth than is reached by the surface cultivation. 



FIG. 30. 



CHICORY, OR WILD SUCCORY. 

 Cichorium intybus (L). 



A perennial weed introduced from Europe, with long, deep tap-root, 

 which, when dried and ground up, is used in adulterating coffee and as a 

 substitute for it. The stems are almost leafless, from 1 to 3 feet high, 

 much branched, slightly hairy and whitish in color. The leaves, spread 

 out on the ground, are long, with irregular edges. The flower heads are 

 numerous, occuring in clusters, without flower stalks, on the naked 

 branches. The flowers are about 1J inches across, bright blue in color, 



