174: WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



hill as you plant; and, if you have them not, supply 

 their place with Super-phosphate or Bone-dust. I 

 think many farmers will be agreeably surprised by 

 the additional yield which will accrue from this treat- 

 ment of their soil. 



Those who have no swamp muck, and feel that 

 they can afford the outlay, may, by plowing or sub- 

 soiling early in the Fall, seeding heavily with rye, 

 and turning this under when the time comes for 

 planting in the Spring, improve both crop and soil 

 materially. But even to these I would say : Apply 

 the Gypsum in the Fall, and the Ashes or Lime and 

 Salt mixture in the Spring; and now, with good 

 seed and good luck, you will be reasonably sure 

 of a bounteous harvest. If a farmer, having a 

 poor worn-out field of sandy loam, wants to do 

 his very best by it, let him plow, subsoil, sow rye 

 and plaster in the Fall, as above indicated, turn this 

 under, and sow buckwheat late in the next Spring ; 

 plow this under in turn when it has attained its 

 growth, and sow to clover ; turn this down the fol- 

 lowing Spring, and plant to late potatoes, and he 

 will not merely obtain a large crop, but have hia 

 land in admirable condition for whatever may follow. 



I am quite well aware that such an outlay of labor 

 and seed, with ail entire loss of crop for one season, 

 will seem to many too costly. I do not advise it ex- 

 cept under peculiar circumstances; and yet I am 

 confident that there are many fields that would be 

 doubled in value by such treatment, which would 



