40 THE FARMER'S AND 



each yielded a trifle more than 30 bushels per acre. 

 After they were harvested, the field received one plough- 

 ing, and was sown with winter wheat. The wheat stood 

 well, grew finely, and promised fair for a good yield ; 

 but, like most of the wheat in this section, it was blighted 

 with rust, and produced perhaps about 10 bushels per 

 acre. In the month of April last, 48 quarts of clover 

 seed, and the same quantity of timothy seed, were sown 

 on the field. In the month of May, plaster was sown at 

 the rate of two bushels per acre. After the wheat was 

 harvested, a most luxuriant growth of clover and timothy 

 covered the ground. 



The above statement of facts clearly proves that in this 

 instance, the capital which was expended in draining, was 

 profitably used ; and doubtless thousands of acres in this 

 State might be as profitably reclaimed as were these, and 

 thus render the country more pleasant, productive, and 

 healthy. We consider it one of the greatest improve- 

 ments of modern farming ; for without it, wet land cannot 

 be cultivated with profit, because tillage-crops cannot be 

 obtained ; consequently, a rotation of crops cannot be 

 practiced, and clover, that great fertilizer of the earth 

 that which fills the fields of the farmer with fat cattle, 

 his barns with hay, and the earth with manure will not 

 flourish. In short, it is the basis of all improvement of 

 wet soils. Aside from profit, it enables the farmer to 

 convert unpleasant looking spots on his farm into fields 

 of surpassing beauty and loveliness; which, with the 

 farmer of correct taste, is a consideration of importance. 



We will now consider the management and application 

 of manure. 



The most fertile land will become exhausted under a 

 continual course of cropping, unless the sojl is compen- 

 sated for the loss which it sustains. This is furnished 



