OF AGRICULTURE. 103 



good generally results from the application. The 

 injury is supposed, by some judicious farmers, to be 

 owing, in part, to the fact, that the shading of the 

 green crop makes it too tender near the roots to 

 stand the severities of the winter and early spring ; 

 and that the litter or straw serves as a harbor for 

 chinch-buffs and other mischievous insects. 



O 



When green crops or unrotted manures are plowed 

 down for wh^at, it should be done in the summer, so 

 that they may be well decayed and ready to feed the 

 newly planted crop in the first stages of its growth. 

 Clover, peas, and other leguminous plants, having 

 considerable quantities of nitrogenized matter in them, 

 undergo speedy decay ; and, therefore, may be plowed 

 down at a later period than would be suitable for 

 most other crops. The time for this kind of plowing 

 in of grass and clover fields must, of course, vary to 

 some extent with the variations of climate, soil and 

 exposure. 



The cultivation of such crops as cotton, tobacco 

 and potatoes, is found to be one of the best means of 

 preparing a soil for wheat. The benefit arises chiefly 

 from the clean condition in which they leave the land. 

 They also leave the soil in a favorable chemical condi- 

 tion for wheat. 



The sowing of wheat after corn is regarded by the 

 best farmers in Virginia as affording a very doubtful 

 chance for a good crop. The chances after oats, aie 

 regarded as much more favorable, if the oat stubble 

 is turned down early, that it may rot, while the scat- 

 tered grains of oats left upon the ground may spring 

 up, and be killed during the seeding of the wheat. 



