3U 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



course eystem upon this plan, including rent was — 



£ s. d. 



T;ire?, bean.?, peas, &.c. per acre, - 5 



Wheat, - - - '< - 5 



Oats and barley, - " . 3 13 G 



Clover and rye-grass, " - 2 15 9 



£ IG S 6 



thus on!}' amniintinnr fo a trifle more than that oi" 

 the liillow upon the liirnier fslan; tiiat land caitiva- 

 ted \\\,(m his farn) in this manner has yielded 460 

 8heaves of wheal per acre, uhilst the averaire 

 prndace of tlie oiher fields did not e.xceed 360; 

 and tiiat the difference in favor of the new mct'v d 

 cniounts, upon aa average — when wiieat is al lOs. 

 the HuphHl — tn £350 per annum upon the cuhiva- 

 lion ot" 100 acres. 



Froin the Genesee FnrmiT. 



BUMMKR FALLOWS — EFFKCT OF FRI::QIEIVT 

 PLOUGMIKG. 



Tiie effect which frequent plono-hinix has on 

 land intended tor sunnner fiillmvs, or on which 

 wheat is to be sown, has in some de(rree ailracied 

 the attenlion of liirmers, hut tiiriher observatien, 

 anil a comparison of the residts, are s'ill desirable in 

 order lo a herltict undersiandii u ol" the matter. Il 

 the crop of wheat will be no better (or five or six 

 ploujxhintrs, n is certainly desirable to save the la- 

 bor; and if it should appear that the crop, and tiie 

 soil, too, is injured by too much ploHjrhinjr, and that 

 plouyhiuir thoroufrhly once is better than lo nmve 

 the <>'rounii deej)ly with the ploujxh as niativ as 

 Jour or live times, then fiirmers should understand 

 the matter, and husband their time and labor ac- 

 cordingly. Our remarks will principally relate to 

 land ill irood tilth, and which is pl(>u(rhed (or the 

 benefit of the crop alone; lands inte^^ted with nox- 

 ious weeds, such as thistle and Johnsvvort, may 

 be plouiihed as often as these weeds show them- 

 selves in the season, and this is the most efii-ciive 

 method oi' deslroyinjr them ; but we have serious 

 doubts whether land so filoughed would produce 

 as yood wheat as if ploughed not more than once 

 or twice. 



Much of the soil of west New York is compo- 

 sed on the surtiice of what may be called calcare- 

 ous loam, based more or less on earth containing 

 larire (piantities of clay, the latter frequently run- 

 ning into clay slate, or, wh.ere the lin)e predomi- 

 nates, into limestone. The soils that abound in 

 clay and hme, furnish the best wheat lands of the 

 state, and the surface after plou<rhinof poon as- 

 euines the dark hue, indicative of soils impregna- 

 ted with the salts furnished by vegetable decom- 

 posiijon. In this surface-soil is found the favorite 

 food of" plants, and the question arises, whether 

 frequently turning tlie soil deeply, so as to prevent 

 the combination at the surface so apparently ne- 

 cessary to the growtti of the plant, would not be 

 a positive injury rather than a benefit ? Deep 

 ploughing is necessary to loosen the earth, and ren- 

 der it permeable, to a proper depth, f()rthe roots of 

 tlie plants put upon it; it is only when new soil 

 from a considerable depth is so frequently brought 

 to the surfu'e that the an)elioratin<r eflects of the 

 eun, air, and iermenimg cjases, have no time to ex- 

 ercise their influence, that the surface becomes un- 

 fii for the purposes of vegetation. 



It has been remarked by one of the most scien- 

 tific ami able fiu-mers of the (ircsent day. Judge 

 Bud, ''that nnfermented vegetable and animal 

 niiitlers, including greensward, creen crops and 

 InUiT manure, alier beinir bia'ied tiy the plough, 

 should never be ex| fiscd to the sun and winds iiy 

 cress plonfjrhing, until lliey have become perfectly 

 rotten. Thi' gaseous uiatifis which dung gives 

 ofi' while uiidergoinir lermenlation, always rise, be- 

 cause they are liirhier tiian the ainmsi heric air. 

 They enrich the soil and atlbrd Ibod tor plants, be- 

 cause they have already formed the necc^sary 

 parts oi" plants. Hence, if fermentation lakea 

 place on the surface, these gaseous matters are 

 scattered and lost; il' f« the soil, the earths and 

 moisture retain them there, and the plants feed up- 

 on them." This union of the fertilizing irasea 

 takes [ilace at the surface of the earth, and il" this 

 fertile stratum is too frecjuently displaced, the surface 

 will in a considerable decree be reiaiered biirren. 



Mr. 'I'honias J. Randolph, in an alile paper 

 published in ihe Farmer's Reiiisler, says, in s(;eak- 

 iriir ol the propriety oi" frequent ploughing Ibr I'al- 

 lovvs— "when good land, Cparticularly clover 

 land,) vviih a distinctly marked surliice ol'dark soil, 

 is fallowed Ibr wheat, sown with the harrow upon 

 one ploughing, ami permitted to lie a \ear or two 

 in clover, sifter the crop ol" wheat, the dark soil that 

 u- as turned under is airtun formed upon the surface, 

 occupving I he position in which the clay was lelt 

 by the previous [douifhiiig, iuid the clay, that which 

 was occupied by ihe inverted soil. * * * | 

 suppose ihis change is acconiplished by the gases 

 evolved in the decon)| csition ol" the vegetable mat- 

 ter turned under by the plough. If" the weather 

 is warm, and the veixetation green, succulent, and 

 abundant, the decomposition is ra| id, and the 

 quaniiiy of gas disengaged is great. Ol these, 

 the carbonic is deemed the great stimulant of ve- 

 ifetalile life; and being heavier than the atmos- 

 pheric air, but lighter than the soil, it rises to 

 the surflice, nisinuatinirilself" into the interstices of 

 ihe clay brougl t up l>y the plough, saturates it, 

 and accomi lishes the first process ol' its cf)nversion 

 into soil. Hence the cause of a well known l"act, 

 that liillows made in June, or July, become many 

 shades darker on the surfice, although exposed to 

 ihe scorching rays of a summer's sun, than those 

 made in Seplember and October, when the daya 

 are shorter, vegetation drier and less succulent, the 

 nights lonirer and cooler, and every circumstance 

 less iiivorable to a rapid decomposition.'' 



Perhaps the most thoroutrh and frequent plouirh- 

 ings known among us, are given to those summer 

 fallows where the destruction oi the Canada thistle 

 (nrms an important object in the culture of the 

 field. Fields have been thus ploufrhed i'rom six to 

 ten times, and we believe it has been almost uni- 

 tormly iir'tind, that while the certainty of destroy- 

 ing the thistles increased in proportion to the fre- 

 (piency of the plouLHiing, the chance of asucceed- 

 iriiTcrop of wheat was diminished in the same de- 

 giee. The observation and experience of" almost 

 every farmer must have iurnished instances where 

 repeated plouohinfrs, caused the failure ofa crop, or 

 at least jireatly lessened its value. Where so im- 

 portant an end is to be attained as the destruction 

 of the thistle, the loss, partially or wholly, of the 

 succeedintr crop, is ol" little moment ; the end may 

 be pursued without regard to collateral consequen- 

 ces, 88 rest and manure will at once remedy the 



