90 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



I have seen wheat crops ruined from plowing under a heavy 

 growth of clover late in the season and seeding on it before the 

 land had time to settle. I think that it may be set down as a 

 rule that when clover is used as a fertilizer for wheat, it is safest 

 to cut and remove the clover crop if heavy, unless it can be 

 plowed under at least six weeks before seeding. Whether the 

 damage to the wheat crop comes from the fermentation of the 

 mass of vegetable matter in the soil or from the fact that it 

 does not allow the land to become settled, and the spaces fill 

 with water which in freezing expands the soil and kills the 

 wheat, or from both these causes, I can not say; but the 

 fact remains that the wheat is killed, and we should avoid the 

 cause. My observation of this has been confined to clay lands, 

 but I should hesitate on any soil to turn under a heavy growth 

 just before seeding. For more than twenty-five years I have 

 made it a rule to sow clover with all small grain, and 

 it has paid me, even when I have plowed the field again for 

 wheat the same fall. 



I think that next in value to clover for green manuring I 

 would place rye. It is admirable for this purpose, because, first, 

 it can be grown to its full development between other crops 

 without losing the rent of the land ; second, it is an exceedingly 

 hardy plant, which will grow on poor land and is seldom injured 

 by the winter ; third, its length of straw produces a great body 

 of vegetable matter and makes it easy to plow under (by the 

 use of a chain or the patent weed hook we can put it so 

 thoroughly below the soil as to plant and cultivate a crop with- 

 out disturbing it) ; fourth, its early growth in the spring prepares 

 it for turning under, so that it may be followed by almost any 

 regular farm crop. In the latitude of southern Ohio, rye will 

 usually have attained its growth by the middle of May. 

 I usually grow a half acre or so of it each year, and cut it when 

 in blossom to be used for bands for corn fodder, and my diary 

 shows that I have cut it as early as May 19th, and rarely later 

 than the 24th. When the crop is to be used as a fertilizer, it 

 is ready to plow down a week or ten days sooner. 



The late J. B. Root, of Rockford, Illinois, was an earnest ad- 



