52 



Agriculture, ;> too much recommend, after our old and 

 constant practice, the employment of this precious 

 plant as a manure. It is certainly the most econom- 

 ical and convenient the farmer can employ." 



The American Agriculturist, for 1867, pa<re 253, 

 says of buckwheat : "It affords one of the most 

 valuable green manure crops to be used on light 

 leachy lands, for with 100 to 150 pounds of good 

 guano, or 3 to 5 cwt., of bone dust, a heavy crop of 

 manure may be produced on a] most any soil." 



It also says on page 2b5 : "When this grain is 

 sowed the 1st of August, it will be in condition to 

 plow in for a rye crop the last of September. We 

 have seen rye taken from a field four years in succes- 

 sion, with no other manure than buckwheat turned 

 in at the time ol sowing the rye. There was a 

 constant increase in the yield of the grain, showing 

 the benefit of the green crop." 



Here we see what a number of green crops may be 

 turned in for wheat every other year. Of one fact 

 we may be certain, that no person ever made money 

 by raising small crops of wheat. Hence every effort 

 should be made to prepare the ground and enrich it, 

 so as to insure a large crop of g;rain. The cheapest 

 and best way to accomplish this, is to plow in three 

 or four green crops in one year for wheat. And in 

 this way it may be done. Where the clover has 

 failed, as soon as the wheat is off in July, plow and 

 sow rye and buckwheat together. When the latter is 

 in lull blossom, cut it down on the rye. Here we 

 have two crops on the field all winter. One acts as 

 a mulch to the other, and both together protect and 

 improve the soil. By the middle of May, the rye 



