THE GENESEE FARMER. 



107 



seen in this nei :hhnrhood, were errown on land plowed 

 in the fall, and cultivated and harrowed thoronc;hly 

 in the spring, without plowing. It is desirable to 

 sow as early as possible, but it is better to wait till 

 the soil is in pood condition than to plow or culti- 

 vate it farly when in a wet state. It does best, per- 

 hap.«, after corn than after any otiier prain crop. If 

 the corn has been well manured and the pround kept 

 clear by the repeated use of the horse-hoe, no bet- 

 ter preparation could be desired. 



Two bushels per acre is th'^ usual quantity of seed. 

 We should prefer a little more, unless it is sown with 

 the drill, when two bushels is rmply sufllcient. In 

 Enpland, from three to four bushels is the usual qnan- 

 •tity. After sowivip, the laud should be well harrow- 

 ed lengthwise, and afterwards across, or obliquely, 

 then roll, sow the clover seed, (if desired,) and finish 

 off with a lipht pair of harrows lengthwise of the 

 furrows. The practice of rolling the laud when the 

 barley is just out of the ground ia very common in 

 England, but in this country it is apt to cause the 

 soil to bake on the surface, if it is somewhat wet. 

 For this reason it is better to roll before the last 

 harrowing, if the ground is dry enough to admit the 

 use of the roller without clogging. 



When barley coromauda one dollar per bushel, we 

 think Peruvian guano might be used as a manure for 

 this crop with considerable profit, though the results 

 of experiments which have been made with it are 

 somewhat conflicting. It should be sown broadcast, 

 say at the rate of one hundrd and fifty pounds per 

 acre, and harrowed in, before or at the time the seed 

 is sown. 



CULTIVATION OF OATS. 



For the production of oats of the best quality, a 

 moist atmosphere and a low and equal range of sum- 

 mer temperature is required. An insular position, too, 

 is desirable. The best oats we have ever seen in this 

 country were grown on a piece of new land, entirely 

 surrounded by extensive woods. Oats will flourish 

 on nearly all kinds of soil. Land that is too poor to 

 produce wheat or barley, will often yield a fair crop 

 of oats, and soil which is too rich for these crops will 

 not unfrequently produce an enormous crop of oats. 

 For the production of a large crop, irrespective of 

 qnalilvv, a soil of a black mucky nature, abounding in 

 organic matter, is well adapted for oats. If too rich, 

 however, the crop may fall down before the grain 

 ripens. To avoid this, reduce the fertility of the soil 

 by taking a crop or two of Indian corn off first. A 

 good dressing of lime, too, will often etrenglhen the 

 straw of jthe oats on such soil and enable it to pro- 

 duce an immense crop. Three or four bushels of salt 

 per acre might also be useful, but we have had no 

 experience with it. Clayey soils, when well prepared, 

 frequciitly yield good crops of oats, and of a superior 

 quality. Loose, black, mucky soils, which are too 

 low and wet for barley, may be sown with oats, and 

 the same may be said of cold, heavy clay land. Oats 

 are frequently sown on sod ground with good results, 

 though as a general rule, if the land is in good con- 

 dition, they do better after a root or grain crop. 



Two bushels per acre is the usual quantity of seed 

 eown. We think two and a half and even three bush- 

 els might frequently be sown with advantage. Oats 

 should be sown as early as the soil and season will 

 admit, barley, however, taking the precedence. 



The Common White oat, and Black oat, are the 



two varieties most extensively cultivated. They are 

 hardy and productive, and weigh from 30 to 34 lbs 

 per bushel. The latter is perhaps most popular in 

 this section. The White Poland oat is a very su- 

 perior variety in some respects, weighing over 40 fta 

 per bushel; but the yield per acre is small, and it 

 shells out easily. For these reasons many farmers 

 have abandoned its cultivation, finding the Common 

 Black or White oat more profitable. 



CULTIVATION OF SPRIKG WHEAT. 



So far as chemical composition is concerned, the 

 soils most favorable for raising winter wheat, are 

 also best adapted for the cultivation of spring wheat 

 But the mechanical condition of the soil most favo- 

 rable for the production of these crops varies very 

 materially. Winter wheat requires a seed bed of a 

 somewhat hard and compact texture. It is easy to 

 pulverize the soil too much. In fact, a somewhat 

 cloddy seed-bed is desirable. For spring wheat on 

 the other band, the soil cannot be made too fine and 

 loose. Repeated harrowings are required. The soil 

 must be dry, warm and active, so as to enable the 

 pl^it to grow rapidly during its early stages. It is 

 desirable to sow early, but it is better to wait till 

 the ground can be got into fine tilth, even if the wheat 

 cannot be sown till the middle of May, than to plow 

 and harrow the land before it is dry enough to crum- 

 ble to pieces readily. 



Varieties should be selected with reference to the 

 character of the soil, and time of seeding. This point 

 is too much neglected. For loose, low, somewhat 

 mucky soils the Fife is perhaps one of the best varie- 

 ties cf spring wheat at present known. It can be 

 sown quite late. Good crops have been raised in this 

 vicinity, on land that was not dry enough to sow till 

 the first of June. The Canada Club, on the other 

 hand, should be sown early on dry uplands, of a firmer 

 textu'-e. The Siberian, Black Sea, and Tea or China 

 are also excellent and well known varieties of more 

 'or lees repute in different sections. The Magnum 

 Bonum or Zimmerman wheat which took a prize at 

 the Annual Meeting of the N. Y. State Agricultural 

 Society in 1855, and which was sold foa- fifty cents a 

 quart, proves, as we stated at the time, to be nothing 

 more than the African or Mummy wheat, introduced 

 under a new name. A cut and description of it will be 

 found in the Genesee Farmer for May, 1852. It has 

 been known in Germany for 240 years. It has been 

 cultivated to some extent in England as a winter 

 wheat, and according to Loudon, ia "m little estima- 

 tion'' Our climate may be more suitable for it, but 

 it is hardly worth fifty cents a quart 



^ i-^i^ 



Carrots. — An esteemed correspondent at Crow- 

 land, C. W., informa us that he raised last year 99 

 bushels of carrots on a quarter of an acre of ground, 

 and add.a, " Beat this who can." We should consider 

 336 bushels per acre rather a small crop in this vicinity. 

 Eight hundred bushels per acre is not an uncommon 

 yield. Our correspondent's mode of cultivation is as 

 follows: Plow under, eight inches deep, about 40 loads 

 of well rotted barn yard manure per acre in the fall; 

 and in the spring plow under about 24 loads of horw 

 manure more; and about the middle of May plow the 

 land again, and mix the manure thoroughly with the 

 soil. Then sow the seed in drills, ten inches apart 

 Hoe them three times. 



