THE GENESEE FARMER. 



iU 



folio winjr, beans on any stubble nnused for these; 

 the whole seeded to clover or herd's grass. 



4. Fasturc and meadow, three or more years. 



The crops of the first and second years are those 

 now commonly employed. For corn, apply twenty 

 or thh-ty loads of barnyard manure per acre, plow it 

 under ei!::ht inches deep, roll and harrow, plant ia 

 May, and give clean cidture. 



For barley, plow the corn stubble late in the fall, 

 attend to perfect surface drainaire, harrow and sow 

 as early in April as may be, roll after sowing and 

 harrowing in. Grreen manure applied to corn and 

 plowed under, as above recommended, reserves a 

 portion of its strength for the next crop— the barley 

 needs and will tind the same. 



For wheat, the harley comes off in ample time for 

 preparing thoroughly, To the stubble intended for 

 and best suited to this cr'-p, apply fifteen or twenty 

 loads of decomposed manure per acre, plow lightly, 

 and sow early iu September. With good seed, of 

 some early maturing variety, the crop will be less 

 liable to injury from the wheat midge, and a rapid 

 growth, from good soil, is stronger to resist the at- 

 tacks of any enemy. 



Rye may be sown on the lighter portion of the 

 barley stubble, when the land is of varying charac- 

 ter. Sow by the middle of September. In the 

 spring, seed both the rye and wheat ground to grass, 

 'with a mixture of clover and timothy, and dress with 

 plaster, at least one bushel per acre. Do not fail in 

 this application, if you would secure a "good catch" 

 of your grass seed. 



If any portion of land remain unused for these 

 crops, some would sow to oats, and seed down; but 

 we would plant to beans early in June, and after 

 harvesting them, use the gang plow, harrow, and sow 

 on our grass seed, following with the roller. The 

 earlier this is done the better, and a dressing of plas- 

 ter should be given as soon as the grass appears above 

 ground. 



We have spoken of sowing mixed grass and clo- 

 ver. We think it better for pasture, also for hay; 

 and if circumstances should make it advisable to let 

 the land lie in grass more than two or three years, 

 the perennial grass will fill the space left by the death 

 of the clover. 



This course is marked out with the fact that less 

 wheat must be sown, in view, and proposes to sub- 

 stitute corn and barley as the staple crops in their 

 stead. We must have more corn, and feed it upon 

 the farm, that we may have plenty of manure — we 

 want barley to bring us the ready cash. Some wheat 

 is a necessity, so let us select our most favorable 

 soils, and give it our best preparation. We shall 

 find rye a valuable crop for feeding stock and swine, 

 while beans pay well, bat require considerable labor; 

 and the three — wheat, rye and beans — will about fill 

 up the acres we wish for cora and also barley, as sin- 

 gle crops each year. 



It will be seen that the size of the corn-field de- 

 pends on the amount of the manure, or should do 

 80, and that of the barley also. To carry this course 

 out, would require at least eight fields fit for the corn 

 crop, of which three would be in grass each year. 

 This would allow the keeping of a due proportion 

 of stock, with proper attention to corn fodder, straw 

 and roots, and the use of the corn for fattening beef, 

 pork and muttoa during the winter. 



Brother farmers, what think you of this ? Please 

 write out your comments for the pages of " our pa- 



per ! 



J. H. B. 



ON THE ADVANTAGES OF STIRKING THE SOIL IN 

 DRY WEATHER. 



[Wb have received several excellent communica- 

 tions on thi3 subject, and think our readers will be 

 interested iu a few extracts.] — Eds. 



I HAVK known instances where a narrow strip has 

 been left unbroken in a summer-fallow during a dry 

 summer, and after harvest it was all cross-plowed to- 

 gether. The unbroken strip would appear almost 

 destitute of moisture, while that which was plowed 

 and frequently stirred with the harrow or cultivator 

 exhibited quite a contrast. 



It is the common experience of farmers, that wheat 

 sown in a dry fall upon fallow ground is much more 

 liable to come up well, than when sown on stubble. 



Again, in hoeing corn in very hot weather, when 

 you could fairly see the corn grow, upon leaving the 

 field at night I have measured some hills that were 

 hoed and some that were not, and the next night com- 

 pared their growth during the twenty-four hours. — 

 The result was that the hoed had made about twice 

 the growth of the unhoed. 



Two years ago la.st summer I planted rather late 

 in the season a small piece to cucumbers for pickles. 

 The soil was dry, sandy loam, with a warm, southern 

 aspect. I determined to rely entirely upon frequent 

 hoeing to resist the effects of that unusually severe 

 drouth. The piecejyielded a fini.Jot of pickles, the 

 vines remaining greeu and bearing well until destroy- 

 ed by the frost ; while vines in the neighborhood 

 treated in the ordinary way were dried up and bar- 

 ren. So much for facts. Now how are these results 

 to be accounted for. 



We have seen that the soil frequently stirred had 

 gathered moisture, and had also received from some 

 source, nutrition. From what source, and by what 

 powers were those supplies of moisture and nutrition 

 derived? It is a well known fact, that the dryest atr 

 mosphere contains vapor, which is usually deposited 

 in the night upon any substance that is sufficiently 

 cool to condense it into water in the form of dew. — 

 At the close of a hot day, when the air is calm and 

 the sky clear, vegetation soon radiates suSicient heat 

 to reduce its temperature to the dew point. The 

 naked earth does not possess this power; hence we 

 often find dew upon vegetation, when the bear ground 

 is dry, not having cooled enough to condese the va- 

 por in the proximate atmosphere. But if the ground 

 is mellow, the air will penetrate its surface, carrying 

 its vapor until it reaches a cooler soil where it is con- 

 densed into dew, which diffuses itself through the 

 mellowed earth. 



Your agricvdtural readers have probably noticed 

 that fresh plowed ground is frequently cc 3red with 

 dew, and sometimes with frost, when the adjoining 

 iground is dry. 



I think I have succeeded/in accounting for the 

 presence of moisture in soil frequently stirred, when 

 almost entirely wanting in compact ground ; yet I 

 believe that water is not the only ingredient that soil 

 frequently stirred, derives from the atmosphere. 



I am convinced with you, Messrs. Editors, that ni- 

 trogen is an important element in the pabulum of 

 J crops. Nitrogen is present in the form of ammonia 



