128 Our Farming. 



potatoes, no manure or fertilizer being used. A large crop was 

 taken off and then the entire field, half acre and all, was put in 

 wheat, the same day, and the same kind of wheat. The half 

 acre was rather the best land, such as we always select for straw- 

 berries. The wheat to-day is certainly not one bit better on the 

 half acre than on the land adjoining. It started better last fall 

 and this spring, but the clover-fed wheat came on grandly and 

 steadily until it is every bit as good. I will not say better, but 

 visitors have so said. If I can feed wheat with clover only, and 

 take off $100 worth of potatoes per acre and then grow as 

 good wheat as on land fed with forty loads of manure per acre, 

 thoroughly mixed and rotted, and no crop taken off, do you 

 blame me for thinking clover, as I use it, is of wonderful value to 

 me? Well, this is not theory, but just what I have done. 



It is just what I can do again. It is just what many of you 

 can do; but not all at once, by any means. One great trouble 

 with us is, we want to get immediate returns. Sometimes we 

 may, but generally it will take years and years of persistent, thor- 

 ough work in drainage, culture, manure saving, clover growing, 

 etc., before we get our full reward. 



Since writing the above I have been away on the cars. As 

 we passed by fields that were producing almost nothing, poor, 

 apparently, clayey, flat, water-soaked much of the year, and like 

 brick the rest, I fell to wondering what could be done to improve 

 them, whether any clover would do much good, etc. How I 

 would like to try a field of that kind with tiles first and then till- 

 age, pulverization and clover, with a light top dressing of manure 

 put on with spreader to insure a good stand ! I would like to see 

 what I could do in eight or ten years' time. I should not expect 

 such results as on my best land. I should never attempt to grow 

 potatoes ; but I do believe that I could in time, with only manure 

 enough to start clover, if needed, grow 25 to 30 bushels of wheat 

 per acre, and large timothy and clover, 2 to 2^ tons per acre. 

 I have done it on small spots of as poor (?) clay soil and on acres 

 that were but little better naturally, except not so flat. But good 

 drains would make the flat land all right. 



There are other crops that can be used for fertilizing. Years 

 ago, whenever I had any stubble that would otherwise be bare 

 during winter, I sowed rye on it thickly, two to three bushels per 

 acre, and let it grow during the late fall, winter and early spring. 

 You can see plainly that what fertility that rye could pick up 

 would have leached down considerably, at least, and gone to 

 waste, if not used. It is not wise to have land idle long. Of 

 course, I would sow wheat if in time ; but rye can be put in later, 

 any time before winter, and do some good. A good, thick, heavy 

 rye sod to plow under in May is worth something. Its chief 

 value, though, comes from its saving fertility. It thrives on what 

 is in the soil. It does not draw from above and below, like 



