^ 



THE GENESEE FAEMER. g3 . /f^ 



plant. But as drills have not come into general use, the seed might be sown in the 

 way recommended for mangel wurzel. And be sure you don't forget to use the sup^^^- 

 phosphate of lime, applied as in the case of mangel wurzel ; and then, if,|.|iYrrint vou 600 

 loam well plowed and drained, and the plants are kept c\£^Rr:„^ i „ /i ' ' • i -e 

 11, '■ .^,, • X ,. /• 11 . ---'"« should not be surprized if you 



bushels per acre, if the season is at all A-r^— ' i j 



write to ii'^- — j-^^^^ 



\ywver. — About ten pounds of clean clover seed is usually sown per acre, in April, on 

 the wheat fields. If should always be rolled or harrowed in, if possible. In England, 

 clover is usually sown with the barley crop. Red clover, as found by experience, can 

 not there be grown oftener than once in eight years on the same soil ; for if sown once 

 in four years, the land soon becomes " clover sick." Twenty pounds of seed per acre is 

 often sown by good farmers, in hopes of securing a crop. We have seen much heavier 

 crops of clover grown here by the use of plaster, than we ever saw in England under the 

 most favorable conditions of soil and manuring. Clover is often much injured by keep- 

 ing sheep on it too late in the Ml and too early in the spring ; and it is better not to let 

 them run on it at all in the fall, if it can be avoided. We would never let land lie with 

 clover more than two years, as after two years there is little extension of root, and the 

 clover is apt to die out and give place to timothy and red top, which we think as 

 exhausting to the soil as wheat, and should never be sown except on low land not well 

 adapted for wheat. It is to the extension of the quantity of land sown with clover and 

 the adoption of root culture, that we confidently look for great improvement in eur 

 agriculture and increased profits of the farmers, and, as a consequence, of the entire 



community. 



»♦♦ 



Agricultural Progrkss of the United States. — The following letter, addressed 

 to the editors of the National Intelligencer, Washington, and published in that Journal, 

 contains facts interesting to the American people : 



To THE Editors of the National Intelligencer : — The statistics of Agricuhure, so far as they have 

 been published from the Census Office, disclose many instructive facts. To promote the fai-ming 

 interest, and bring some of the most pi'ominent features of this branch of national industry under 

 the eye of legislators and statesmen, I respectfully solicit a small space in your paper to call attention 

 to the progress made by a nation of farmers. 



Maize is the most important crop grown in the United States. It i? one of the staples of every 

 State and Territory, not excepting Oregon, whose climate is least friendly to this American cereal. 

 The United States census of 1840 makes the corn crop of the year preceding 377, 531, 8*75 bushels. 

 The census of 1850 shows that the crop of 1849 was 591,586,053. Increase 214,054,178 bushels. 

 These figures indicate a gain of fifty-seven per cent.; while the increase of population was not far 

 from thirty-four per cent. Corn being one of the most profitable crops grown any where, I have 

 studied its increase and decrease in the several States with much interest; but a due respect for the 

 numerous claims upon your columns forbids an extended notice of even the most abundant and 

 remunerating produet?of our national industry. Allow me, however, to say tliat New York produced 

 in 1839, 10,972,286 bushels; and in 1849, 17,944,808 bushels. This, for an old State whose rural 

 population increased but little in the last decade, is a large and creditable gain. It is on^ of the 

 many good fruits of her excellent agricultural societies, known all over this extended Republic, aa 

 well as in Europe. 



Pennsylvania has advanced her com culture considerably, although less than New York. Her crop 

 in 1839 was 14,240,022 bushels; in 1849 it was 19,707,702. Gain 6,467,680 bushels. She will do 

 better in the present decade. 



Georgia has sustained an agricultural journal for the last nine years, and a flourishing State Society 

 and others some five years. Her corn crop in 1839 was 20,905,122 bushels ; in 1849 it was 30,428,540. 

 While Georgia haa added to her annual harvest of maize 9,523,418 bu. in ten years, South Carolina 

 has increased hers only 1,549,503 bushels. 



Ohio has seventy well-organized agricultural societies, and an efficient Board of Agriculture. 

 Her corn crop in 1839 was 33,668,144 bushels; in 1849, it was 58,922,783. Gain in ten years, 

 25,354,639 bushels. 



These official statistics speak volumes in favor of agricultural societies, and legislative aid for tlieir 

 support. They are composed of practical reading fanners ; and I am happy that men of this stamp 



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