1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



183 



The chairman suggested that he used the Michi- 

 gan plow, so as to bring the sod, in jilowing, entire- 

 ly under ; and then the brush harrow is used instead 

 of the common harrow, and the roller the next 

 Spring makes the surface smooth enough. 



Mr. Parsons said that the soil in his vicinity was 

 natural grass land, and it is devoted almost entirely 

 to raising grass. When corn, potatoes or oats are 

 raised, it is done for the purpose of enriching the 

 land, and then it is stocked down, and the after 

 growth is plowed in. He thought it an excellent 

 plan to stock with clover so as to plow it in to en- 

 rich the soil. He generally ])ermitted the clover to 

 become pretty ripe before it is plowed in. Clover 

 is better than any other grass, for that purpose. 

 The farmei'S in his vicinity cultivated but a small 

 surface, but tried to cultivate thoroughlj'. It pays 

 better to cultivate two acres of corn well than to 

 cultivate three times that quantity, less thoroughly. 

 There is a fine kind of grass Avhich comes up spon- 

 taneously in the soil in his vicinity. Sometimes the 

 grass Mill come in without seeding, thick and fine, 

 on new land, with white clover and red-top, making 

 excellent pasturage. 



Mr. David Choate, of Essex county, thought 

 the subject under consideration one of the greatest 

 importance. The hay crops are now the best in 

 Massachusetts. Two tons of English hay to the 

 acre pays better than any other crop. The great 

 desideratum is to keep grass lands in good condi- 

 tion enough to produce that amount. The difficul- 

 ty is, that when manure is applied on the surface, it 

 often evaporates very much. One farmer in his vi- 

 cinity Jiad mowed a good crop from some of his 

 fields for twenty-five years, Avlthout plowing. The 

 Boston market, heretofore, has called for coarse 

 herds-grass ; but now, the fine grass is more de- 

 manded. Where the Canada thistle grows, it is 

 better not to plow often. Frequent plowing, ac- 

 cording to his experience, had caused them to spread 

 very much. He said he was much surprised to see 

 an article in an agricultural paper recently, recom- 

 mending plowing Canada thistles to destroy them. 



He never tried to raise any wheat till last year, 

 when he raised a good crop, by sowing the wheat in 

 drills. It is a slow process, but he thought it jiaid. 

 Two quarts produced a bushel of good wheat. The 

 wheat which he sowed broadcast, produced but lit- 

 tle. Every farmer ought to ti-y to raise his own 

 •wheat, and to do it if possible. Barley is a good 

 crop in Essex county. It is worth from a dollar to 

 a dollar and a quarter a bushel. They get from 

 thirty to thirty-five bushels to the acre. Barley and 

 Indian corn make an excellent material for bread, 

 and many farmers in Essex county use it consider- 

 ably, and are quite pleased with it. He had not 

 succeeded in raising two crops of barley in succes- 

 sion, from the same field. 



The chairman desired gentlemen to state their 

 experience in plowing in clover, as a fertilizer. 



Mr. Howard, of Boston, had seen the practice 

 of plowing in clover to a considerable extent. In 

 New York, it is considered the most important 

 means of enriching wheat lands. He referred to 

 an experiment made by the late Gen. Harrison, 

 at North Bend, in Ohio. The farmers in his neigh- 

 borhood had been in the practice of plowing in the 

 whole crop of clover. He tried an experiment on 

 twenty-five acres. He mowed a part and plowed 

 in the stubble. A part he pastured and then plowed 

 in ; and the crop, for several years, was as good 

 where a part had been cut or fed oE as where the 

 whole had been turned in. If a large quantity of 

 vegetable matter is plowed in while full of sap, it 

 becomes acid in fermentation, and is injurious. 

 Some soils are liable to be too loose when there is 

 a large quantity of vegetable matter plowed in. 

 Wheat land needs to be well pulverised and not 

 very loose. Clover roots bring up a large portion 

 of alkali from a great depth, to the surface ; and 

 then when plowed in, they furnish the alkali for 

 plants that could not reach to so great a depth. 

 Lands may be enriched, even by the crops which 

 grow upon them. Clover obtains much nourish- 

 ment from the air, and thus becomes a good ferti- 

 lizer when plowed in. 



As to Canada thistles he thought a good way to 

 kill them was to cause the grass to grow about them 

 so as to smother them. But the best way is to cut 

 them thoroughly as fast as they grow. 



Mr. Darling, of Boston, spoke of the impor- 

 tance of plowing in clover for enriching the soil, as 

 shown in a case he had witnessed in western Mas- 

 sachusetts. The crop of oats obtained was over 

 sixty-three bushels to the acre. 



Mr. Howard spoke of the importance of using a 

 drilling machine in sowing wheat. Very few farm- 

 ers in New York now sow wheat broadcast. 



Mr. Childs, of Waltham, suggested that where 

 he resides, the land is so rocky that they cannot be 

 turned thoroughly with the Michigan plow. They 

 plow in the spring and plant to corn, and then the 

 next year, if they wish to seed doM'n, they plant an 

 early kind of potatoes, and dig them in August, and 

 then sow to grass seed and turnips. They thus get 

 a crop of potatoes and turnips in the same season, 

 and a good crop of grass the next year. 



A top-dressing to grass land does best M'hen ap- 

 pHed in the spring, when the grass is growing, so as 

 to shade it some. The next best time is in Sep- 

 tember or October, when the fall rains have com- 

 menced. When barley is highly manured, it pro- 

 duces too much straw, and the grass which comes 

 up with it is liable to be too slender to endure the 

 heat and dry weather after the barley is taken off. 

 Rye is raised in Brighton, AValtham and Water- 

 town and vicinity; and it is believed that the straw 

 pays for the cultivation. 



The chairman spoke of having visited a farm in 



