1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Ill 



BETTER CULTIVATION. 



E HAVE been struck 

 ^ with the earnestness 

 with which the editors 

 of the Western papers 

 are calling the attention 

 of their readers to the 

 importance of better 

 methods of cultivation 

 to meet the fearful 

 depreciation in crops 

 which is taking place in 

 the older portions of 

 the grain States. In- 

 deed they are begin- 

 ning to inquire serious- 

 ly whether they can 

 "" much longer raise their 



own bread. Ohio, which used to export five 

 or six million bushels of wheat per year, has 

 imported ten millions within three yeais. Il- 

 linois will not much longer feed her population 

 of two millions and a half, unless the fertility 

 of her soil can be restored. But intelligent 

 men are perceiving that It is only the surface 

 of the soil that is exhausted and that there are 

 yet in the soil, mines of wealth which deeper 

 ploughing and better culture will develop, and 

 a proper system of manuring will retain. 



As the population becomes more dense 

 farms will become smaller, cattle will be better 

 fed and cared for, and manurlal resources will 

 be proportionally increased. In the mean 

 time they must go below the surface for the 

 needed supply. 



In this connection we were much interested 

 by a -communication in one of our Western 

 exchanges from Mr. Evans, Secretary of the 

 Coles County, Illinois, Agricultural Society, 

 giving an account of the result of premiums 

 ,ofrered last spring, viz : for the best ten acres of 

 corn $50 ; for the best five acres $25 ; for the 

 best acre $10. There were eleven entries for 

 the premiums. The best ten acres yielded 

 10661 bushels ; the second best yielded 1063^. 

 The first had been in meadow twelve years ; 

 was ploughed in the spring early, seven inches 

 deep ; harrowed thoroughly ; planted three 

 and one-half feet distant each way, with large 

 yellow corn; ploughed five times with "prai- 

 rie cultivator ;" hoed twice ; thinned to three 

 stalks in a hill. 



The second field was barley stubble. 



ploughed ten or twelve inches with' three 

 horses ; planted two and one-half by three and 

 one-half feet distant ; cultivated three times 

 with cultivator and once with shovel plough. 



Another man raised 1050 bushels on ten 

 acres ; another 972^ ; and several others pro- 

 duced similar crops. 



These statements go far to prove the bene- 

 fit of a better cultivation than Is usually given 

 to the corn crop. They show that one hun- 

 dred bushels can be raised by good cultivation 

 even in an unfavorable year, and prove that 

 diligent and vigorous stirring of the soil, in- 

 stead of Injuring it, develops its fertility. 



A soil is surely worthy of good cultivation 

 that v/ill yield a hundred bushels without ma- 

 nure. So long as it will produce such crops, 

 will It be benefited by manure at all ? All it 

 needs is generous cultivation at present. Ma- 

 nure would probably increase the stalk without 

 a corresponding Increase of grain. The time 

 will come, and perhaps soon, when fertilizers 

 will be required to keep up its productiveness, 

 and they should be added as soon as the crops 

 will bear them. 



An Ohio farmer told us, a few years ago, 

 that the difference between running the plough 

 between the rows once and ploughing and 

 hoeing thoroughly three times, was fifty bush- 

 els to an acre. By the first method, which was 

 then generally practiced, fifty bushels were 

 produced. By the second one hundred. 



The populalion of Illinois Is about twice 

 that of Massachusetts, but her area is about 

 seven times as great, to say nothing of the 

 greater fertility of her soil and her more fa- 

 vorable climate. 



We believe it would be as easy to double 

 the present wheat crop by improved methods 

 of cultivation, as it is the corn crop. Thor- 

 ough ploughing and drilling in the wheat early 

 in the autumn, so that it may make a stand that 

 will enable it to resist the eflfect of the winter 

 winds, will as surely give a crop of thirty bush- 

 els, as good culture in the spring and summer 

 will ensure a hundred bushels of corn. Lime, 

 and plaster and clover are important resources 

 for wheat culture, and can be readily resorted 

 to, where manure cannot be had. 



It is to hoped that a better system of culti- 

 vation will long defer the time when we shall 

 depend for bread upon the regions beyond the 

 Mississippi. 



