THE GENESEE FARMER. 



175 



We can't get grass to catch well wlieu sown with 

 wheat pat in on sod. 



These reasons by far out balance the advantage 

 to the wheat crop by plowing down clover. In 

 fact, we can make wheat big enongli without it — 

 though perliaps the case would be ditfeient in your 

 poor, cold, wet soil in New York, where every 

 fourth furrow has to be a water course. There is 

 a plan wluch I tliink would be of advantage to 

 ■wheat, where needed, and not injure the succeed- 

 ing set of grjiss ; and that is to get oats in early, 

 (we sow about the last week in March ;) seed 

 heavily — three or four bushels per acre — to make 

 them ripen early; at the same time sow souje six 

 or eight quarts of clover. Now the oats will be lit 

 to cut by tlie 15th or 20th of July, Put out and 

 spread the manure as soon as possible ; let it lay 

 until the last of August, or to give time to seed to 

 wheat the first week ia September. By this time 

 the clover will have made a very decent little 

 growth — quite as good to plow down a^ a light 

 coat of manure, and yet not sufficient to injure the 

 succeeding set of grass. 



!Now, one word in relation to applying manure 

 on top, which you consider as generally advisable. 

 If you, or some other agricultural teacher, whose 

 duty it is to do so, can learn us some economical 

 method of making our manure short enough to 

 harrow or drill in, then we will be likely to do so ; 

 for I believe short, well-decomposed manure so 

 applied will be most efficacious, but as it usually is 

 it is not suitable. 



You make Mr. Evans to say that the practice 

 of plowing oat stubble but once before seeding is 

 not recommended. In this I tiiink he is mistaken. 

 Experience has proved that in this section two 

 plowings leave the ground too loose and dry for the 

 young wlieat. We like a tolerably solid founda- 

 tion that will retain moisture, with two or three 

 inches of fine st>il to make a good seed-bed and 

 give the young plants a vigorous growth. 



JOHN I. CARTER. 

 Upper Oofford, CJiesier Cowiity, Perm. 



{a) Our remarks were as follows: 



"In Western New York, wheat is seldom sown 

 after oats. It is considered by many farmers here 

 one of the worst crops to precede wheat. For 

 what reason we do not know. It is far more com- 

 mon to sow wheat after barley. Perhaps the 

 opinion that oats should not precede wheat is, to 

 some extent, owing to the fact that oats are gene- 

 rally sown on lower and wetter land that barley — 

 on land not so well adapted for wheat — and that 

 the poor wheat crop which follows the oats is 

 rather to be ascribed to the character of the land 

 than, to any deleterious or exhaustive effects of the 

 oats. We throw out the idea for the considera- 

 tion of. our readers, and should be glad of their 

 experience on .this point. 



"In England -it is much more common to sow 

 wheat after oats than after barley. The reascm of 

 this is that oa/tSH»are ^grown on clayey land — land 

 which produces heavy crops of wheat, but which 

 is not well adapted for the cultivation of turnips 

 and barley. This diffiirence in the practices of the 

 two countries may account for the difFerenoe of 

 opinion in regard to oats as a crop to precede 

 wheat. Or, in other words, it is the character of 

 the laud, and not the character of the oat crop, 



which has caused these conflicting opinions. In 

 England, oats are sown on good wheat land, and 

 there oats are considered a better crop to precede 

 wlieat tlian barley; here, oats are sown on land 

 not well atlapted for the production of wheat, 

 while barley is sown on good wheat land, and the 

 general opinion is that barley is a better crop to 

 I)rece(]e wheat than oats. This reasoning may be 

 all wrong. Oats may remove more from the soil 

 than barley — and wiien a larger crop is obtained, 

 as is generally tlie case— this is undoubtedly true. 

 Oats, too, are not Inirvested as early as barley, apd 

 there is consequently nor, so much time to prepare 

 the land for wlieat the same autumn. 



'"It is perhaps hardly worth while to discuss the 

 question, for most good farmers agree in condenm- 

 ing the practice of taking off eitlier a crop of oats 

 or barley immediately before wheat. We have 

 seen good crops of winter wheat after a crop of 

 barley, but we think the system can not long be 

 pursued without considerable falling off in the pro- 

 ductiveness of the land. Better seed the land 

 down to clover for a year or two." 



Q)) Our remarks were based on the assumption 

 tliat wheat was the most prominent crop in the 

 rotation — that the principal object of the farmer 

 was to get good crops of this grain. Of course, 

 if such is not the case, the question of rotation as- 

 sumes a different aspect. We thought, from the 

 remarks of the Economist., that winter wheat, as in 

 this section, was the principal crop in the rotation, 

 and that all the operations of the farm should tend 

 to prepare and enrich the land for this crop. If the 

 chief pbject is to raise good grass, we have not so 

 much objection to the system of rotation adopted 

 by the Cliester county farmers. It may be all that 

 is claimed for it.. Still, the fact remains that a ro- 

 tation of corn,, oats, wheat, timothy, (all cereals,) 

 must have a tendency to impoverish the soil of 

 ammonia ; and the only way in which a farm so 

 cultivated can be kept in good heart is by allowing 

 a considerable portion of it to lie in grass, and 

 feeding most of it out on the farm. Three grain 

 crops in succession, (corn, oats, wheat,) is cer- 

 tainly a poor rotation — in fact it is no rotation 

 at all. 



We are well aware that it is difficult to adopt 

 any system of rotation in this climate that ia 

 strictly in accordance with scientific principles; 

 but it can not but be well for farmers to under- 

 stand' these principles, and as far as circumstances 

 will, allow to conform their practices to them. Our 

 aim should be, other things being equal,, to hav« a 

 leguminous crop, (peas, beans, vetches clover, &c.,^ 

 or a crop of roots, (such as tumi|)S, beets, mangel 

 wurzel, &c.,) alternate with the cereals. How this 

 can best be done must be leftf for the farmer to de- 

 termine in his own particniar case; but he should 

 not deceiye himself witL the idea, that a sucoes- 



