302 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



first year showed that mineral manures, or the 

 ashes of phmts alone, did very little good, but that 

 wherever ammonia was used there the wheat was 

 very lieavy, 



Tiiese experiments have been continued to the 

 present time. The twentieth crop, now on the 

 land, Mr. Lawks informs me, is the heaviest crop 

 tlie field has yet produced. The plot which has 

 been sown to wheat each year since 1843, and 

 without manure of any l~ind, lias produced, on the 

 average up to last harvest, an annual crop of 16J 

 bushels of wheat per acre. In 1844 it produced 

 16 bushels, and last year it also produced 16 bush-' 

 els. In other years it produced less or more, ac- 

 cording to the season ; but, as I have said before, 

 the average for nineteen years in succession has 

 been 16i bushels per acre, without any manure. 



I think yori will agree with me that this is a 

 very remarkable i-esult. There is nothing peculiar 

 in the character of the soil. It is what you would 

 call good wheat land — no better than thousands of 

 acres in Western Few York ; and yet it produces 

 each year, without manure, a crop of wheat of 16J 

 bushels per acre. After the crop is harvested the 

 land is plowed twice ; the seed is then drilled iu 

 rows one foot apart; and in the following spring 

 the wheat is hand-hoed to kill the weeds. This 

 is all the cultivation it receives. 



On the plot which has been dressed with mine- 

 ral manures the average yield is 18J bushels per 

 acre — or "only two more bushels than the unma- 

 nured plot. 



On the plot which has received in addition to 

 the same mineral manures a dressing each year of 

 ammonia, the yield has been, on the average, 34f 

 bushels per acre. In other words, the ammonia 

 has increased the crop, on the average, 16J bush- 

 els per acre. In some favorable seasons the in- 

 crease from the ammonia was over 20 bushels per 

 acre. In one case, where an extra quantity of am- 

 monia was nsed and the season was unusually 

 favorable for the perfection of the crop, the yield 

 was 55 bushels per acre. 



These experiments prove that there is no abso- 

 Inte necessity for a rotation of crops. Wheat has 

 been grown every season on the same land for 

 twenty years, and there is no diminvtion of the 

 yi^ld on the unmanurod plot. Tlicy clearly show, 

 however, the advantago of making the land ricli. 

 The eame land that produced 16^ bushels for nine- 

 teen years in succession, produced an average crop 

 of 843- bushels by the aid of manure. 



I believe that the climate of Western New York 



is better adapted to the production of wheat of 

 fine quality, than that of Great Britain. Our land 

 is certainly as good as that of Mr. La-«es, which 

 has produced, without manure, 16J- bushels per 

 acre for nineteen years in succession, and*34f 

 bushels wlien properly manured. Is there any rea- 

 son why the wheat of this county should not av- 

 erage 30 bushels per acre? The average now is 

 not over 15 busliels per acre. It has never been 

 20 bushels per acre. All that we want to make it 

 30 bushels is manure. 



What is manure ? The word means " hand- 

 labor." This is its original signification. To hoe, 

 to plow, to harrow, to pulverize the soil is to ma- 

 nure it. In keeping stock and making manure we 

 have to compete with the West; but in thorough 

 cultivation we need fear no competition. Our land 

 is good, and I think will prove more permanently 

 productive than much of the land at the West. 

 On' many farms in this section, underdraining is re- 

 quired. This is the first thing to be attended to. 

 The best of culture and manure will have little 

 effect on land surcharged with water at any season 

 of tiie year. Underdraining it acts to a certain 

 extent as manure. It will make the land warmer, , 

 the crops will be earlier, and the midge and mildew 

 will be left behind. The next thing is to enrich 

 the land. Good cultivation is the main point — 

 manure is the second. To make this we must 

 grow as much clover as possible, and either plow it 

 in or make it into hay, and feed it out on the fans 

 to sheep. Peas and beans belong to the same bo- 

 tanical order as clover, and like it may be classed 

 among renovating plants. Y'ou can not grow tooj 

 many peas, provided they are consumed on the<l 

 farm, and the manure returned to the land. Notli- \ 

 ing makes richer manure than peas and bean';. 

 A bushel of peas will make manure worth twice 

 as much as a bushel of corn. To grow peas and 

 sell them, however, will do no good. They must 

 be fed out on the farm. 



On a wheat farm, every operation should be con- 

 ducted with special reference to enrich the land 

 for wheat. Wheat requires a large amount of 

 ammonia. So does barley, oats, timothy grass, 

 itc. They are all cereals. The less we grow of 

 tliem on wheat land, the less shall we impoverish 

 the soil. On the other hand, clover, peas, beans, 

 turniiis, beets, mangel \v\irzel, &c., when grown 

 and consumed on the farm, furnisli large quantities 

 of ammonia; and tliis is just what we waut fi»r 

 wheat. It was this that doubled Mr. Lawes' whtut 

 crop. It will do the .same thing here. 



