TA 



1 u Jii'UE^ ES"£E'~FSR¥ER. 



for sheep ticks is food and shelter, so as to make 

 the sheep comfortable to thefnselves and pi'ofitable 

 to their master. Methitiks no farmer, after reading 

 Mr. Johxston's pertinent remarks, will be so lost 

 to shame and ridicule as to iu(iiure in print, over his 

 own name, " what is the best remedy against sheep 

 ticks." Here, also, Mr. J. details at length his man- 

 agement of sheep and lambs; how he buys lean 

 ones in the fall, and sells them fat in the sprmg at 

 from $7.25 to $8.00 each. The manure made by 

 the same animals reveals a part of the secret why 

 Mr. J. grows large crops of white wheat, while 

 almost every other farmer gets only a small crop of 

 the poor Mediterranean variety. 



WHAT SHALL WE PLANT1 



At this time, to many farmers in "Western JNew 

 York and elsewhere this is a perplexing question. 

 Nearly everything in the way of crops ha^ become 

 uncertain and unsettled, by reason of depreciation 

 in the market value, or tlie uncertain yield of some, 

 and the very material injury to the wheat crop by 

 the ravages of the weevil. 



I think it is safe to predict that wheat will not 

 prove a certain or protitable crop for some years to 

 come, wherever the weevd has made its appear- 

 ance, as there is no reason to suppose its stay will 

 be brief As long as the wheat crop furnishes 

 annual food for the swarms of ihsects of this family, 

 so long may farmers expect to be visited by them. 

 I doubt not they may be less severe some years, or 

 in some particular locality, than in others ; but that 

 they will continue to prey upon the wheat crop, 

 seems a fixed fact. And, what is worse, they con- 

 tinue, like the "star of empire," to travel westward. 

 Passing through New York and Canada, the fiirm- 

 ers of Ohio, Michigan, and other western wheat- 

 raising States, may prepare for their destructive 

 visits. Many years may intervene before these dis- 

 tant points may be reached, but it is the part of 

 wisdom to apprehend and prepare for the scourge, 

 •that it may be measurably averted. I do not now 

 •propose to otfer any suggestions upon the destruc- 

 tion or dispersion of the weevil. One thing is 

 certain: wherever the weevil has fairly made its 

 appearance, it will not be advantageous to sow 

 wheat as a main crop. This has been done too 

 long already. It has been one of the vital errors 

 of American farming, as I view it, that they have 

 in the ditterent localities made some one crop a 

 specialty, to the almost entire exclusion of every 

 other. As a natural consequence, whenever that 

 crop has either failed from any cause or has not 

 commanded the expected price, the fermer has for 

 that year found his expectations far from being 

 realized ; and probably the result has been, leaving 

 Mm with no surplus, if not really in debt. This 

 has been, and will continue to be, the result where 

 the main busmess of the farm has been devoted to 

 growing only one crop, whether it be wheat, corn, 

 beans, stock, or the dairy business. 



The first and most rational answer, therefore, to 

 the question with which I began, would be, "Plant 

 & diversified crop." While it may be sound com- 

 mon sense, and good farming economy, to devote a 

 large part of the land under tillage to some one 

 crop, common prudence and a cursory knowledge 

 of tlie Laws of demand and supply will strongly 

 nrge tie necessity of planting different fields to dif- 



ferent crops, that if one fails or does not command 

 the requisite price, another may, and thus enable 

 the husbandman to reap a fair reward for his toil. 



Agricultural chemists and editors assert that a 

 crop of wlieat, or any otlier crop, takes from the soil 

 in which it is grown certain elements— constituents 

 of the growing and perfected grain; but tliat differ- 

 ent crops— as corn, clover, barley, millet, and othera 

 — take up different py'oportions of these constitu- 

 ents. It would seein, therefore, to be a matter of 

 necessity, having in view the good of the land, that 

 every farmer should pursue a mixed husliandry; and 

 as a consequence, plant or sow i)i rotation- by some 

 regular course, as to let clover follow wheat, corn 

 after clover, and barley or some root crop after 

 corn, to be succeeded again by wheat and clover or 

 grass, and then to meadow and pasture. I do not 

 propose to indicate a course, but only the good 

 sound sense of a rotation and some reasons why it 

 should be pursued. 



I have no doubt that the dilemma in which too 

 many farmers now find themselves — poor crops and 

 nothing to sell — would have been more than half 

 averted at the outset, had it been their practic-e t« 

 diversify their crops so as to have enabled them to 

 realize a profit on one if the others failed. There 

 is too much risk — too much at stake — to jeopard 

 the use of the farm and the expense of its cultiva- 

 tion upon the success or failure of a single grain 

 crop ; and, sooner or later, those who do this will 

 experience the bitter fruits thereof, as thousands in 

 Western New York are now doing. 



In the best farming districts of Europe, where 

 the land is under rental, experience has taught the 

 necessity, as it has shown the wisdom, of a four or 

 six course system ; not only as it regards the annual 

 profits of the farm, but also as the more surely pre- 

 serving and indeed improving the fertility and con- 

 sequent productiveness of the soil. It is essentially 

 an improved system of agriculture, and one to which 

 the wheat-groAvers of Ncav York, as well as the 

 corn-producers of the great West, can not too soon 

 adopt. Of this, more at length hereafter. 



MOKE "NOTIONS" ON FODDERING. 



Editors Genesee Faemee: — Since I communi- 

 cated my "Notions" for the February number, we 

 have had some "snug winter weather," just such as 

 makes it a pleasure to feed cattle and slieep, just to 

 see them eat. They are not so particular, in such 

 weather, about what or when; just give them fod- 

 der, and they are ready to pick it up. 



The oat chaff and bean straw are about gone. 

 I have not given any of the latter to the old sheep 

 for some time. They have not done quite as well, 

 and I was "calculating" what to do about it, when 

 the Farmer came, with John Johnston's ideas on 

 sheep-keeping. I read that, and began with a peck 

 of oats per day (to forty sheep), to help them on a 

 little. "Seems as though" I could not afford to 

 increase to more than half a bushel ; but that will 

 do them some good, with what hay they can eat. 



My lambs are doing well, and I mean to keep them 

 in growing order — even if they must have grain once 

 a day — as much as the old sheep. I had rather have, 

 for sheep-feeding, a ton of good bean straw — espe- 

 cially if not threshed entirely clean — than the best 

 ton of hay that was cut last season. j. n. b. 



