184'^. 



GENESEE FARMED. 



145 



IDE S PATENT IMPROVKD WHEEL CULTIVATOR. 



In the seventh volume of the Farmer, pagej 

 235, we published a full description of a Wheel 

 Cultivator, invented by Mr. Nathan Idk, of 

 Shelby, Orleans county. We now give a figure 

 of the implement as recently improved by Mr. 

 Ide. The principal improvement consists in 

 the mode of raising and lowering the wheels — 

 by which the teeih can easily be varied, and 

 placed several inches above or below the surface 

 of the ground. 



We consider this Cultivator one of the best 

 labor-saving implements in use, and as such com- 

 mend it to ths farming community. An adver- 

 tisement in this paper gives the names and 

 residence of persons by whom it is manufactured 

 and sold in this and other sections of the State. 



Time of Sowing Plaster on Clover Land. 



Mkssks. Editors : — I am desirous of obtaining your 

 opini'iii, oi- tiial of smiie of the able and experienced con- 

 tributors to your valuable paper, on a subject on which 

 there is some difference of opinion in my town. 'J'iie sub- 

 ject til which I allude is that of sowing plaster on clover 

 land, the lirst spring that it is seeded with the same, and 

 more especidly, v\hpn clover is sown on wheat Innds. 

 tiome firniers contend that plaster sown on wheat, for the 

 heiielit of the clover, is a po>iiivc injury lo the wheat crop, 

 by ciusiug too luxuriant and late growth of straw, and 

 thereby increasing the liability to rust. I have not been in 

 the habit of s.)win'T plaster on clover for several years, un- 

 til the second year, which is the next spring after the 

 \vh°at crop is talv^n off. It is believed by many, (and I 

 tinnk it a reasonable belief too ) tliit plaster is benericiTl 

 to ihe young and tender clover the lirst spring and summer, 

 by en ibliiig ir to endure the drouth . but if ilie wheat crop 

 is injured nuire than the clover is benefited, of course it 

 is belter not to sow plaster until the second year. 



I am a^out lo sow something over 20 acres the present 

 month to clover, which is now under wheat ; and of course 

 <lo not value the ccpense of plastering, if my interest would 

 therebv be enhuiced. KNq.uiKKit & Patron. 



.•»/«.-■■( ■v.V,- C\:Uer,N. v., Mirc/i, la IS. 



Remarks. — It is still an unsettled point, 

 whether plaster has any effect on the wheat 

 plant. Many of our best fanners, in the very 

 region of the plaster beds, are divided in their 



opinions. At any rate, it is a clear vote as to 

 its benefit to clover, and as all good wheat farmers 

 who follow a system of rotation, neither know 

 or tolerate any other process but following with 

 clover, it becomes important that the spring seed- 

 ing should not fail ; and from the wonderful and 

 almost magical effects upon the young clover 

 plant, especially in dry springs, we find the 

 practice of sowing plaster the first seeding is 

 very common. We doubt whether the direct 

 action of the plaster has the effect of very sen- 

 sibly increasing the luxuriance of the wheat or 

 of retarding its ripening, whereby it is exposed 

 to rust ; but a great growth of clover and of 

 timothy when sown in the fall, may have the^ 

 tendency very materially to reduce the product 

 of the crop. We have often seen the young 

 clover so large as to be cut with every clip of 

 the cradle, and timothy quite headed out. 



Now it is quite selfevident, that as wheat is 

 an exhausting crop, it cannot get its proper 

 quantity of nutriment, if another crop of clover 

 and grass, and those stimulated and excited by 

 plaster, are allowed to dispute and rob it of its 

 natural and legitimate food. Therefore it is 

 fair to conclude that, if the season is not over 

 dry, and the clover takes well, it is beneficial to 

 the wheat product, not to plaster it till the sec- 

 ond year. Every particle of grass, clover or 

 weeds are detrimental to the productiveness and 

 perfection of the wheat crop, but yet no land, 

 in any great quantity, can be kept in heart, ex- 

 cept by the use of clover, which is the natural 

 food — the pabulum par excellence of the wheat 

 plant, and its growers must decide lor themselves, 

 which horn of the dilemma they will choose — 

 to sow plaster— increase the clover crop and en- 

 rich their land, at the expense of the wheat crop, 

 — or increase one or two wheat crops at ihe ex- 

 pense of the continued fertility of the soil. 



