!» 



with the common plow and the sub-soil. The whole 

 lot manured and worked in the same way, except the 

 sub-soiling of some parts and some not. The month 

 of August was dry ; the corn in the sub-soiled suftered 

 very little : that on the part not-subsoiled suffered 

 very much. 



'• When the corn was gathered, we could distin- 

 guish tlic very row where the sub-soiling was com- 

 menced and ended — the cars were more numerous 

 and of a larmier size. I did not meaaure the corn 

 nor the ground, but the difference was so obvious to 

 the sight, that no one could doubt the superiority of 

 the corn or tlie ground sub-soiled. 



" Tiiis year the whole of my com ground was sub- 

 sniled, and the yield was very satisfactory. The 

 montli of July was dry and hot, and the leaves of my 

 corn did not shrivel, while those in the adjacent fields 

 rolled up.'' 



Every farmer knows that a deep, friable soil will 

 take up more rain water without detriment to the 

 growing crop, than will a shallow, compact soil. 

 For a similar reason, moisture from below will more 

 readily ascend in dry weather and supply the roots 

 of needy plants with their liquid aliment. But, do 

 not forget that a soil sixteen inches deep requires 

 twice as much mold as one only eight inches in depth. 

 Now, the richest mold is that formed from the carcass 

 of a dead horse or sheep ; but as such organic matter 

 is attainable only in homcepathic doses, the farmer 

 should test his skill in producing mold from clover, 

 peas, corn, grass, and other vegetables, to mix with 

 his sub-soil. Beware of the folly of spreading farm 

 labor over too large an area for the highest perma- 

 nent profit. Fifty acres of good land are more valu- 

 able than two hundred of poor land. 



WHEN TO PLOW, AND WHEN NOT TO PLOW. 



In the course of a fev/ sensible remarks on the rela- 

 tive profits of corn and wheat culture, in the Febru- 

 ary number of this journal, our friend Mr. Spekrv, 

 of Gates, says : '• Do not plow your ground in the 

 fall, (the opinion of Dr. Lee to the contrary notwith- 

 standing.) to leech and waste its sweetness on the 

 dessert air ; but if practicable, plow it up one day 

 and plant it the next." 



As "there is a time for all things," there must be 

 a time to plow. When is it ? 



Mr. S. is too good a farmer not to know that the 

 proper time to commence tillage with a view to pre- 

 pare the soil for seeding or planting, depends very 

 much on the character of the earth to be cultivated. 

 A light sandy loam needs but one good plowing and 

 harrowing to prepare the ground for wheat or corn ; 

 and if it be sufllciently dry, no matter how soon the 

 seeding follows the plowing. But suppose one has 

 a stitr, close, compact clay, which breaks up in 

 lumps as large as a man's head. What is so good 

 to mellow these as the hard freezing of a northern 

 winter and their thawing in early spring? When 

 plowing is done late in the fall, as it should be, very 

 little decomposition of organic matter will take place 

 till warm weather sets in at and after planting, so 

 that talking of "gases losing their sweetness on 

 the desert air," ia a poetical fiction, rather than a 

 matter of fact. 



As a general thing, we do not approve of plowing 

 land and keeping it exposed naked to the sun and 

 rains long before the seed is placed in the earth. It 



gains something by the mellowing influence of 

 atmospheric air and other chemical agents in nature; 

 but when this fallowing is long continued in warin 

 weather, the soil loses a large share of the iVrtili/.iiig 

 elements evolved in the progress of tillage, biif'.ire 

 the young plants which are to form the crop become 

 large enough to take up and organize its too abund- 

 ant food. Thousands of farmers waste, r.ud lose 

 forever, no inconsiderable portion of tlieir n:;ti;uro 

 and the soluble elements of plants in the surfiioe so:!, 

 by not skillfully adjusting the feed of living, growing 

 vegetables, to tlieir respective wants. This l.ss can 

 only be avoided by studying all the changes which 

 plowing effects in the soil, and how c.iJiivahd jiluTt'.! 

 grow. When this is done, the enhghtcned agricul- 

 turist will know how early and how late he may 

 properly break green sward, or plow any field for any 

 crop. He will then comprehend the importance of 

 deep and fne tilth to augment the available atcms 

 required by nature to form a generous harvest. — 

 These atoms often abound in an unavailable condi- 

 tion, which must be changed before tlie soil can 

 become fertile. Many stir the earth when it ia too 

 wet. Drying immediately, the surface acquires an 

 impervious crust, which arrests the most important 

 chemical processes carried on in tilled land. It often 

 demands a nice discrimination to say whether a cer- 

 tain piece of ground should or should not be plowed 

 at a particular time. A sound judgment is indis-- 

 pensable to the farmer, if he is to escape committing 

 grave errors in his complex profession. Experience 

 and science should go together. 



WHEAT.— ITS MnjBRAL FOOD. 



Mr. Wav, Professor of Agricultural Chemi-try in 

 the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Eng< 

 land, has contributed to the Journal of the Uoyal 

 Agricultural Society an extended and exceedingly 

 valuable paper on the " Analysis of the Ashes of 

 Plants." These researches embrsc^. among other 

 matters of interest, the analyses of 62 varieties of 

 wheat, so far as to determine the amount of mineral:) 

 which an acre of grain, including straw and seed, 

 removes at each harvest. In straw, the quantity of 

 ash per 100 parts ranged from 3 J to 5 per cent. In 

 one sample the ash was only 2.74 per cent ; in 

 another the percentage was as high II. The mean 

 of 40 specimens is 4J per cent. Those varieties of 

 grain which had the most mineral matter in the 

 straw w'ere less liable to fall, and the stems were 

 brighter and more exempt from mildew and rust. 



The ash in wheat chatT varies from 7 to 16 per 

 cent. In wheat, the analysis of 62 specimens gave a 

 mean of 1.67 per cent. This result is about the 

 mean between the results obtained by Dr. Sfe-vokl, 

 as copied by Prof. Johhsto.n in his Lectures on 

 Agricultural Chemistry, and M. Bol'ssikoailt. In 

 looking over the tables, we find no ash of the seed 

 which contains quite half its weight of phos])horic 

 acid, and none that has so little as 40 per cent. The 

 next most abundant element is potash. Of this the 

 proportion ranges from 33 up to 39 per cent. The 

 third most abundant mineral is magnesia, which 

 ranges from 9 to 14 per cont. After this stand soda 

 and silica, the latter being mostly in the bran. Of 

 lime, the figures run from IJ up to over 8 per cent. 

 Sulphuric acid and chlorine also exist in«>mall quan- 

 tities. In all cases the grain was cut close to the 

 ground, and yet the wheat was nearly as heavy as 



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