THE GENESEE FARMER. 



April 



or what U belter, give a large quantity of good feed 

 and leave a sufficiency for plowing under and self- 

 manuring. Managed in this way, with once plowing 

 and the use uf the cultivator thereafter, the same lot, 

 if the season be a good one, is as safe for 40 bushels 

 per acre the next crop as 30 after corn. 



In this article, which is already too long, we have 

 not noticed the subject of transforming corn at fifty 

 cents a bushel, the basis on whioh our friend makes 

 his profits, into pork and beef at from $4.00 to $4.50 

 per hundred ; the secret I have never learned, and 

 am there'ore incompetent to such a task. A Gates 

 Farmer Gates, Feb'y, 1850. 



BENEFITS OF DEEP PLOWING. 



Messrs. Editors : — Some fifteen years since, being 

 in the State of New Vork, I saw for the first time 

 an agricultural paper — the Genesee. Farmer. In 

 that was an article relative to deep plowing, which I 

 perused carefully, and by it was induced to try an 

 experiment. I had previously farmed it as others 

 did, thinking that there was no way to increase the 

 product but to increase the number of acres. 



I had a field containing four acres and one hun- 

 dred rods of ground, which had been cleared nine 

 years and had had a grain crop on it every year — 

 wheat, corn, and oats --the three last were oats. 

 The field was considered nearly worn out, and would 

 not have produced more than fifteen bushels of wheat 

 per acre. There were many large stumps and four 

 green trees on the field. The soil was clay loam. I 

 had only a single team — a powerful span of horses — 

 and a single plow, (Wood's.) I raised the end of 

 the beam three inches and commenced plowing in 

 June, when the ground was wet, turning up about 

 five inches that had never been stirred before, plow- 

 ing about thee-fourths of an acre per day. The 

 ground was M.ig up with a spade around the stumps, 

 harrowed and plowed shallow twice afterwards, and 

 sown the fiftli day of October with two bushels of 

 velvet bearded wheat per acre. lu the spring were 

 sown 150 pounds of plaster where the wheat looked 

 the poorest. The result was, although much was 

 wasted in gathering, for it shelled badly, I had by 

 weight 196 J bushels besides one large load not 

 threshed at the time, which would have increased 

 the product to at least 212 bushels. Since that time 

 I have plowed deep, and the result has been invariably 

 the same, or at least doubling the crop. Deep plow- 

 ing on a soil like mine will prevent the crop from 

 ■suffering from wet or dry weather, and is a preventive 

 of rust, or at least has been with me, and it will not 

 turn to weeds, as much wheat does in Michigan. 

 The editor of the Michigan Farmer thinks " it is 

 almost a miracle" if a farmer here gets a good crop 

 of wheat ; yet none fail who cultivate their land 

 properly. This we can prove by many farmers in 

 this county. 



The general system has been, ever since the first 

 settlement of this country, to plow shallow and grow 

 wheat after wheat, without manure, or even seeding 

 to grass, until all the food for the wheat plant is 

 exhausted, and then we are told that the seasons are 

 Buch we o:ini;ot grow wheat and must turn our atten- 

 tion to a. sing sheep; but will sheep thrive if wo 

 serve th.^'ii as we servo our wheat ? Will they live 

 without jidi'ir food? Or will they live in the water 

 without tuunug to musk-rats? Vours, fic, I.i.nus 

 Cone.— 7Voy, Oakland Co., Mich., Feb'y, 1850. 



ECONOMY IN RAISmO WHEAT. 



As the country improves with the introduction of 

 labor-saving machines, quite a revolution is taking 

 place in the management of fallows for wheat. In- 

 stead of following the old practice of plowing twice 

 or thrice, re-inverting the sod and affording a fine 

 opportunity for the grass to grow, the theory now 

 obtaining is to plow once and deep, the after work 

 being perfermed by the harrow and wheel-cultivator. 

 The advantages arising from this mode of culture 

 are as follows : — The so 1 once inverted remains 

 below the surface, affording in its decomposition food 

 for the young plants ; it aljo affords an opportunity 

 for the superabundant water to pass off, thereby 

 removing the liability of the ground to bake or heave. 

 On land comparatively free from stumps and stones, 

 as all old cleared land should be, I consider this a 

 decided improvement on the old plan. Another im- 

 portant consideration is, the ground once plowed, the 

 labor is in a great measure accomplished. By the use 

 of the harrow and cultivator occasionally, the ground 

 will become finely pulverized ; so when the time of 

 seeding arrives, the ground i.s already prepared for 

 the reception of the seed. If any doubt the superi- 

 ority of this mode of tillage, let him try and see. 



The present is emphatically an age of improve- 

 ment, and he, whether farmer or Otherwise, who 

 neglects to avail himself of the advantages to be 

 derived from the recent works of art, and the sciences, 

 should have the honor of being alone in his glory. 

 W. Xi^aLKi.—Rushvitle, JV. Y. 



A TROUBLESOME WEED. 



Messrs. Editors: — As your columns are open to 

 the interests of the farmer, I wish to make a few 

 remarks in regard to an obnoxious weed, little known 

 in this section, and yet abounding in a greater or less 

 extent throughout the country. It is called Aekley 

 Clover, but is probably a species of the white daisy. 

 It takes its present name from the person who first 

 introduced it into this State. It is probably the most 

 injurious to the growing of wheat of any known foul 

 weed, because, after becoming once seeded, it cannot 

 be eradicated as long as you grow wheat. It grows 

 equally well and sometimes as high as the grain, and 

 by the thick mat it forms it is almost impossible to 

 get through a field of it. It resembles May-weed in 

 every respect, (excepting it grows more rank.) and 

 this is one cause of its spreading so rapidly, people 

 not knowing what it is, and calling it May-weed. 

 The root lives until it is three years old, and continues 

 to branch out and seed nearly all summer, and in its 

 last year's growth, one root will cover as much 

 ground as a half bushel. The seed is very small and 

 of a yellowish cast, and can witli difficulty be detected 

 in clover seed, in which way it is being sown broad- 

 cast all over our country. I would adviso all those 

 purchasing clover seed to bo careful and examine 

 close. 



Messrs. Editors, if you consider this scroll worthy 

 of notice in your paper, yon may re-model it to suit 

 your fancy, as it is written in haste. I want to get 

 the article before the farmers in Monroe county, and 

 perhaps some one more competent to describe it 

 will take it up and give some method of getting rid 

 of so hateful a pest. Subscriber. — Rusli, ,V. Y., 

 March, 1850. 



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