THE GENESEE FAR^kffiR. 



211 



sown on the wheat or the barley the previous spring. 

 and is then liroken up acrain for oats. This may be 

 termed the Lancusaire coui-se, as it is the one now 

 generally adopted, though perhaps with some little 

 variation; at all events it is the practice around here. 

 The following is the state of cultivation at the pres- 

 ent time: oats, 15 acres; potatoes. ITJ; turnips, 4^; 

 wheat, 20; barley, 4; clover, 18; gratis, 19 ; home- 

 stead and garden. 2; total, 100 acres. 



The oats are generally sown on one good furrow, 

 which is all the tillage tlie land receives, save harrow- 

 ing when first broken up for that crop. Five bush- 

 els per acre are sown at the latter end of March or 

 the first week in April; and the crop generally aver- 

 ages TO bushels per acre. Like all other grain crops 

 on this farm, the oats are sown with a drill machine; 

 the crop requires no weeding, the ground having been 

 made perfectly clean when laid down to grass. 



As soon as the oats are harvested the land is fal- 

 lowed or " skimmed" for the next years crop — pota- 

 toes. In that state it lies all winter, and early the 

 following spring is grubbed or scarified and again 

 plowed; it is then well harrowed, and this brings it 

 to a sufficiently good tilth and clean state, so as to al- 

 low of the next process — drilling, and the potatoes 

 are then planted. The quantity of manure used in 

 this crop (potatoes) is 20 tons per acre, and consists 

 of horse, cow, and black manure (night soil) in equal 

 proportions. The produce, including both large and 

 small, averages' about 250 measures of 90 lbs. each, 

 per acre. The sets are placed from 8 to 9 inches 

 apart, and the drills are 35 or 36 inches wide. This 

 great width of drill is considered necessary for the 

 purpose of thoroughly working and cleaning the 

 land, without interfering with the crop. "When the 

 drills are small, and the crop hea^•y, like the one 

 above mentioned, a large portion of it becomes un- 

 marketable by its exposure to the atmosphere darinsr 

 growth. This is avoided when there is sufficient soil 

 and the land can be constantly and thoroughly work- 

 ed through summer. At the time of getting up the 

 potatoes, the ground is w-ell forked, and the weeds 

 carefully picked out, which, together with the tops, 

 are burnt and spread over again. 



We now come to the following crop, namely, 

 wheat. The potatoes having been cleared off the 

 land, the harrows are first used to level it, and to root 

 up any remaining weeds ; after this the plow goes 

 over it once, and buts are formed about 15 yards 

 wide. Then comes the sowing, which, if the weather 

 permits, is done about the fii-st week in November; 

 the seed sown is 2 bushels per acre, and the average 

 produce of the crop on this farm is from 45 to 50 im- 

 perial bushels per acre. 



The succeeding crop is generally clover, but, as al- 

 ready stated, barley is sometimes sown after the 

 wheat. "When such is the case, the land is plowed 

 or " skimmed " over as soon as the wheat has been 

 cleared ofl^ — immediately after if possible — as it is 

 found to destroy the weeds much better. It thus re- 

 mains fallow until the following spring or the begin- 

 ning of March, when the land being dry enough it 

 is well haiTowed ; it is afterwards plowed again and 

 "butted up," and the seed sown about the usual time, 

 the fir^t week in April; 3 bushels per acre are sown, 

 and the crop averages 50 bushels in fair seasons. 



The clover crop is, of coui-se, sown on the wheat or 

 the barley, the previous spring, /. e.. the latter end of 

 March or the fii-st week in April. The following 

 kinds and quantities of seed are sown per acre : — 6 

 ttjs. red clover, 3 ibs. white clover, 2 ibs. rib-grass, 2 

 lbs. trefoil, and | bushel Pacey's perennial rye-grass. 

 The crop is generally mown twice in the season, and 

 afterwards c'aten ofl with sheep; the fij'st crop, if a 

 fiiir one, will be nearly 3 tons per acre; the second 

 half that weight. Tile two following years this same 

 ground, which we ha\ e already stated lies three years 

 in clover and grass, is manured in spring each year 

 with guano at "the rate of 2^ cwt. per acre. It should 

 also be stated that when a barley crop is taken after 

 the wheat, and before the clover, the same quantity 

 of guano is sown on the clover, as a compensation for 

 the barley crop. To conclude our notice of the cul- 

 ture and "management of the various crops, it may be 

 here stated that about 35 or 36 acres have been marl- 

 ed within the last seven or eight years with 128 cubic 

 yards per acre. For this Mr. Lathbuev recently ob- 

 tained a prize from the Manchester and Liverpool 

 Agricultural Society, having previously obtained pri- 

 zes for draining and eradicating. — London Agricuir 

 tural Gazette. 



BEANS NOT AN EXHAUSTING CROP. 



Cax the bea'i be considered a fertilizing, or is it an 

 impoverishino- crop? It is commonly received among 

 farmers that it is not at any rate an exhausting crop, 

 that it is rather ameliorating, and that it prepares a 

 soil better than almost any other crop for wheat 

 And yet chemists show us that it takes off from the 

 soil absolutely more nitrogenous matter than any crop 

 of a similar kind— we mean corn, grain and pulse. 

 Thus a produce of 30 bushels of beans per acre will 

 remove say 490 lbs. of nitrogenised on flesh-forming 

 substance: while the same quantity of wheat per acre 

 will remove only 260 ibs.; of barley, 40 bushels will 

 remove 280 lbs."; of oats, the same quantity will take 

 away 275 lbs. 



Though there have not been, that we are aware, 

 any investigations into the organic composition of 

 the bean straw, there is no doubt that it is highly 

 nitrogenous also. Pea straw, a material of the same 

 class," shows nitrogenous matter about 8 times as 

 o;reat as the straw of wheat per acre, 10 times as 

 much as oats, and altout 15 times as much as that of 

 barley. Hence, then, it is a de-azotising crop, both 

 in the grain and in the straw, taken per acre— the 

 most certain mode of calculating such articles of 

 produce. . ,, r , 



Theoiy immediately savs, chemistry therefore has 

 decided the bean to be an exhausting crop; and the 

 reason why farmers so advocate it is just the same as 

 induces them to advocate the growth of any corn 

 crop which they know deteriorates the soil in its per- 

 manent effect, but puts money immediately into their 

 pocket. But we are not prepared to subscribe even 

 to this, plausible as it may seem ; what we mean to 

 say practically is this, that'w/tf/i properly cultivated 

 the bean is not an impoverishing crop, but the 



A very few physiological and practical facts will 

 easily set us right on this pomt, and obviate the great 



