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THE GENESEE FARMER, 



per acre as we do, and a greater variety. They 

 fiud their account in so doing. We have known 

 experienced English farmers sow as much as 20 

 lbs. per acre of red clover, trefoil, and white Dutch, 

 in addition to rye-grass. Our land is so well 

 adapted to clover and grass, that such thick seed- 

 ing is unnecessary here ; but we are not sure if it 

 would not sometimes be advantageous to sow more 

 seed than we do. 



There are few implements more needed on 

 American farms than a light pair of harrows for 

 covering small seeds. The roller answers the pur- 

 pose to some extent ; but if the soil is at all damp, 

 and dry weather ensues, a hard crust forms on the 

 surface, through which it is difficult for the seeds 

 to jienetrate. An implement which should com- 

 bine the operation of roller and harrow, would be 

 an improvement, for this purpose, upon either. 

 The late Mr. Smith, of Deanston, invented an im- 

 plement which is designed to accomplish this re- 

 sult. It is called the web-harrow. It consists of 

 an iron chain web, connected by discs or quoits of 

 iron which, lying obliquely upon their sides when 

 in operation, roll around, thus tearing and abrading 

 the surface of the ground, 

 and grinding the smaller 

 clods, so as to expose and 

 disturb the surface suffi- 

 ciently to cover the small 

 seeds strewn upon it. The 

 serrated form of the disc is 

 shown at a in the accom- 

 panying figure, where the 

 mode in which these discs 

 bind the whole framework 

 together is also exhibited 

 at h. It is by the rubbing 

 of the sides of the discs 

 against the land, as they revolve, that they are 

 especially useful, more than by the action of their 

 edges, though that is also efficient to some extent. 

 The price of this harrow in England is about $25, 

 covering 25 square feet of ground. The common 

 brush -harrow — a framework of wood interlaced 

 with brush — forma a good substitute for the ex- 

 pensive implement of Mr. Smith. It merely 

 scratches the surface, and so far gives the seeds a 

 very shallow covering; but it wants the weight 

 which makes the web-harrow to compress as well 

 as abrade the surface, both of which conduce to its 

 efficiency. 



Bakley. — Since the uncertainty of the wheat 

 •rop, the cultivation of barley is attracting more 

 attention. Our short, dry, hot summers, are not 



WEB-HARROW, 



as well adapted for barley as for wheat. Our becj?- 

 samples of wheat are heavier, finer, drier, and 

 more farinaceous than the Eng- 

 lish ;. while our barley is decided- 

 ly inferior to that grown in the 

 cool, long summers of the British 

 Isles. Barley delights in a loose, 

 warm, quick soil. Its roots 

 i\\ spread but little — not half as far 

 or deep as the roots of wheat. 

 (See article on this subject in the 

 last volume of the Genesee Farm- 

 er^ page 270.) Hence the soil 

 should be rich, and as loose as 

 possible. It is probably owing to* 

 this fact that superphosphate of 

 lime (which seems to develop the 

 formation of roots) has a better 

 effect on barley than on wheat. 

 A clayey soil will produce good 

 barley, if it can be made suffi- 

 ciently light and porous. The 

 best crop of barley we ever saw, 

 was on a heavy 

 clay soil that 

 Fig. 1. tad been sum- 



mer-fallowed for wheat, but 

 which could not be got ready till 

 too late to sow the wheat. It 

 was sown to barley the next 

 spring, and a magnificent crop 

 was the result. As it is found 

 that the wheat-midge attacks the 

 barley, it is important to get it 

 early; and the warmest land, 

 other things being equal, wUl give 

 the best result. 



The common two-rowed bar- 

 ley (fig. 1) is one of the earliest 

 and best varieties for medium 

 soils. The Chevalier (fig. 2) is 

 the most popular malting barley 

 in Great Britain. It is heavier 

 and thinner skinned than the 

 common two-rowed barley, and, 

 though it succeeds best on light 

 soils, will do better than the 

 former on clayey soil. The com- 

 mon four or six-rowed barley 

 (fig. 3) is thought by some to 

 yield better than the tw«-rowed; Fig. 2. 



and though the sample is not quite as good, buyers 

 make very little difference in the price. In Eng- 

 land, on the other hand, where, on account of the 



