170 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



in an assimilable condition for the wheat plant, but 

 sufficient for lichens and mosses. The-se collected 

 the sparse elements of the soil, and left them in a 

 more concentrated form. And so of the other 

 plants which follow; the oxygen of the atmos- 

 phere, carbonic acid, ammonia, &c., disintegrating 

 and decomposing the soil, and rendering the insolu- 

 ble food of plants which it contains more and more 

 soluble, till in time there is a sufficient quantity for 

 the higher order of plants. 



SUMMER FALLOWS FOR WHEAT. 



Fallowing is one of the most ancient methods 

 of restoring fertility to impoverished soils. The 

 Hebrew law commanded that the land should rest 

 every seventh year; and though of a figurative 

 nature, it was probably connected with the practi- 

 cal requirement of the early system of agriculture. 

 Hesiod, the Greek poet-farmer who flourished in 

 the tenth century B. 0., and who cultivated a soil 

 which he describes as "bad in winter, hard in 

 summer, and never good," (probably a stiff clay,) 

 recommends fallowing, the land being plowed three 

 times — once in the autumn, again in the spring, 

 and then immediately before sowing. Among the 

 Romans, fallowing was a universal practice — in 

 most cases a crop and a year's fallow succeeding 

 each other. The land was first plowed after the 

 crop was removed, generally in August; it was 

 again cross-plowed in the spring, and at least a 

 third time before sowing, whether spring grain or 

 winter wheat was the crop. There was, however, 

 no end to the number of plowings and sarclings, 

 the object being, as TnEOPHRASTus observes, " to 

 let the earth feel the cold of winter and the sun of 

 summer, to invert the soil, and render it free, light, 

 and clear of weeds, so that it can more easily af- 

 ford nourishment." 



The Romans introduced the system of fallowing 

 into England, where it has been pursued since the 

 invasion. It would appear, however, that the 

 practice did not extend to Scotland till the earlier 

 part of the eighteenth century. John "Walkeb, 

 of Beanston, East Lothian, is supposed tP have 

 been the first peraon who ever systematically at- 

 tempted to fallow laud in Scotland. He had to 

 endure, f<jr a time, the ridicule and contempt of his 

 neighbors, who jestingly concluded that he was 

 either insane for allowing a portion of his land to 

 lie wiiste for a whole year, or so poverty-stricken 

 as to be unable to find seed to sow it with. The 

 practice, however, was so successful, that twenty 

 years after, summer-fallowing had become neai'ly 



general throughout East Lothian. " Many," says 

 John Haxton, of Fife, " are old enough to remem- 

 ber the wonderful improvement elTected in Scotland 

 through the introduction of the bare fallow system. 

 Previously, the land was cropped repeatedly with 

 grain, until it ceased to produce enough to pay fot 

 seed, labor and rent. It was then allowed to re- 

 main in grass until the operation of natural causes 

 had, in some degree, repaired the former damage 

 it had sustained, when it was again broken up, anc 

 the same scourging process renewed. Upon sucl 

 a system, the introduction of fallowing operated 

 like a charm." 



In the mean time, turnip-culture was introduced 

 with remarkable success on the light soUs of Nor 

 folk ; and a controversy on the subject of substi 

 tuting the growing of turnips for bare faUowin; 

 agitated the writing and reading portion of the ag 

 ricultural public of Great Britain during the latte 

 end of the last century, and ultimately a tacij 

 compromise resulted, which left the turnip growei 

 in complete possession of the light soils, and th 

 summer fallow advocates in possession only of th i 

 heavier and undrained clays ; while the drier an j 

 less stubborn clay loams formed a sort of debati 

 ble ground, upon which occasional pen-and-in 

 encounters took place between the two partie 

 until practical experiment proved the point in f: 

 vor of turnip growers. 



There can be no doubt that in the moist, co 

 climate of the British Isles, turnip-culture is mo 

 profitable than bare fallows on all weU-underdraiu* 

 soils, except the heaviest and most tenacious claj 



In this country, where the climate is not so wi 

 adapted to the cultivation of turnips, and whe 

 meat is not so high, the case may be, and Ave I 

 lieve is, very different. 



The lamented Judge Buel, and other eminc 

 agricultural writers, reflected the opinions of tin 

 brethren across the Atlantic. They extolled ti 

 nip-culture, and condemned summer fallows; a 

 it is not ditlicult to trace the influence of tli 

 writings in forming the now very generally : 

 ceived opinion that summer fallows are, at best 

 necessary evil. There is some tru,th in this opinii 

 but we are inclined to believe that the benefits 

 summer-fallowing are not sufficiently undcrsto 

 and appreciated. 



On light soils, there is little necessity for suimi 

 fallows. We should endeavor to keep the h 

 clean by the introduction of hoed crops, withi 

 the use of bare fallows, and try to enrich it by 

 growth of such jilants as enrich rather than i 

 poverish the soD, and then feed, them to cattle t 



