OL. XX, Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1859. 



No. 9. 



FALL PLOWING. 



'What is your opinion in resard to fall plow- 

 g?" asks an esteemed correspondent. "I have a 

 ild I intend planting to corn. Would it be better 



plow it this fall, and then cultivate it before 

 mting, or to let it lie as it is all winter and break 

 up in the spring ?" 



If an old sod, on rather heavy soil, we should 

 rtainly prefer to plow it in the fall, unless it is 

 sv and wet. If a young, healthy clover sod, on 

 ht soil, it might be better to let it lie as it is all 

 nter, and not plow it till just before planting, 

 le clover would be several inches high, and when 

 rned under in the spring would help to enrich 

 e land ; and it is said that the grubs will feast on 

 e clover and leave the corn plants unmolested. 

 The great error in fall plowing is in not plowing 

 rly enough. It should be done immediately after 

 e wheat sowing is finished. The teams can be 

 ared then as well as later. Plowing late in the 

 1, when the ground is cold and sodden, is of 

 lestionable benefit. An experienced farmer in 

 igland once pointed out to us a portion of a field 



turnips that looked much superior to the turnips 

 joining. On inquiring the reason for this difFer- 

 ce, he said that both portions had been treated 

 ike, except that the part which looked the best 

 id not been "pin-fallowed" — fall-plowed. The 

 ct turned out to be that the land was not plowed 

 1 December, when it was too wet; and the next 

 ring it was raw and lumpy; whereas the other 

 )rtion turned up fresh and mellow. The fact is 

 )t one which militates against the practice of fall- 

 owing, but against plowing land when it is too wet. 

 We recollect of seeing a piece of low wet ground, 

 iar this city, plowed late in the fall. It was a 

 ugh eod, and was turned over in wide, flat fur- 

 'Ws. During the winter it presented an almost 

 ibroken sheet of ice, and in the spring was so 

 et and raw that it was with difficulty got ready 

 r planting. Such fall plowing is not to be com- 

 ended. Had it been plowed early, and in narrow 



and high ridges, and the dead-furrows cleaned out, 

 and a few surface ditches cut, so that the water 

 could have passed off, the result would have been 

 far different. 



Some good farmers in this vicinity plow their 

 corn land in the fall, and then sow it to barley in 

 the spring without plowing again. One of the ad- 

 vantages of this plan is that the barley can be sown 

 earlier, and a portion of the work which otherwise 

 would have to be done during the busy season in 

 spring, is done in the comparatively leisure season 

 in the fall. 



F. Holbrook:, Esq., of Brattleboro', Vt., makes 

 the following judicious remarks on this subject, in 

 the New England Farmer for 1853, which are 

 worthy of reproduction at this time. He says : 



"From the last of October to the middle or later 

 of November is a good time for plowing land pre- 

 paratory to sowing or planting it the following 

 spring. The autumnal weather is cool and bracing, 

 and tlie oxen and horses are strong and hearty for 

 the work; while the temperature of the spring 

 season is more relaxing, and the animals of draught 

 are then apt to become laggard and faint, — partic- 

 ularly at the business of overturning green-sward. 

 To be seasonable, spring work must at best be des- 

 patched in a great hurry, and it is a relief and ad- 

 vantage to have the plowing done in the fall. If 

 land in corn-stubble is first well harrowed, so as to 

 pull open, and level down tlie hills and scatter the 

 stubbs about, then plowed in the fall, the stubble, 

 lying beneath the furrows through the winter, will 

 not be apt to come to the surface by harrowing in 

 the spring; the grain and grass seeds can be com- 

 mitted to the already prepai-ed ground, at the ear- 

 liest suitable day in tlie spring, the surface of the 

 newly-stocked land will be smooth, the seeds equally 

 distributed in harrowing, the crop of grain will be 

 early and thereby luxuriant, and the young grass, 

 having the benefit of the early rains, will get good 

 root, be more likely to sui v>e the heat and drouglit 

 of summer, yielding a full bite of aftermath in the 

 fall, and good succeeding crops of hay. Sod-land 

 plowed in November, will be free from growing 

 grass in the spring, the roots of the late overturned 

 sward being too far deadened by the immediately 

 succeeding winter to spring very readily to the 

 surface. The plowed land, after being sulijected to 

 the frost of winter, will readUy disintegrate and 



