74 



THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



3 lbs. of Italian rye grass, or 2 lbs. of meadow 

 fescue, or 1 lb. of red-top, or 2 lbs. of meadow 

 fox-tail, or 3 lbs. of Kentucky blue grass, or 4 lbs. 

 of orchard grass. Clover or grass seeds do better 

 when sown on barley or spring wheat than on any 

 other spring crop. 



Roll the meadows and winter wheat as soon as 

 the frost is out and the land tolerably dry. Old 

 meadows will be the better for a good harrowing 

 in the spring before rolling. 



Do not be in too great a hurry to set the plow 

 to work. Let the land become dry enough to turn 

 over mellow. The surface then soon becomes 

 warmed, and you can sow immediately. 



Peas can be sown earlier than any other crop, 

 and no farmer should be without a small field of 

 them. The white varieties are most suitable for 

 light soils, the grey kinds for strong clays. The 

 best sorts of white pea we know of, are the Golden 

 Drop, and Racehorse. Peas do well on an old sod 

 plowed rather flat, but not shallow, and the land 

 may be rolled, after harrowing in the seed, with 

 advantage. If the land has been plowed the 

 previoHs fall, they may be sown at once and lightly 

 plowed or cultivated in. Three bushels per acre 

 is the usual allowance for seed in Canada, where 

 peas are very successfully and extensively grown. 

 After the young plants are well forward, a top- 

 dressing of a mixture of ashes and plaster will be 

 of great benefit. 



Spring wheat comes next, the soil for which 

 ought to be in good heart, and free from weeds 

 and moisture. The land for this crop is better to 

 be plowed ridgy, so as to harrow down well over 

 the seed; unless a seed drill is to be used. It is 

 more liable to smut than winter wheat, and as a 

 preventive of this disease, use a solution of three oz. 

 of blue vitrol dissolved in a quart of hot water to 

 each bushel. Let it cool, and then sprinkle the solu- 

 tion over the wheat on the barn floor, turning it over 

 with a shovel at the same time, until every grain is 

 dampened. It will be ready for sowing in two or 

 three hours after. Among the best sorts are the 

 Fife, Canada club, Tea and Italian. It is of great 

 advantage to sow spring wheat as early as possible, 

 provided the ground is dry and mellow ; thouuh it 

 is thought by some, that if sown late it will more 

 readily escape the ravages of the vuidge. Two 

 bushels per acre is the usual alloH'ance for seeding. 



After this, barley may be sown, the land for 

 which should be warm, rich and mellow, and if 

 plowed the previous fall, may be sufficiently pre- 

 pared by going over it twice with a two or three 

 horse cultivator, and harrowing between. The 



common two-rowed variety of barley is perhaps 

 the most reliable for general cultivation, though: 

 other sorts succeed best in particular localities.' 

 Barley does best on land that has grown corn or 

 root crops the previous year, and it always i-equires 

 a well drained or gravelly soil, to yield heavy cro|)S. 

 The usual amount of seed sown is too little. From 

 2 to 2^ bushels per acre is the least tliat should be 

 allowed. A friend at our elbow says, "If the seed 

 is steeped for twenty-four hours before sowing in a 

 weak solution of crude nitre, which costs only 

 about six or eight cents per lb., the plants will 

 germinate rapidly and come up strong and of a 

 dark color." After the plants are well out of the 

 ground, the land may be rolled with. advantage. 



Oats usually come next after barley, but we 

 think they might be sown earlier. They will bear 

 being sown on an undrled soil in early spring, 

 better than barley or spring wheat. Early sown 

 oats produce the most grain — late sown, the most 

 straw. If oats are to be raised in low, rich, dump I 

 meadow lands, on which they often do well, they | 

 are better to be sown late — say just before corn- , 

 planting. The white varieties of oats are best for ! 

 upland, dry soils, and the black kinds for moist 

 soils. Here again the quantity of seed usually 

 allowed is, in our opinion, far too small ; 2i to 3 

 bushels per acre is little enough. i 



The land for corn and roots can be put in a for- 

 ward state as soon as the earlier spring crops are 

 sown. Great care should be exercised in selecting 

 seed corn, so as to get such kinds as mature early. 



Surface Manuijixg. — Mr. Claijk, in the Cotintry 

 Gentleman^ maintains that nature has always ap- 

 plied manure on the surface, and that it is a great 

 mistake to ojypose nature by art, especially in connec- 

 tion with the processes of plant growth; that the 

 highest aim of art should be "to remove obstruc- 

 tions, and place the elements, after we have to a 

 certain extent manipulated tliem, in tlie best knowii 

 position to give nature the fullest and most effectual 

 scope for action, and that the surface is the place 

 where the separation of the organic and inorganic 

 elements occurs, and that the medium — water — 

 which carries the one downwai-d and su[)i)lies vapor 

 to facilitate the ascent of the other, is api)lied at 

 the surface. 



On the opposite side, a writer in the American 

 Agriculturist says "Nature is not a cultivator. It 

 is true that lands are fertilized by natural processes, 

 but he who waits for the returns would need the 

 life of a Methuselah, thrice lengthened. Man wants 

 quick returns, and to secure them, he must often 



