FARMS. 169 



the usual quantity of grass seed and clover. The wlieat is first 

 soaked in a steep of ashes, or salt, or carbonate of ammonia — 

 which last I prefer — and rolled in lime or plaster. The ground 

 is then harrowed and rolled. Wlien the grain has grown about 

 two inches, unleached ashes, or ashes and plaster mixed, are 

 sown at the rate of fifteen to twenty bushels per acre. The 

 best sorts of wheat I have found are the Black Sea and the 

 Java. The latter is a favorite grain in this vicinity, being less 

 liable to smut or blast, and producing very sweet, though darker 

 flour than the former. 



I have seldom sown oats, of late years, except to be cut when 

 green, believing that they exhaust the soil, if permitted to 

 ripen, and are less favorable to the growth of grass seed, when 

 sown with them. Spring rye has given place, almost entirely, 

 to winter rye, which, on my land, is the more profitable crop. 

 Grass seed sown with it, generally does well. A. piece of 

 ground which had been used many years for garden purposes, 

 was sown with winter rye not long ago, without any manure. 

 The crop of grain was very fine, and has been succeeded by 

 two large crops of red and white clover, where no clover seed 

 had been sown for fifteen years. I have tried barley, but only 

 in a small quantity, and without much success. On many 

 farms in this section, I believe it to be a very profitable crop, 

 whether cut green for milch cows or ripened for the grain. 



I have planted potatoes in different soils, with different treat- 

 ment, and with various results. The soundest tubers have been 

 uniformly grown on high land, with little manure, and that well 

 rotted. I do not think that my crops have suffered much from 

 the rot, still they have not been, in any way, superior to those 

 on many farms in the vicinity. One experiment may be worth 

 stating. A piece of ground, recently inclosed from a pasture, 

 had been ploughed, upon part of which a bed of spent tan 

 formerly laid. The same sort of manure was applied to the 

 whole, and the same sort of seed planted. That portion of the 

 land, where the tan was still present, yielded a good crop of 

 very large and sound potatoes ; while the produce of the rest 

 was almost worthless, because of the rot. During the last two 

 years, I have planted the Peach-blow and the Davis seedling 

 potatoes, on light soil, and used a handful of Coe's super-phos- 



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