GRAIN CROPS. 141 



Hence, it is suggested that a more economical operation would 

 be to plough our grass fields after being cropped eight or ten 

 years, spread compost manure, and seed down with winter 

 wheat the last of August or first of September; and in the 

 majority of cases the wheat crop is of as much value as the corn, 

 with three-fourths the labor and three-fourths the value of 

 manure. Aside from this, another gain is made by having the 

 field out of grass one year only instead of two. 



It is the experience of the writer of these remarks, who has 

 grown fields of wheat nearly every year for the last thirty, that 

 when sown at this season and in this way, it is more sure than 

 at any other season or of any other preparation of the soil. 



The compost manure, being near the surface, affords an excel- 

 lent pasture ground for the seed to germinate before the " set- 

 ting in of winter ; " and in case the ground heaves with frost in 

 winter or spring, the whole sod is moved ; consequently the 

 roots of the plant are not disturbed very materially by the action, 

 and as soon as the ground begins to vegetate in spring the 

 wheat roots find another rich feeding ground in the decayed 

 grass turned under the autumn previous, all of which serves to 

 hasten the crop and have it ready for an early harvest. Fields 

 managed in this way have been ready to cut the 12th of July, 

 thereby escaping both weevil and blight. 



Night soil is an excellent manure and fertilizer for wheat. 

 In September last a part of a field of wheat was manured with 

 night soil mixed with peat ; that part of the field thus treated 

 has now (December 1,) the appearance of being, to say the 

 least, equal to any part of the field. Now if every farmer 

 would save the waste, by being at the expense of making tight 

 vaults and using peat, a sufficient quantity of manure or fertil- 

 izing substance might be made each year for at least from one- 

 half to an acre of wheat or some other crop. 



Salt is a fertilizer for wheat and rye. Although a member of 

 this Conunittee has used salt for potatoes without any good 

 results, but rather an injury, yet we find the following article in 

 the " Country Gentleman," by a Michigan farmer. He says : 

 " In 18G5 I sowed about eleven acres of wheat which had been 

 entirely impoverished, consisting mostly of light sandy soil, with 

 rye, two bushels of seed per acre. The field had been in white 

 beans the year before, and had not returned the cost of the seed 



