126 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



land should be sown before corn is ready to harvest, to avoid 

 winter-killing. Nearly all substances, mineral, vegetable, and 

 animal, have been used at various times, with judgment and 

 without, with gain and with loss, as manures and fertilizers for 

 this crop. No one of them all, however, can be recommended 

 as the special manure which under all circumstances and on all 

 soils is particularly adapted to it. • It is certain that all strong 

 unfermentcd animal manures should be always avoided, as they 

 almost invariably produce injury by stimulating the straw to an 

 unnatural, sickly growth, which causes it to fall, producing 

 shrunken berries, and flour of inferior quality. 



But all wheat lands should be rich in well-decomposed 

 organic substances, and they may be applied from the yard, the 

 woods, muck-heap or roadside, (and just here, in our opinion, 

 lies the secret of success or failure in wheat growing,) and 

 heavy clay soils will be much improved by dressings of sand. 

 Lime as a special manure for this crop has many advocates. 

 But the farmer who expects to realize large crops on old fields 

 by simply applying a dressing of lime, will most likely meet 

 with disappointment. On clay soils and those rich in vegetable 

 mould, lime is undoubtedly highly beneficial ; but it will not 

 supply the place of these substances in the soil, or produce 

 good crops where they are wanting. It is the concurrent 

 testimony of all wheat-growers, that on lands long cultivated, 

 wood ashes are the very best fertilizer for wheat, producing a 

 strong, clean, healthy straw, and well-filled grain. On much 

 worn, sandy soils, heavy dressings of ashes have been known to 

 produce great crops without any other manure. Guano has 

 been long used as a special manure for the wheat fields of 

 Maryland and Virginia. But being too much relied on, as the 

 cheapest, best, and in fact as the only manure, those fields have 

 deteriorated, until the harvest is of little worth. In this State, 

 good success has attended its use, especially on the lighter 

 soils ; but it would be unwise to depend on it, to bring our 

 lands into proper condition for wheat bearing, or to preserve 

 their fertility through a course of cropping. The experiment 

 has been tried and found faulty, and we can but bo the loser 

 by any attempt of the kind. But if used in connection with 

 those substances that form mould, and give permanent fertility, 

 it may increase our crops and profits. 



