ON GREEN CROPS AS A MANURE. 43 



me of the contrary. At the close of June, 1837, the 

 ground then being too wet to hoe [as a storm was 

 just clearing off] I began to plough the piece of land 

 on which I intended to sow rye, principally, to pre- 

 vent the sorrel from seeding. The next day was fine 

 and I left the remainder unploughed, until September, 

 when the whole was ploughed and sown together. — 

 The following spring a difference was seen on that 

 part where the sorrel had been ploughed in, which 

 difference became so striking, that my neighbors saw 

 it and inquired to know the reason. This determin- 

 ed me to try the experiment which is here presented. 

 At the close of June, 1838, while the sorrel was 

 yet in blossom, I ploughed it in immediately after a 

 heavy rain, and sowed upon the furrow one bushel 

 of buckwheat per acre. On the sixth and seventh of 

 August immediately after a rain, and while the buck- 

 wheat was in blossom, that was also ploughed in. — 

 On the thirteenth September, it was sowed with win- 

 ter rye. The present season, the striking difference 

 between this rye and that in the same neighborhood 

 on land of better quality, was seen and remarked by 

 several individuals, and some persons who have 

 known the estate for more than forty years, say, that 

 they never before saw such heavy rye on that part. 

 The whole piece contains nearly 24 acres; and it 

 yielded 48 bushels of rye, of excellent quality, weigh- 

 ing 59 lbs. per bushel. 1 should remark that about 3 

 of an acre of this piece is so poor that no sorrel ever 

 grew there ; the buckwheat was very light, and of 

 course the rye was also. I should judge that upon 

 rather more than two acres the produce was twenty 



