40 EOOTJs. 



of so even size , or better quality ; scarcely a root on the whole field 

 was worthy the name of scullion. 



We think Mr. Pratt made a great mistake in the operation of his 

 crop, as the cultivation was by no means clean ; i3ut weeds, weeds, 

 WEEDS, were allowed to grow as well as onions ; we are of the opinion, 

 had he expended 8100 worth of extra labor, " kept down the weeds," 

 he might have had 1000 bushels instead of 800 which would well have 

 paid ihe expense, in future crops as well as in the present. Mr. Pratt 

 in this matter perhaps should be excused as it is well known to one of 

 the members of the committee that he has bee'n quite ill for the most 

 part of the season and was obliged to trust his onion bed to such help as 

 he cou'd get, not such as he would have had. 



SANDY SOILS. 



This kind cf soil has generally been considered not worthy of culti- 

 vation ; but every farmer well knows the mode that has been adopted 

 for the last fifty years in working light sanfly soils. It is simply to 

 plow very light and shallow, and crop with winter rye year after year, or 

 in alternate years, as the soil will hold out, or grow wiry grass for poor 

 sheep to graze upon, and without the application of manure or fertiliz- 

 ers ; and under such cultivation wlio can expect a good return of any 

 crop from such soils ? 



Dr. Dana says : " Of all the soils to be cultivated or to be restored, 

 none are to be preferred to the sandy light soils." It is obvious that 

 light soils may be improved in various ways, and we must be governed 

 by the surrounding circumstances. Tf they are in the immediate vicin- 

 ity of a clay pit or fresh meadow, either clay, muck, or both, may be 

 used with good results ; the writer of these remarks has experimented 

 with muck upon soils of this character for the last three years where a» 

 young apple orchard has been transplanted, and is satisfied that twenty 

 loads of muck, one load of leached ashes and one load of horse manure 

 are of more value to the trees and hoed crops than the same number of 

 loads of barn manure; as this treatment serves not only to maJce but very 

 much to improve the soil. Another mode of operation is to plow in 

 green crops, such as oats, buckwheat or clover ; as soon as the crop is in 

 blossom turn it in and re-seed, thus plowing in two crops the same year ; 

 in case the soil has been dressed with muck, this method serves to has- 

 ten the work of reclaimation. 



It is the experience of some practical farmers that the crop be allowed 

 to perfect itself and die where it grew, and turned in in a dry state, and 

 the dry crop is of more value than two crops of green. Evidently the 

 dry crop gives more " geine " (earth) than the green ; the one acts as 

 a quick consuming fire, the other a slow mouldering ember giving off 

 gases that serve to feed plants and decompose the sand and quartz. 

 These hard silicates in the soil have their parts to perform, and it is for 

 the cultivator of the soils to supply them with vegetable matter, such as 

 muck, meadow Bay, straw, &c., and their decay causes an evolution of 



