-M) (IRA IN'. 



suggest to every young man who lias made up his mind to he- 

 come a farmer, to determine in the first place what hranch of 

 farming, — as there are many, — he will pursue. Ponder tliis 

 subject Avell beforehand, and then purchase the farm best adapt- 

 ed to his wants and circumstances. It appears from the comj)et- 

 itors' statements that the corn crop the past year with them has 

 been somewhat profitable. Yet it is (questioned whether as a 

 general thing, that growing corn, at the present high prices of 

 labor, can be made as })rofitable as some other crops. It is 

 noticed by their statements that they use from twenty-eight to 

 thirty loads of manure, ])esides hi many cases some kinds of fer- 

 tilizers, and it is generally sujjposed that one-half the value of 

 the manure and the whole of the fertilizers are consumed by the 

 crop, as the roots of the plant com[)letely cover the ground and 

 also extend several feet instead of only a few inches as was for- 

 merly supposed. 



At the time one of these fields was gathered the weight of 

 corn and cob was about four tons, and the weight of stovei- must 

 have been two or three times as much, making snne twelve or 

 fourteen tons per acre ; this of course must call heavily upon 

 the manures and sr>il. 



Hence, it is suggested that a more ecDnomical operation would 

 be to plow our grass fields after being cro})ped eight or ten years, 

 spread compost manure, and seed down with winter wlieat the 

 last of August or first of September, and in the majority of ca- 

 ses the wheat crop is of as much value as the corn, with tliree-f )urths 

 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, wlio lias 

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

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

 any other season, or of any other })reparation of the soil. 



The compost manure, being near the surface affi)rds an excel- 

 lent pasture ground for the seed to germinate before the '' setting 

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

 ter or spring, the whole sod is moved, consecpiently the roots of 

 the plant are not distur])ed very materially by the action, and as 



