66 TRANSACTIONS. 



Estimating seed at fifty-five bushels per acre, we have for nine years 

 four hundred ninety-five bushels. This, at twenty-five cents, amounts 

 to one hundred twenty-three dollars, seventy-five cents ; which, add- 

 ed to the price of the brush, makes four hundred twenty dollars sev- 

 enty-five cents. Deduct for tillage and interest, twenty dollars a 

 year for nine years, and we have as a result, two hundred forty dol- 

 lars, seventy-five cents. Now, if we apply fifty-four loads of manure 

 in five years, instead of nine, we may reasonably calculate upon an 

 increase of at least two hundred pounds per acre. Seven hundred 

 and fifty pounds for five years, amount to three thousand seven hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds. This, at six cents, amounts to two hundred 

 twenty-five dollars. Estimating seed at seventy-five bushels, we 

 have, for the five years, three hundred seventy-five bushels, which, 

 at twenty-five cents, would be ninety-three dollars, twenty-five cents. 

 This, added to the price of the brush, as before, makes three hundred 

 eighteen dollars, ninety-five cents. Deduct one hundred dollars for 

 tillage and interest and there remains two hundred eighteen dollars, 

 seventy-five cents; only twenty-two dollars less, than would be ob- 

 tained by the other method, and which a good crop of wheat or rye 

 would of itself cover, leaving the three years of grass, as clear gain. 

 Having thus given my views in regard to a rotation of crops upon 

 lands naturally favorable to cultivation, it may be as well to speak of 

 a kind, the very opposite of this, viz., those lands, which, owing to 

 their distance from the homestead, their inaccessibility, or their un- 

 friendliness to cultivation, it is desirable to keep most of the time in 

 grass. Here, our course will not admit of more than one hoed crop, 

 which should be followed by oats, barley or spring wheat. It should 

 be recollected, that in this course, the great object is to secure a good 

 growth of grass. In order to this, there should be but one plow- 

 ing and that should be thoroughly done. The manure should be 

 composted, spread upon the surface and harrowed in. The next 

 spring after the first crop has been taken off ; if it has been in corn, 

 the stubbs should be cut off close to the ground, with a bog hoe. 

 Then, go over the ground with a heavy ox cultivator, until the hills 

 are torn up and the whole well pulverized. The ground is now ready 

 for the grain and grass seeds; and, if the cultivation has been what 

 it ought, there will be a reasonable prospect of success in the under- 

 taking. Care should be taken throughout, not to disturb the old 

 sod, as the object is to create a fine tilth u^ion the surface. The 

 other course of which I am to speak, occupies a middle ground be- 

 tween the two already discussed. This course extends through eight 



