130 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



All clays contain potash, which is indispensable to wheat, 

 but they may be deficient in soda, in magnesia, and in 

 other alkalies. 



A calcareous clay-loam may be regarded as the best soil 

 for wheat. And when it does not exist in a natural stair, 

 all the additions in the form of manure should be with 

 reteivmv to the formation of such a soil. It' the land be 

 light and sandy, clay, and marl, and wood ashes should be 

 added, together with barnyard manure ; if the soil is a 

 tenacious clay, it should be warmed and mellowed by sand 

 and manure ; if it is deficient in lime, lime in substance, or 

 in marl must be given ; vegetable molds, if heavily 

 dressed with wood-ashes and lime, may be brought to pro- 

 duce wheat. 



To PREPARE THE GROUND. This operation depends 

 upon the condition of the soil. But, in all cases, the 

 deepest plowing is the best. The roots of wheat, if un- 

 checked, will extend more than five feet. Stiff, tough, soils, 

 unbroken for years, and especially if much trampled by 

 cattle, will require strong teams. Oxen are better than 

 horses to break up with. It has been said, that a yoke of 

 cattle draw a plow deeper, naturally, than a span of 

 horses. They are certainly better fitted for dull, dead, 

 heavy pulling. And if oxen have been well trained they 

 will do as much plowing in a season as horses, and come 

 out of the work in better condition. 



Fallow lands should be broken up early in summer, as 

 soon as corn planting is over ; about midsummer plow 

 again ; and the last time early in September to prepare for 

 seed. 



A grass or clover lay * may be plowed under deeply at 



* The word lay, or ley, is only a different way of spelling lea, the old 

 English word for field, not used except in poetry or by fanners ; and it 

 is one, among many instances, of old Saxon English words being pre- 

 served among the agricultural population long after they have ceased to 

 bo generally used. 



