128 TALKS ON MAXIRES. 



" 1 vole lor A," .said tlic Diaoon. 



" I vote for A," said the Doctor. 



" 1 vote for A," said the S(iuire. 



" I sliouLl tbiuk," modestly suggested Charley, " that il would 

 depend somewhat on the soil," and Charley is right. Ou a clean, 

 moderately rich piece of light, sandy soil, I should certainly ex- 

 pect much better corn, and better barley or oats, on A, where the 

 clover was grown, than on B. But if the lield was a strong loam, 

 that needed thorough cultivation to get it mellow enough for corn, 

 I am inclined to think that B would come out ahead. At any 

 rate, I am sure that on my own farm, moderately ^tifl■ land, if I 

 was going to j^lant corn after wheat, I should uot seed it down 

 with clover. I would jilow the wheat stubiile immediately after 

 harvest, and harrow and cultivate it to kill the weeds, and then, 

 si.\ weeks or two months later, I would plow it again. I would 

 draw out manure in the winter, ])ile it up in the field to ferment, 

 and the next spring spread it. and i)low it under, and then — 



"And tlien what ?" asked the Deacon. — " Wli}- the truth is," 

 said I, "then I would not plant corn at all. I should either sow 

 the field to barley, or drill in mangel-wurzel or Swede-turnips. 

 But if I did plant corn, I should e.xpect better corn than if I had 

 sown clover with the wheat ; and the land, if the corn was well 

 cultivated, would be remarkably clem, and in tine condition; and 

 the next time the land was seeded down with clover, we could 

 rcasonal)ly expect a great crop." 



The truth is, that clover-seed is sometimes a very cheap manure, 

 and farmers are in no danger of sowing too much of it. I do not 

 mean sowing too much seed per acre, but they arc in no danger of 

 sowing too many acres with clover. On tliis point, there is no 

 dilTerence of oi)inion. It is only when we come to exjilain the 

 action of clover — when we draw deductions from the facts of the 

 the ea.se — that we en'.cr a field bristling all over with controversy. 



" You have just finished threshing," said tlie Deacon, "and for 

 my part, I would rather hear how your wheat turned out, than to 

 listen to any of j'our chemical talk about nitrogen, phosphoric 

 acid, and potash." 



" The wheat," said I, " turned out full as well as I expected. 

 Fourteen acres of it was after wheat, and eight acres of it after 

 oats. Both these fields were seeded down with clover List year, 

 but the clover failed, and there was nothing to be done but to risk 

 them a ::un witli wlieal. Tlic remainder was after barlev. In all, 



