Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 569 



raising grass or grain crops in the rotation, will make the process of 

 fitting it for wheat laborious and expensive. It is usual to put Indian 

 corn on a clover sod as the first crop in rotation, and some unwise 

 farmers allow their cattle to run on the corn stubble in the fall, and 

 poach up the clay while wet, turning it into what the engineers call 

 " puddle." jSTo practice deserves more censure than this. The next 

 spring, when clayey land that lias been thus mismanaged is plowed, 

 it Avill turn up in hard lumps that can only be broken up at great 

 cost ; and, too, it M-ill take much more power to draw the pl<jw than 

 it would if no cattle had been alloAved on the laud the fall before. If 

 the land abounds in sand all this is changed. Sandy land generally 

 requires compression, and the feet of cattle and sheep are often judi- 

 ciously employed for this purpose. 



Clayey Land must not be Plowed When Too Wet. 



I mean when there is stagnant water in it. All good soils are 

 composed of minute particles that will hold a certain quantity of 

 water, which is necessary to all crops. Excess of water is known as 

 such as these particles can hold by its being confined, and that would 

 drain away if allowed to do so. Immediately after a heavy rain all 

 soils are saturated with this redundant water, and at such times the 

 wise farmer will neither cultivate his land or allow heavy animals to 

 trample upon it. The more perfect the drainage of the land, the 

 sooner this excess of water will pass away, then comes the time 

 that the skillful man will till his land. If clayey land is allowed to 

 become too dry, it is not only hard to plow, but the work cannot be 

 so well done as it can at the time that the land is just in the right 

 condition as to moisture. Practical skill alone can decide as to the 

 best time, all things considered, to cultivate so as to have labor 

 expended in themost judicious manner. 



Now, assuming that we have land that has been well managed, 

 one plowing will completely pulverize it, if this plowing is done at 

 the right time and in the most skillful manner. iSI arrow furrows, 

 made by plows just adapted in the shape of their mold boards to the 

 land, are necessary. Complete disintegration of the particles is 

 effected by just moving them on each other, and it is not necessary 

 to lift the furrow shce high up, or move it far, to do this ; the least 

 breaking of the cohesion is sufficient. The harrow follows to level 

 the surface, and more perfectly prepare the seed bed. 



It may, and often will happen, that by reason of wet weather or 



