122 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 3 



Ou IMougliiug in tJieen Swartl for Wheat.— 



til ten Vegetable Slanuief and the liaud 



uiade to enrich itself* 



Mr. Colman — The objectiuna of yoar eonespoii- 

 deiu " Tiumiiseed," page 106, be itobeervccl, nruen- 

 liiely tbcoreiicnl, the reuuU of mere opinion. Not so 

 Agricolu'd remarks, pnge S, for they rcniy nppcar to 

 he hosed upon experimcnla! Inet. Which are we to 

 choose 1 I for my part have a guess, that our friend 

 A will bring his harrow fo ftork pretty smartly in 

 th 3 case, which will sntioTactorily settle iho rjHcstion, 

 It ill !eeJ euch be not already done. Probability lavors 

 his ubiervaiions, iitasmuch as ihe mellowness of the 

 60,1 ia at all times favorable to its fenility. The burn- 

 ing iiilliience of the siin upon land deprived of its nat- 

 ural vegetable coating, is pcciliaily impoverishing, 

 and i; seems probable that the longer this unnatural 

 exposure is kept up, and its surface varied by repealed 

 and rough ploughinga, the greater injury it eustaina 

 by summer heals, and the more need will there be 

 f.ir the mellowing ingrcdienti of manure and other 

 dressings. If the land be rolled and dressed to receive 

 the seed after a single ploiigliing, it is clSar that the 

 exposure of the whole body of the e'oil to the influence 

 of the sun's rayS has not been so complete as in the 

 firmer insiance of repeated ploughing ; nothing more 

 has been done than is requisite to destroy the former 

 Tpgetation and prepare for the intended seed, which 

 soon comes up and protects itst'lf and ihs land from 

 the parching heat by throwing cut the blade ihat pro- 

 tects the root. Now it will b'e observed vfith the slight- 

 est aiteniion, that of the three methods proposed, 

 page 6, that by the first o good crop ofclovsr was sac- 

 rificed to begin with, and tbb subsequent plougbings 

 served to perfect its dcstrlictioii, logeiher with such 

 weeds as might have been present, and yst with all 

 this, pinster must be frtely used ; in the other two 

 plana as before alluded to, the land was not exposed 

 more than was requisite tb destroy former vegetation. 



I might add mon^, but leave the subject to the dis- 

 cussion of abler individuals, ahd dismiss it with earn- 

 est good wishes for the success Of both parlies. 



Yours respectfully, Ji W. 



Rochester. Jubj .5, 1842. 



The suggestion of our correspondent that land suf- 

 fers by exposure to iho sun withotit any vegetable 

 covering, is very questionable and by no moans an es- 

 tablished philosophical tiuth. The soil undoubtedly 

 gathers much of its fertility from exposure to heat, 

 light and air. It suffers, however, when the vcgela- 

 ble matter in it is brought to the surface, and there 

 being decoyed, may be said to be evaporated instead 

 of being retained as so much humus in the soil. 



S'nce the remarks in our last in relation to this 

 subject, we have visited the farm of Mr. Cornell in 

 Henrietta, Monroe Co., who has been in the habit, 

 for the Inst five years, of ploughing only once for 

 wheat and turning in a clover ley. His success in 

 this practice is complete, and there is probably no 

 farmer iu Western New York, whose crops yield o 

 higher average. By this process fallows are entirely 

 abolished ; and his land is alwoya under a crop. 



We shall give in this paper an account of Mr. Kee- 

 loy's e.tperiinent, to which we referred in onr lost, and 

 ■some remarks made ot o lale meeting o! the Royal 

 Agricultural Society on the same siibjecl, where, by 

 a curious coincidence, it is advised to sow mustard 

 wiih a view to its being ploughed in,in Older to enrich 

 the ground. — Ed. 

 Oa the Cultivation of Rye.--John Keelcy's 



Slatemesit. 

 To the Trustees of the Essez Agiicultural Society : 



Ge.vtleimes — Having for some years past been 

 more than commonly aiiccessful in raising large crops 

 of winter rye by a process of cultivation which I be- 

 lieve is eniirely new ; 1 have been ii«Juced by the sug- 



gOEtion of some gentlemen whose judgement I v^ry i 

 much respect, to Bubinit for your coiisideraiion a ataie- 

 inent of the mode of culture with the produce. Affd 

 that the snccess of the experiment this season, may 

 not appear to be altogether accidental, it will perhaps 

 be as well to communicate the result of the process for 

 the three or four previous years. 



The land on which ihe e.\perinient has been con- 

 ducted is siiMaled on the Mernmuck, about a mile and 

 a half east of Haverhill bridge; and crime in lo pos- 

 session of my lather i-i IH'SJ. The soil is ft sand, ap- 

 proaching to loam 08 it recedes from the river. Per- 

 haps the icrm plain land (by which it usually paasee) 

 will better convey an idea of the quality of the soil. 

 It isaliogether too' light for graue. The crops we lind 

 most priifuable to cultivate on it are winter rye, In- 

 dian corn, poiaioes, and to some extent turnips. Oais 

 might probably be raised to ndvaniage.were it not that 

 ihe loud is completely fibed with the weed common- 

 ly called charlock, which render!) it entirely unlit for 

 any spring crop, excepting such as can be. hoed. The 

 crops of rye, on the neighboring soil of the same na- 

 ture, vary I believe from seven or eight, to twelve or 

 thirteen bushels per acre, according to the cultivation 

 and their nppibximatiou to the.rivtr. VTe usually 

 raise on the land Ironi, thirteen to ibirly bushels of In- 

 dian corn per acre. Potatoes aie very good in quality, 

 but the quunliiy is quite sniafl ; not sutBcient to be 

 prolilablcjwere it not that_tbe land is ver^ easily culti- 

 vated. 



In ihe sumtner of 1827, we sowed three bnshels of 

 winter rye near the river, on alioui two acres of land, 

 which produced twenty eight biishfels. 



In IdSij, we sowed four bushels on foiir acres of 

 land running the whole extent of the plain, from the 

 river. This piece wos sowed in the spring with oats j 

 but they were completely smothered with charlock, 

 and about Ihe middle of Juno, the whole crop wis 

 mowed lo prevent the charlock seeding. By about 

 the middle of August, a second crop of charlock hav- 

 ing Covered the land, it was ploughed very carefully, 

 in order complelely to bury the charlock ; and then 

 suH'ered to remain until the 15ih of Suptember, when 

 we began sowing the rye in the following manner. A 

 strip of Und about twelve yards wide was, ploughed 

 cry ev?nly to prevent deep gutlers between the fur- 

 rows, and the Eccd immedialely town upon the furrow 

 and harrowed in. Then another strip of the eapie 

 widlh, and soon until the whole was finished. We 

 found the oat stubble and charlock entirely rolled, and 

 the land appeared as if it haci been well manured, 

 though none had been applied lo this part, since it hai 

 bo3n in o'jr possession. The rye Sprung very quick 

 and vigorously, having evidently derived great bene- 

 fit from being sown and sprouted before the moisiure 

 supplied by the decaying vegetable matter in the soil 

 had eyaporale.l to any conOideriibls exieni. This crop 

 produced Voi bushels- 



In lsi9, iho charlock was suffered to grow on the 

 landappropri.ited to rye, uniil it had attained its growth 

 and was in full blossom. The land was then plough- 

 ed very eorefully and the charlock completely covered 

 in. Inn short iim5 a second crop appeared more 

 vigorous than the first. This also was allowed to at- 

 tain its growth, and then ploughed in as before. A 

 third crop soon appeared, which of course was de- 

 stroyed when the land was again ploughed for sowing 

 about the middle of September. This piece of land 

 was a parnjlel strip running fiom ihe river, and con- 

 taining two acfes. Twobtish'Js of rye were sowed. 

 The crop presented a reniorknbly promising appear- 

 ance, and yielded seventy foiir and a half bushels. 



In 1830, the land appropriated lo rye included near- 

 ly all the lighter parta of the soil, and owing to a 

 prcsure of business was not attended to na we could 

 have wished. It was ploughed in the early part of ihe 

 summer. But horiowiiig to destroy the weedo was 

 substituted for the sejond ploughing. This, and the 

 unusual blight which affected all the grain in this part 

 of the couniry, led us to anticipate a small crop. It 

 yielded however fifteen bushels to t' e acre. 



The land on which the crop of rye was raised the 

 piesent season, had for the three or fohf previous 

 years been planted with Indian corn. And owing lo 

 the extent of our tillage land, we have not been able 

 lo opply more ilian four or five loads of manure to the 

 acre this season. The eharlfck was suffered to attain 

 its growth as usual ; andon h ; 18ih and l.9lh of June 

 it was corelully ploughed in. The second crop was 

 ploughed in on the 6ih and 7ih of August. On the 

 14th and I5lh of September it was sowed in the usual 

 monner, namely : a small strip of land was ploughed 

 and iho seed bowu immediately upon the furrow and 

 then harrowed in. Then another strip of land was 

 ploughed, and so on until the whole was completed. 



One bushel per acre was sowed as usual. The seed 

 was originally obtained from a farmer in ibis vicinity, 

 and I suppose is similar to that which is generally 

 u^ed. _ We have never prepared our seed in any man- 

 ner, but have directed our atlchtion solely to the pre- 

 paration of the land ; and to this we attribute our suc- 

 cess. Owing 10 the unusuol severity of the winter, 

 the crop was considerably winterkilled ; but recover- 

 ed very soon in the spring, excepting in the midfur- 

 rows. There, as the land lieo very le*el, the water 

 settled, and so co.mplelely destroyed the rye that they 

 continued bare the whole season. This would of 

 course cause some diminution in the crop ; perhaps a 

 bushel or two. The rye was reaped at the usual sea- 

 son, and, as the weoihsr was favorable, immediately 

 put into the born. The land contained one ocre and 

 thirteen rods, and yielded forly-sit bushels and three 

 jjecks. A rcmarkablyjine sample. 



In cfitering a claim for your premium, t would ask 

 your attention particularly lo the process of cultiva- 

 tion. Ills, I believe, entirely new; slid capable of 

 general application. 



Sowing the seed immediately after the plough, we 

 (jonsider very advanlageoua to the crop. The soil 

 being then moist, causes the seed to spring immedi- 

 ately, ond gi^'es a forv\ardne'5s and vigor to the plants 

 which they ever aficr retain. 



The process of ploughing in three crops of weeds 

 before the seed is sown very much enriches the soil. 

 It would be altogether unnecessary to attempt to re- 

 fute, the notion, that by such a process, nothing more 

 18 applied to the soil, than was before derived from it. 

 If one could not discover by the light which Chemis- 

 try has shed upon the subject of agiieultu'e.-eufficient 

 reasons for the comrary conclusion, observcfion, one 

 v\'ouId think, would be sufficient to convince any intel- 

 ligeiit man of the fact. 



And here I would suggest that 1 do not consider 

 the experiment as we have conducted it, quite com- 

 plete. To render it more so, in the first ploee, in 

 ploughing in the weeds, I would not turn a furrow 

 after the dew had evaporated. I have no doubt but 

 that a large poiiion of that fcrtilidng quality in the 

 soil, which (during the summer months^ is continual- 

 ly exhaled from the earth, is by the dew brought 

 again within our reach, and it would be wise to avail 

 ourselves of the opporiunily of ogain burying it in 

 the soil. And in the second place, I would by all 

 nieons use a heavy roller after each ploughing. It 

 would fill all the cavities lelt by tne plough, and by 

 pressing the soil mote closely to the weeds, at once 

 hasten their decomposition and Very much retard the 

 evaporation from the Soil. 



But the land la not only ,very much enriched by this 

 process. There 18, I. conceive, no, method by which 

 it can be so effoctuolly cleaned. Three limes during 

 tie season, a fresh surface is presented to the atmos- 

 phere, and each time, as ihe decaying vegetable mat- 

 ter increases iu the soil, so is the exciting, pause aug- 

 mented to make a more vigorous effort. We have in 

 this manner gone over nearly all our land which is in- 

 fested wilh charlock, and the diminution of the weeds 

 is quile sufficient to worrant the expeclaiion, that in a 

 few years it may be eomparqlivcly eradicated. 

 Very respectfully, 



JOHN KEELY. 



Hai-erhill, Sept. 22, 1832. 



The subjoined sioiemcnt woe made at a meeting of 

 the lloyol Agricultural Society in Englond on first 

 of June lost. It is not a little remarkable that this 

 experiment of Mr. Covvslon so strongly confirms the 

 results of Mr. Keelcy's eApericnce. These cases ore 

 among the most striking on record of the value c, 

 ploughing in green manure ; and show that the means 

 of enriching the soil at a trifling expense are within 

 the reach of every farmer. 



Vegetable Mannre. 



Mr. W. Vf. Cawston, of Worlingion.near Milden- 

 hall, in Suffolk, transmiiied the following result of his 

 expel ience in the ploughing in of green crops — " I am 

 not aware that the attention of the agricullural world 

 has been drown to the following process, which I have 

 had many opportunities of seeing tried with the most 

 decided and benefitiol effects in this neighborhood. 

 When trefoil has been seeded, clover or other layers 

 failed, peos or lores grown, or a clean summer fallow 

 made lor wheat, in the middle of August, or there- 

 about, skeleton-plough, or plough very fiai, and sow 

 a peck of white mustard seed (sinapsis alba) per acre; 

 harrow in with light diogs, clean off any grass or 

 rubbish ; and as soon as it is well up, top dress with n 

 light coat of farm-yard dung (sny 6 or 8 loads of 32 

 bushels). Ill 6 or 8 weeks a very heavy, fibrous, lux- 



