524 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



after tlie removal of the crop the land should be sub-soil plowed, 

 and allowed to lie during the winter season. As early in the 

 spring as the soil will admit, sow from three to four bushels of 

 oats, according to the richness of the land, and harrow twice north 

 and south, and twice east and west; and if grass seed is to be 

 sown, which is always my practice, harrow it in with a bush 

 harrow; and if the soil is a sandy loam, roll it. If I Avere to 

 sow spring wheat instead of oats, I would harrow it when four 

 inches high, and then roll it. In other sections of the country 

 where the season will admit of it, I would prefer to plow such 

 land once before sowing the oats, as there can indeed be little 

 doubt but that, by the lands undergoing a more full and complete 

 preparation than is usual for tliis crop, the quantity of produce 

 may be greatly increased, as the fibrous roots of the plants are 

 more enabled to extend themselves in the loose earth, and thereby 

 to afford a more perfect support to the stems. In some cases, as 

 where the land has been much reduced and exhausted by the i3re- 

 vious crops, or in breaking up their poor soils where the propor- 

 tion of turfy material is inconsiderable, it will be necessary to 

 have recoiu'se to the use of manure, as by such means it is proba- 

 ble that a third more produce at least might be grown. 



After the oats are sown, if manure is required, and the farmer 

 prefers barn yard, as I do, to guano, or other similar substances, in 

 order that they may produce their effects in the most perfect man- 

 ner, they should be spread before harrowing, over the surfaces of 

 the ground as evenly as possible. This may be greatly facilita- 

 ted by placing the manures out at first in very small heaps, as by 

 such a practice it may be spread with much greater ease and 

 exactness, and less injury will be done by the bottoms of the 

 heaps. In spreading, much advantage will he gained by breaking 

 and reducing the lumps into as fine a state as possible, as by such 

 means they are not only applied more perfectly, but washed by 

 the rains more readily to the roots of the oats. The springing of 

 the young stems is also less retarded where the manures are ren- 

 dered fine and powdery, than where they are left in a cloddy 

 state. By applying manure thus, the whole strength of it is made 

 to contribute directly to the support of the crop, when it begins 

 to shoot. Another economical mode of employing manure for 

 land intended for oats, is by placing it in the drills formed for the 

 reception of different crops cultivated in rows, a»3 beans, cabbages, 

 potatoes, &c., by this method, that part of the ground which is 

 intended to bear the crop, is only manured, the intervals or spaces 



