THE WHEAT CL^LTTIKIST. 



171 



"Deep plonghing and clover, with its long tap-roots and 

 numerous leaves, are admirably adapted to renovate a 

 poor soil. 



In most of the wheat-growing districts, the rotation 

 is limited to wheat and clover as a general rule — two sea- 

 sons in clover and one in wheat. Sheep and horses eat 

 most of the clover. In soils where lime and gypsum do 

 not abound, they are applied, in greater or less quantities, 

 to suit the particular case or views of the owner of the 

 land. Mr. Elisha Harmon, of Wheatland, a large and 

 excellent farmer, has one field that has borne a good 

 crop of wheat every other year for fifteen years, without 

 any diminution of the biennial yield. The alternating 

 crop is clover. Wheatland, according to the late census, 

 yields considerably more wheat per acre than any other 

 town in the State. It is nearly covered with plaster 

 beds, and its lime rock and soil abound in organic re- 

 mains. These skeletons contain more or less of the 

 elements necessary to form new plants and animals. 

 There can be little doubt that if we should give to a 

 field all the constituents of the crop we wished to grow, 

 in a soluble form, and in due proportion, we might ob- 

 tain a large yield every year of any plant. Where the 

 elements of wheat are abundant, it is believed that they 

 might be organized every year on one field, as well as 

 every second or third year. 



" The wheat plant contains lime, soda, and chlorine. 

 Soda and chlorine form common salt, which, like the 

 salts of lime and potash, are quite soluble, and liable to 

 be washed out of cultivated soils. The frequent appli- 

 cation, in small doses, of these constituents of wheat to 

 wheat fields, must be advantageous, irrespective of rust. 

 It is believed that the production of a hright^ harcl^ and 



