198 



THE WHEAT CULTUHIST. 



may be at first, it will in time deteriorate under such 

 usage. Clo\^er and plaster are the principal fertilizers 

 on most wheat farms. When their nse is continued for 

 a series of years, the farmers begin to complain that 

 their land is ' clover-sick ' or ' plaster-sick ; ' that it 

 will not give profitable returns. Land so treated will 

 inevitably give out. It is every year deprived of many 

 of its most valuable constituents in the crops of wheat 

 which are taken off — constituents which are by no means 

 fully returned in the fertilizers, clover and plaster. 

 That our lands are losing their fertility, we see in the fact 

 that they now produce less per acre than the naturally 

 poorer soil of the Eastern States ; for in those States 

 such an exhausting system of cropping is not pursued. 



I^ow by giving to wheat no more than its due share 

 of attention, by keeping a large portion of land in 

 meadow, and pasture, and root crops, and feeding the pro- 

 duce to animals either for the dairy or the shambles, farm- 

 ers will surely reap as large immediate retm'ns as when 

 wheat is the main crop — and we believe much larger — 

 and can, by aid of the large amount of manure which 

 they will manufacture, keep their land in excellent con- 

 dition." 



This is the key note to successful wheat-growing all 

 over the world — ^raising stock, making beef, mutton, or 

 pork, and applying rich manure to the soil. The sooner 

 farmers become so thoroughly con vine 3d of this fact, 

 the better it will be for their pockets, for the land, and 

 for the whole country. It is exceedingly unfortunate to 

 our country, that our valuable wheat fields, all over the 

 land, are depleted and almost ruined by a bad system 

 of farm management. Our successors will feel this slack 

 cultivation. 



