106 
WORK FOR APRIL, NORTH AND WEST. 
gardens, fruit garden, flower garden, orchard, pleas 
ure orounds, and the allotment, or classification of 
spring crops, may still be performed agreeably to 
our directions for March. 
Plowing and Pulverizing Ground for Spring 
Crops. — All grounds not already prepared for spring 
crops, that have become sufficiently dry, may now 
be properly and deeply plowed, leaving no balks, 
and laying the furrow slices flat. We emphasize 
the word " deeply," implying that deep .cultivation 
is indispensable, if we wish to develope the full 
capability of the soil ; and that, under equal cir- 
cumstances, the land, (very loose, sandy, soils ex- 
cepted,) which is subsoiled, whether by plow, fork, 
or spade, will always produce the largest crops, 
since it is well known that the complete airing of 
the soil, from a depth of 12 to 20 inches, greatly 
facilitates those chemical changes which have been 
proved to be essentially requisite in promoting the 
healthy growth of plants. The subsoiling of hard 
or gravelly soils should be commenced as early as 
the season will permit, first by opening the furrow 
as deeply as possible with a common four-horse 
plow, and then following with the subsoil plow, 
drawn by four or six horses, by which means the 
ground will thoroughly be broken up, and shat- 
tered to a depth of 14 to 20 inches. The opera- 
tion will be slow, to be sure, as not more than three 
fourths of an acre can be plowed in a day, and the 
wear and tear of tackle and teams will be great ; 
but all this will be counterbalanced by the saving 
of labor and the increase of future crops; and be- 
sides, every description of subsequent culture will 
easily be effected more cheaply in a loose soil, 
than in one that is hard, like a turnpike road. 
In harrowing newly-plowed sod, it is better to 
commence at the " dead furrow," in the middle of 
the land, running lengthwise of the furrow, in di- 
verging curves from the centre, and lapping the 
harrow at least one half. By this method, it will 
be found that, instead of tearing up the sod, it will 
smooth down the furrow slice, afford the team a 
better surface to walk upon, require less power, 
and in the end, more effectually perform the work. 
Application of Manures, Sowing, Efc. — In order 
to keep your land in good condition, with the ex- 
ception of those newly-cleared, and rich " bottoms," 
or "intervals," you must add as much vegetable 
matter and chemical salts, in the form of fertilizers, 
as you carry off. If youT land yield you large 
crops, you ought as liberally to furnish it with ma- 
nure. Remember that you cannot constantly take 
out of the land, and add nothing, without impov- 
erishing it ; but you can add enough to supply all 
you carry off, and yet, in most cases, farm your land 
profitably. 
In the application of manures, choice should be 
made of those only which contribute to the nour- 
ishment and perfect growth of the particular kinds 
of plants you cultivate, having reference, at the 
same time, to an immediate and a continued effect 
on the crops in rotation. As a general rule, com- 
mon barnyard manure and guano, with occasional 
amendments by green-sand or potash marl, wood or 
vegetable ashes, coal ashes, soot, saltpetre and the 
refuse of powder mills, nitrate of soda, silicate of 
potash, common salt, ammoniacal liquor from the 
gas works, blood, urine and the offal of animals, fish, 
bristles, hair, wool, woollen rags and the refuse of 
woollen factories, burnt horn piths, bone dust, 
horn shavings, poudrette, lime, plaster of Paris, road 
scrapings and street manure, old mortar, brick dust, 
burnt clay, shell or coral sand, seaweed, marsh or 
pond muck, weeds, leaves and leaf mold, peat, 
charcoal dust, oil cake, cotton seed, green clover, 
buckwheat, vines of the cow pea, &c, will serve 
for almost every cultivated plant. Among these 
substances, plaster, charcoal dust, and potash marl, 
used in connexion with guano, — or, plaster, char- 
coal, bone dust, oyster-shell lime, and coral sand, 
applied in connexion with farmyard dung, will af- 
ford, perhaps, the most economical and best guar- 
antee for a fair average return from a rotation of 
crops. 
Guano and farmyard or stable manure, it applied 
alone before planting or sowing, should be plowed 
under to a depth of four to six inches, or they may 
be scattered and covered with earth in hills- or drills. 
The same rule will also apply to the offal of animals, 
fish, hair, bristles, wool, woollen rags, horn shavings, 
horn piths, oil cake, cotton seed, weeds, and green 
crops. Lime, plaster, marl, coal ashes, charcoal dust, 
soot, old mortar, brick dust, burnt clay, coral sand, 
street manure, common salt, nitrate of soda, silicate of 
potash, bone dust, phosphate of lime, saltpetre, 
and the refuse of powder manufactories may be 
spread broadcast on the surface and harrowed in at 
the time of sowing the seed. The other fertilizers, 
as named above, may be employed in composts for 
top-dressings, or otherwise ; and some of them may 
be used in a liquid state, after the plants to which 
they are to be applied have made some progress in 
their growth. This subject "will be resumed from, 
month to month, as often as the season and cir- 
cumstances may require. ; 
All those who were not able to sow their oats 
last month, from the nature of the season, or cli- 
mate, should lose no time in getting them in as 
early as possible. In the order of rotation, where 
the land is in good tilth, they may follow clover, 
flax, turnips, carrots, potatoes, wheat, rye, barley, 
peas, or Indian corn, without the addition of ma- 
nure. But where the land is poor, there will be an 
increased yield by sowing each acre, broadcast, with 
1 bushel of plaster, 5 bushels of wood ashes or 
the same quantity of oyster-shell lime, thorougly 
mixed with the seed. From 2 to 4 bushels of oats 
are sufficient to sow an acre ; which should he well 
harrowed in and rolled. 
Barley, also, should be sown as early this month 
as possible, at the rate of 2 to 4 bushels per acre. 
If intended to lay the field down to grass, there 
may be mixed with it 12 lbs. of clover seed, or 1 
peck of Timothy, or 2 bushels of orchard grass 
seed per acre. In the order of rotation, barley may 
succeed wheat, oats, or a clover ley, on land in good 
condition, or a well-manured and cleanly-hoed crop 
of turnips, carrots, or Indian corn; but barnyard 
manures should never be applied directly to this 
grain, unless it be a light top-dressing of compost 
on different soils, or in moderate quantity after the 
plants are somewhat advanced in their growth. 
Spring wheat may still be sown, but the earlier 
this is done the better. If your land has long been 
under cultivation and is in good tilth, the wheat, in 
rotation, may follow clover, flax, potatoes, turnips, 
