1878. J 
'AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
255 
Talks on Farm Crops—Mo, 17. 
By the Author of “ Walks and Talks on the Farm," 
“Harris on the Pig," etc. 
The Doctor used to he a great advocate tor hoe¬ 
ing early in the morning. A neighbor of his, a 
German gardener, was quite celebrated for raising 
large crops of cabbage, and the Doctor thought it 
was because he hoed while the dew was on, and he 
used to tell me this because he wanted me to rise 
earlier. All 1 can say is, that if anybody wants to 
hoe cabbages before sunrise, I have no objection. 
But I do not believe that the small amount of wa¬ 
ter they secure in this way is of much beuefit to 
the plants. The hoeing, especially deep hoeing, is 
good, but the thorough use of a horse cultivator is 
better. And I do not see any special advantage in 
working horses before breakfast. If men and 
horses get a good night’s rest, and are in the field 
by half-past six, prepared to do a good day’s work, 
it is all I ask. If they are half an hour later in the 
stable, provided the time was spent in cleaning the 
horses, I should not object. And so at noon and 
night. I would rather the horses were thoroughly 
cleaned, their shoulders washed, the collars ex¬ 
amined, and everything made neat and comforta¬ 
ble, than to have the men keep at work until after 
sundown. Men and horses that work early and 
late, are apt to loiter during the day. Fewer hours 
and livelier and more energetic work will be one of 
the features of our coming agriculture. I like to 
see a man work when he works. 
“Never mind all that,” said the Deacon. “I 
think you will admit that it is a good thing to stir 
the ground when the dew is on.” 
“Certainly,” said I, “and it is a good thing to 
stir the ground when the dew is not on. Or rather, 
it is a good thing to cultivate and hoe and kill 
weeds. The weeds on many an acre of potatoes and 
corn pump up more water from the soil every day 
than all the hoeing you could do night and morn¬ 
ing to coverup dew, would furnish in a month. The 
fact is, the water from a slight shower, or from the 
heaviest dews, rarely reaches the roots of plants.” 
“ You need not tell me,” said the Deacon, “ that 
the dews and showers are of no benefit to the crops.” 
“ No one doubts it,” said the Doctor. “ The 
dews and slight showers check evaporation. To a 
certain extent they give the plants rest. During a 
hot day, we all know that the leaves ofocorn curl 
up. The evaporation of water from the plants is 
greater than the roots can take up. But during 
the night, evaporation is checked, and the roots 
keep pumping up water .from the soil, and in the 
morning the plants are full of sap. Probably the 
main reason why plaster is so beneficial to clover, 
is due to the fact that it checks evaporation.” 
“That is a new idea tome,” said the Deacon. 
“ We all know that plastered clover is full of sap 
in a morning, and the dew lies on it longer. I sup¬ 
posed the plaster attracted moisture from the air.” 
“Not it,” said the Doctor. “It has no such 
power. But it has been proved that if you have 
two plants growing in vessels of water, and you put 
plaster in one and leave it out of the other, the one 
with the plaster will evaporate less water than the 
other. It is a very remarkable fact, and throws 
new light on the action of plaster as a fertilizer.” 
“It shows,” said I, “ that plaster is likely to be 
of far greater benefit on rich land than on poor 
land. And I think experience shows that the bet¬ 
ter we farm, and the drier the season, the more 
good do we get from the use of plaster on corn, 
peas, potatoes, and clover.” 
“I thought you would say that,” remarked the 
Deacon. “ You seem to have no faith in anything 
except draining, killing weeds, and making manure. 
And I will say this for you, that your underdraining 
has given you this spring a great advantage over 
those of us whose land is not drained. I have rare¬ 
ly known the land so wet.” 
“ Why, then,” said the Doctor, “ do you not go 
to work and underdrain ? The mere advantage of 
being able to plow a week or ten days earlier will 
more than compensate for the labor and expense 
of draining the land. Farmers cannot keep ug 
with the discoveries of the age, and avail them¬ 
selves of the wonderful benefits to be derived from 
the use of artificial fertilizers, unless they drain 
the land wherever drainage is needed.” 
“ Good,’ ’ said I, “ that is pre-eminently true ; and 
it is also true that artificial fertilizers do very little 
good unless we secure good tilth. And it is impos¬ 
sible to secure good tilth if the land is not drained 
either naturally or artificially. When tho land is 
drained, we are prepared to go ahead with our im¬ 
provements. Our cold winters and hot summers 
give us great advantages.” 
“I would like to know how,” said the Deacon. 
“The winters are long,” said I, “ and this gives 
us time to make preparation for the busy season. 
The summer is hot and dry, and this gives us a 
grand chance to kill weeds. The autumn is long, 
and this gives us time to prepare for the sharp 
work of our late and short spring. But all this re¬ 
quires great promptness and energy, and no little 
forethought, and good judgment. There is one 
thing I am thoroughly convinced of—we must 
get our land ready for spring crops the summer 
and autumn previous.” 
“ I do not believe in summer-fallowing,”’ said 
the Doctor. “And you yourself, though you ad¬ 
vocate the practice, seldom adopt it.” 
“All the worse for me,” said I; “I have fre¬ 
quently sown land to oats or barley when it would 
have been far better for me to have summer-fal¬ 
lowed the land. I do not say the two crops, barley 
and wheat, will not bring in more money than one 
crop of wheat after a summer-fallow. But look at 
the difference in the condition of the land ! Look 
at the clover after a good summer-fallow on strong, 
dry land, especially if you have used lime. But if 
we can not afford to summer-fallow, we can afford 
to fall-fallow. I have plowed some of my land 
three times this spring for mangel-wurzel. If I had 
plowed it twice last autumn, one plowing this 
spring would have made it in better condition.” 
“ Yes,” said Charley, “ and the land that is 
plowed early in the fall, and well worked, turns up 
well in the spring, and is fine and mellow.” 
“ Of course,” said I, “ much depends on the na¬ 
ture of the soil. It would be absurd to plow light, 
sandy, or mucky land as often as clayey land. The 
sandy-land farmer has many advantages over the 
heavy-land farmer. And this is particularly the 
case since the introduction of good artificial fer¬ 
tilizers at reasonable prices. 1 have both kinds of 
land on almost every field on my farm. It is some¬ 
thing of a nuisance. The sandy knolls require 
more manure, and the clayey intervals more and 
better tillage. By a little planning, you can plow 
the heavy portions of the field in the fall, say in 
September, while the sandy portions can remain in 
grass and be pastured. Put three horses on to the 
plow, and turn the sod over, and then roll the land.” 
“I have thought,” said Charley, “that I was 
pretty good at working and cultivating land, but 
every time I visit one of our nurserymen or market 
gardeners, 1 come home feeling that we have 
much to learn and still more to practice. ‘ Com¬ 
paring ourselves with ourselves is not wise.’ We 
certainly cultivate our corn and potatoes more thor- 
ougly than people did twenty years ago. We have 
better cultivators, and use them more frequently. 
But still, as compared with our nurserymen, mar¬ 
ket-gardeners, seed-growers, and even with our 
best farmers, most of us are still clod-hoppers ! 
We must wake up. We must have more faith in 
ourselves and in the soil. We must indulge in the 
luxury of thorough cultivation. We must have 
fewer clods to hop, and less weeds to hoe. We 
can farm better, and more profitably, if we only 
make up our minds to keep ahead of our work.” 
“ Which sounds very fine,” said the Deacon, “ but 
how are you going to do it ? ” 
“ I can tell you, Deacon,” said the Doctor, “how 
you can do it. Hire an extra man, and never let 
your horses be idle. Keep them cultivating, plow¬ 
ing, harrowing, and working the land whenever you 
have opportunity. Give your corn a good horse- 
hoeing each way, once a week, all through July. 
Cultivate the potatoes as long as it is safe to do so. 
Do not sow corn-fodder broadcast, but drill it in 
rows wide enough apart to admit the use of the 
horse-hoe. The benefit will more than pay for the 
labor, and the appearance of the land after the crop 
is harvested will be almost certain to induce you to 
adopt a better general system of farming. As soon 
as a crop is off the land, plow it. No matter how 
clean it is, plow it. No matter how foul it is, plow 
it. You will find no lack of work for your teams. 
I go about the country a good deal, and while I 
sympathize with a man who is poor and behind 
hand with his work from lack of means, I have lit¬ 
tle respect for a well-to-do farmer who digs his 
potatoes in August and lets the vines lie scattered 
all over the lots until the next spring. It has a 
slovenly appearance. It is bad taste and bad farm¬ 
ing. Why put off until spring any work that can 
be done to far greater advantage now ? ” 
“ If I did plow my laud after digging potatoes,” 
6aid the Deacon, “ I would sow it to rye, and plow 
it under for manure next spring.” 
“Very well,” said the Doctor; “I have no ob¬ 
jection. Do what you like. Only do not let the 
land and the horses lie idle.” 
“If I plow the land,” said the Deacon, “and 
sow nothing until spring, does it not lie idle?” 
“Not a bit,” said the Doctor. “It lies idle if 
you don’t plow it. A -weedy corn-stubble, or a 
potato field, left as though the hens bad been 
scratching the potatoes out of the hills, has an idle 
loaferisli look. But plow it, and make it neat and 
clean, and it looks as though it was up and dressed 
and ready for business ! ” 
Lean Cattle for Europe. 
Good news for American stock-breeders is the 
demand for live cattle by German and English farm¬ 
ers. Recently a ship-load of Western cattle were 
landed in Tunning, to be fattened on the rich pas¬ 
tures of Schleswig-Holstein. Relative prices of 
young stock there and in this country warrant the 
importation of these young lean cattle for the pur¬ 
pose. This cargo, numbering 323 head, 15 horses, 
and 46 swine, besides some fat cattle, horses, and 
swine for England, were purchased at Chicago, % and 
were so well received by the German farmers that 
the vessel was at once sent back for another lot. 
“The ship arrived in the harbor under salutes of 
cannon and a display of flags, and hundreds of 
people lined the quay.” There is also quite a de¬ 
mand in England for lean cattle and hogs for fat¬ 
ting ; and in the embargo against the importation 
of live cattle at English ports, an exception is made 
in favor of those from America. This, together 
with the increasing call for finely bred stock from 
this country for Europe, argues well for our agri¬ 
cultural interests. The more our attention is paid 
to stock-farming, instead of such exclusive grain 
and other crop production, the better will it be for 
our farming. English agriculture dates its present 
advanced position from the beginning of heavy 
stocking of its farms and generous feeding, which 
added largely to the fertility of the soil, and caus¬ 
ed a consequent increase in the yield of crops. 
-----M O B—-- -. 
Wool and Mutton. 
Wool is low ; and wool producers look in vain for 
any hopeful sign of returning high prices. Threat¬ 
ened changes in the tariff cause uncertainty; which 
inevitably acts unfavorably upon the production of 
an important staple like wool. But with or without 
a tariff, we have no fear that wool can not be profita¬ 
bly produced in this country. We have an enormous 
business in manufacturing woollen goods, which 
must be supplied with home grown materia). Not 
many months ago we gave some facts in this regard 
whch have been widely republished by other journals 
and which will still be fresh in the memory of our 
readers. Those facts showed conclusively that, no 
kind of wool we could produce could go a begging 
for a market while the people needed carpets, blank¬ 
ets, and woollen clothing. We shall probably have to 
wait many years before seeing wool sell at a dollar 
a pound; perhaps it may never bring that figure 
again. But as a rule a sheep pays its expenses with 
its wool, and gives us a lamb as profit under the 
worst of circumstances. This ought to be satisfac- 
