1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
903 
ed the remainder from the air and moisture. 
They are stored with fertilizing material, and if 
cut and worked over by the pigs in the pen, or 
made into a heap with muck and lime added, 
will swell the store of grain and grass-making 
substances. The slops and' refuse from an or¬ 
dinary family, if properly economized, will furn¬ 
ish nearly or quite good manure enough to 
nourish the vegetables they consume. Usually 
these are worse than wasted by being thrown in¬ 
to some corner, where weeds grow rampant on 
the valuable deposit. Then there are the privies, 
the contents of which, if utilized by mixing 
with muck, or common soil, might add vigor to 
the growth of garden and field, but which com¬ 
monly make their locality only a nuisance. 
Many swamps which are inaccessible at other 
seasons, can now be entered, to draw from them 
the accumulation of vegetable matter which 
has been gathering for many years. This only 
needs properly working over, to take a new 
form in grass, grain, fruit, vegetables, in short 
any^ desirable product on the farm. Cheap 
hands, such as could not profitably work at 
cultivating, can be hired to dig muck and throw 
it into heaps, to be acted on by the elements, 
and afterward used to increase the compost 
heap. All these sources should be turned to 
account during the Summer, even if extra help 
be required to accomplish it. If the Agriculturist 
should do no more than induce cultivators to 
turn their attention to the available supplies of 
manure and their proper application to crops, 
it would accomplish enough to many times 
repay its cost to the community. 
Buckwheat versus Summer Fallow. 
Summer fallowing, that is, plowing land 
in Summer and allowing it to lie unoccupied 
until sowing with winter grain, is practised by 
many for the alleged reason that it rests the land, 
and gives it heart for the next crop. It is 
enough to say on this point that land does not 
tire of producing. It needs only plant-making 
material enough in its substance, to continue to 
yield abundant and increasing crops. It is not 
required that an amount of manure be restored 
to the soil equal to the amount of produce re¬ 
moved, for a large portion of the substance of 
plants is derived from air and water. For this 
reason there is positive gain in allowing growth 
upon a field, if all the vegetable matter produced 
be returned to the soil. Summer fallowing 
is therefore, in one respect, prejudicial to the fer¬ 
tility of laud. It may, however, secure other im¬ 
portant advantages. It makes the soil mellow, 
and brings it into good condition for the recep¬ 
tion of the fall-sown grain, and if properly per¬ 
formed, secures the destruction of many weeds, 
by exposing their roots to summer heat. But 
these ends can be equally well attained while 
raising a profitable crop of buckwheat. Pro¬ 
vision should of course be made to feed the crop, 
if the grain is to be harvested. A moderate 
dressing of manure will be sufficient on land 
already in good heart. If there be not enough 
barn-yard manure, apply a good dressing of 
bone-dust or Peruvian guano. Plow early in 
July, Which will eradicate most of the weeds, 
harrow thoroughly, and sow about three pecks 
of seed per acre. In a favorable season, the 
rapid growth of buckwheat will smother nearly 
all the weeds that have survived the prepara¬ 
tion of the ground. In Autumn the crop may 
be harvested in ample time to prepare the 
soil for wheat or rye, the sods will all be 
well rotted, and the land in as good condition 
after plowing as though it had rested during the 
Summer, while in an ordinary season, there will 
be 20 to 25 bushels of buckwheat per acre 
on the credit side of the account This grain 
will also well fill the vacancy which may have 
been left by a corn crop failing through unfa¬ 
vorable weather or other causes in Spring. 
Buckwheat is always marketable. During the 
present and prospective high prices of oats, it 
will not come amiss for grinding and feeding 
to stock, and a liberal quantity for consumption 
in the house is always a welcome addition to the 
staple winter provisions. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Shall the Clover be Plowed Under? 
There it lies, a splendid field of clover, in full 
blossom, musical with the voices of myriad bees, 
and perfuming the morning air with its fra¬ 
grance. It is altogether too handsome to be put 
under the dirt. You might go miles to find so 
fair a sight, even in a flower garden. And then 
if it were not, what thrifty farmer can afford to 
manure his field at such a cost ? There is not 
less than three tons of cured hay to the acre, 
worth at least ten dollars the ton standing, to 
say nothing of the after feed which must be sac¬ 
rificed to manure. Can a man afford to give 
thirty dollars an acre for manure ? Mr, Penny¬ 
wise hesitates, and thinks it is paying too dear 
for that whistle. He can get his manure cheaper. 
But can he ? Let us look at it a little. What 
has the clover actually cost him ? The seed, 
say one dollar per acre, the extra labor of sow¬ 
ing, and the interest upon the value of the land. 
As the seed was sown with oats or barley, or 
some other grain crop, we do not count the la¬ 
bor of getting it in. It has not cost him five 
dollars an acre, even if the land is worth sixty 
dollars. In the green state there are probably 
eight or ten tons of vegetable matter, equiva¬ 
lent to a heavy manuring with stable manure, 
that would cost thirty dollars per acre, reckon¬ 
ing the manure at two dollars a cord, and the 
carting at common prices. 
The clover is just where you want it, and if 
turned in, will be more evenly distributed than 
any stable manure can be by the most labori¬ 
ous process. There is hardly an inch square of 
the whole sod that will not feel the effects of 
the decomposing matter. There is no expense 
for carting, for spreading, or harrowing. Then 
it is to be considered that it is not simply so 
much vegetable matter added to the soil, but 
added to it in a succulent state, in which it will 
be rapidly decomposed and changed into plant 
food. Green crops, turned under in the early 
Summer, affect the soil with which they come 
in contact in some way that we do not fully un¬ 
derstand. Possibly the acids released act upon 
the mineral portions of the soil, and form new 
compounds that are immediately available for 
the food of plants. This seems to be necessary 
to account for the beneficial effects of plowing 
in at this season, rather than in the Fall, when 
the fibre of the grass is harder or partially dried. 
Experience shows that the crop has by far the 
best effect when it is turned under in the green 
state, and in warm weather. It goes through a 
very rapid fermentation, and in some manner 
changes the character of a good deal of soil 
with which it comes in contact. 
If a farmer had all the manure he wanted, and 
his fields all lay close to the barn-yard, it might 
not be economical to turn in green crops, and 
especially clover which is so valuable for fod- 
I der both green and cured. But few farmers 
have as much manure as they can use to good 
advantage, especially in the older States." Some 
of the fields lie at a distance from the barn, and 
the expense of getting the manure on to the 
ground is greater than the cost of making the 
manure. And even if manure were plenty, it 
is a good plan to have a place in the rotation, 
where a green crop is turned in. It does a 
good work for the soil, that can be accomplish¬ 
ed by no other method so economically. It 
makes a splendid seed bed, and prepares the 
ground for winter grain in the best manner. 
It seems a great waste to spoil so much good 
food for beasts, but it is in keeping with the 
economy of husbandry. It seems a great waste 
to put eight or ten bushels of potatoes in the 
soil to get a crop; but they come back again 
many fold. That which we sow “ is not quick¬ 
ened except it die.” The seeming losses of the 
farm are often our largest gains! If we are 
charmed with the blossoms and the murmur of 
the bees, better close our eyes and stop our 
ears, and let the plow do its work. New life 
and vigor will be imparted to the soil, and there 
will come up out of the grave of our buried 
hopes, a glorious resurrection—fields of tasseled 
corn or golden wheat to make glad the heart of 
the husbandman. Connecticut. 
Sheep as Fertilizers. 
John E. Travel - , of Dutchess County, N. Y., 
writes to the American Agriculturist: “ I keep 
a flock of thirty sheep which have had the 
range of an eight acre lot. The soil of this 
was thin, as it was situated at some distance 
from the barn-yard, and had received no manure 
from that source. In the Summer of 1858 the 
dogs got among my sheep and frightened them 
so they would not go on the back side of the 
lot, unless it was to feed for a short time, and 
they lay wholly on the one side of the field. I 
planted it with corn after it had lain two years. 
The side of the lot where the sheep had rested, 
gave a good yield, and the worms did not trouble 
it throughout the season. Where the sheep did 
not lay, but only fed, the worms made sad hav¬ 
oc, and the corn was poor. The oat crop fol¬ 
lowing showed the same difference. On the 
rye I did not see so much inequality. My opin¬ 
ion is that if we keep more sheep, our crops 
will not be so much infested with worms. 
Tanning Skins of Animals. 
“D,” of Jackson Co., Ill., writes to the Agri- 
culturist: “ Old hunters here tan hides and skins 
of all kinds with brains .—A new use for brains, 
you may say—but a better use than some brains 
have been put to, for a year or two past, at least. 
If the hair, wool or fur, is to be retained in the 
skin, it is simply soaked in warm water and the 
fleshy part rubbed off with a knife, the skin be¬ 
ing stretched over a half round block for con¬ 
venience. It is then soaked a short time in a 
little water in which the brain of some animal 
is dissolved; then taken out and pulled and 
stretched every way until dry. It will then be 
soft, pliable, and not liable to beconie hard on 
being wet and drying again. If I remember 
rightly, the lime process is adopted to get rid of 
the hair or wool, after which the skin is very 
thoroughly washed to ge-t all the lime out of it, 
and then manipulated with the brain water.” 
Question for the N. Y. Farmers’ Club.— 
Will wheat blast more easily for being drilled 9 
