156 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
pears to be the only alternative after roots.* But 
as it will not be advisable, as a common practice, 
to give up “bread stuff,” we must raise wheat or 
rye, and therefore corn. If, then, we confine our ro¬ 
tation to corn, wheat or rye, and the grasses, we 
drop “an important link in the chain of alterna¬ 
tion,” and thereby lose “ one of the best gifts which 
modern improvement has bestowed upon husband¬ 
ry,” root culture : and also introduce the un¬ 
advised plan of putting one crop in the ground soon 
after another of the same kind has been taken off. 
To obviate these difficulties the following rotation 
suggests itself: l,corn: 2, wheat, or lye : 8, grass : 
4, roots : 5, barley : 6, grass. There are two par¬ 
ticulars in this course upon which I wish to be bet¬ 
ter informed. Wheat and barley, I think, exhaust 
nearly the same kind of nourishment from the soil, 
or require the same specific food. If this is a fact, 
could there not be some other crop profitably sub¬ 
stituted for barley, which would not feed so extra¬ 
vagantly upon the elements which produce the 
“staff of human life?” 
In some parts of Jersey rye is sometimes sown 
among corn, early in the fall, and a good crop 
mostly reaped the following summer. But to put 
wheat in after corn it is necessary to cut up the 
corn and carry it off previous to ploughing the 
ground. The stumps are then to be disposed of. 
And withal, some seasons, the corn does not 
ripen timely to afford an opportunity of getting the 
wheat put in properly, in season. The question 
then arises whether this is not the place to profit by 
some of the “ powerful auxiliaries to the fold yard,” 
mentioned in the following extract from the Culti¬ 
vator. 
“ Green crops, that is, clover, buckwheat, rye, 
oats, &c. ploughed under as food for plants, are en¬ 
riching crops, and powerful auxiliaries to the fold 
yard, but they are too seldom resorted to for this 
purpose.” 
Buckwheat and oats would require to be sown so 
late in the season that the ground would necessarily 
be exposed a long time to the scorching influence 
of the sun. I therefore conclude it would not be 
advisable to depend upon either of them alone. The 
advantage resulting from ploughing under a good 
clover sod for wheat is too well understood to need 
much comment. But sown among corn immedi¬ 
ately after the last dressing it is rather too uncer¬ 
tain a dependence of itself for this purpose ; though 
I have seen it sown at this time when it mowed a 
tolerable swath the following summer. I have 
known rye sown among corn for sheep pasture dur¬ 
ing the winter and early spring, and then ploughed 
under. And I have heard it said that rye, when 
pastured, becomes, like some of the grasses, almost 
perennial. The question appears to be, whether it 
would not answer a good purpose to sow rye and clo¬ 
ver together, among corn, immediately after the last 
dressing, and pasture them during that fall and the 
following summer, and then plough them under for 
wheat ? Is it not likely that such a practice would 
be an advantage to the wheat crop, and ultimately 
to the farmer’s purse ? If there would be any ad¬ 
vantage in deferring the wheat crop a season after 
the corn is taken off, I would suggest the following 
course, desirous that any improvement may be point¬ 
ed out which may present: 1, corn, with long ma¬ 
nure upon the sod ; sowed with clover and rye dur¬ 
ing the summer : 2, pastured and sown with wheat: 
3, wheat, with grass seed ; orchard grass where clo¬ 
ver does not take well upon wheat after clover : 4, 
grass two years : 5, roots manured : 6, valuable 
substitute for barley, with grass seed : 7, grass one or 
two years. Poh ! says the farmer, that course will 
never answer for me ; I shall have to cut my fields 
all up into little bits. But, say I, the way to raise 
a good crop is to put in but little ground—do that 
well, and give it good attention afterwards. And 
we are thereby enabled to let such a length of time 
intervene between two crops, of the same kind, as 
to afford an opportunity for the elements which form 
the specific food for that crop to accumulate in such 
abundance in the soil as to induce a reasonable 
hope of an ample reward for our patience and pains. 
I have no doubt but that in a course similar to 
this, the quantity of animal food for winter, would 
be greatly increased—thereby a much heavier stock 
might be kept: and accordingly, a large increase 
in the quantity of manure, which is said to be “ the 
farmer’s wealth.” 
But the desideratum appears to be a valuable 
substitute for barley, which will not impoverish the 
soil for wheat, and which is not quite so much of 
an enemy to young clover as oats. If it is a sum¬ 
mer crop, to be fed in the fold yard, all the better 
for their land. M* # # 
* At the north, where the grain-worm prevails, spring 
wheat is generally sown instead of the winter varieties. This 
may follow any root crop. 
Benefit of Applying Plaster. 
Mr. J. Buel—T he beneficial effects of plaster 
on different varieties and species of vegetation are 
generally understood in expediting the germinating 
process, and in advancing the young and tender 
plant in its incipient growth ; but a development of 
its power and virtue, at different periods through¬ 
out the growing process, under a certain state and 
condition of the earth and atmosphere, has not been 
either sufficiently investigated or made public. 
During the excessive heat and drought which vi¬ 
sited this section of county, in common with many 
others surrounding, and in some instances detached 
portions as it respects the latter, our late summer 
crops, under ordinary circumstances, suffered se¬ 
verely ; the potato crop being quite light, and the 
corn crop short of an average yield. About four 
acres of corn, planted on the 10th of May, on a gra¬ 
velly soil in good condition, much of which, how¬ 
ever, had not a depth of more than ten or twelve 
inches, reposing on a slate rock. On the third week 
of the drought the leaves began to fold, and continued 
so until all hopes of a crop were at an end : most of 
it was in silk and setting. I sowed half of the piece 
most injured with plaster, broadcast, over the leaves, 
a bushel and a peck the acre, after sunset. The be¬ 
neficial effect derived from it was almost instanta¬ 
neous ; its attractive power in absorbing the mois¬ 
ture, and probably other fertilizing principles from 
the atmosphere, in three or four days restored its 
healthy appearance much; the other half of the 
field, more favored with a deep, rich soil, was ap¬ 
parently much less injured by the drought; the whole 
piece was plastered before it was hoed ; the half re¬ 
ceiving the second plastering turned out the greatest 
yield : the drought continued for ten days after the 
second plastering; a few rows on the margin, of a 
similar depth of soil and equally fertile, which was 
not plastered, produced not half as much. About 
an acre of potatoes, planted in the same field, and 
plastered broadcast at the same period with the 
corn, at least doubled the product. 
We all know that frequent experiments have been 
made on wheat, oats, corn and potatoes, at an ad¬ 
vanced growth of those products, by sowing plaster, 
broadcast, over their tops or leaves, Without any 
apparent beneficial effect. I have tried the experi¬ 
ment twice on potatoes and once on corn, without 
much success : the reason was obvious; the at¬ 
mosphere was warm, and the earth supplied with a 
sufficient quantity of moisture. 
The main and almost exclusive virtue in plaster 
is to keep up a moderate degree of warmth, and to 
supply, through the medium of the leaves, that 
moisture and fertilizing principle for the support, 
growth and maturing the grain, which the roots are 
incapable of affording and extracting from a parch¬ 
ed up earth, and the leaves and stalks from a dry, 
arid atmosphere. Such was the case in July and 
a part of August with us. Plaster acts very slow¬ 
ly, and almost imperceptibly, even in a drought, 
on argillaceous or clayey soils, until the succeeding 
year, when it develops its beneficial effects on clover 
and other grasses. Plaster does its duty most ef¬ 
fectually on all silicious compositions, on sandy, 
gravelly, and on all soils composed more or less of 
sand. 
On a hasty perusal, a few days since, of the last 
June number of the Cultivator, I observed a well 
written production on the subject of lime and plas¬ 
ter as manures, by William Penn Kinzer, of Lan¬ 
caster Co. Penn. It would require too much space 
in your useful journal to answer all his objections 
to the power and effect of plaster. I will answer a 
few of them as briefly as possible. Mr. Kinzer 
sowed a small portion of his wheat field with plaster 
in April, but derived no benefit from it : he says 
nothing on the subject of the state of the atmosphere 
or condition of the earth. Plaster affords but little 
benefit on a well conditioned calcareous soil, which 
he represents his to be, where a sufficient degree of 
warmth and moisture prevail, for it is only in their ab¬ 
sence that it acts efficiently, even on silicious com¬ 
positions. He found great benefit, however, from 
its use with lime. On that point he is unquestiona¬ 
bly correct. While the lime acts as a stimulus and 
fertilizer, neutralizing all the noxious and acidifying 
principles, and promoting their decomposition, the 
plaster attracts the requisite moisture for a full de¬ 
velopment of the power and influence of the lime. 
Thus positive assertions are sometimes made, con¬ 
demning in unequivocal terms the power and effect 
of an agent, without taking into consideration its 
peculiar nature or composition, deterring others 
unacquainted with its peculiarly specific and al¬ 
most exclusive properties, from a trial of its virtues, 
to the great injury of the public, as well as indi¬ 
vidual loss. I would refer the reader to Mr. Kin- 
zer’s observations on the subject. 
JOHN G. GEBHARD. 
Claverack, Sept. 21st, 1838. 
Live Fences of the Willow. 
White-Hall, Va. 27 th Sept. 1838. 
Judge Buel —Dear Sir—I do not recollect to 
have seen any thing said in regard to live fences 
made out of yellow willow : if any thing in the 
following is worthy your notice, or likely to be of 
advantage to the numerous readers of your excellent 
paper you may use it to the best advantage. In our 
region, say the counties of Frederick, Clark, War¬ 
ren, Page and Shenandoah, there are many miles of 
live fence, especially upon the banks of the North 
and South branches of the Potomack river, made of 
the branches of the yellow willow. In the month of 
March they are cut down and trimmed with an axe, 
say eight or nine feet long, so that cattle cannot well 
reach the tops and trim them, in which case they 
do not live well : however they are planted at most 
all seasons of the year, though the spring is prefe¬ 
rable ; all sizes are planted, as near the edge of the 
water as possible, in the spring: at other seasons, 
when the waters are low, we do not plant so close. 
About the size of a man’s wrist is the best size to 
live well, but they are often much larger, as well as 
smaller, and do well: they are generally planted 
three or four feet apart, the large end of the limb, 
branch or plant being cut sharp, ready to force in 
the ground, which is done by means of a Jackson, 
(as some call it,) made of tough oak, gum or lo¬ 
cust, to drive in the ground, say eig’hteen inches or 
two feet: this Jackson, as it is called, has a pin 
through the top, an inch and a fourth or half thick, 
to draw the Jackson, and an iron socket at the bot¬ 
tom. It is best, perhaps, to have several sizes to 
suit the limbs. After the Jackson has been drawn, 
the plants pushed down in the hole firm, two or 
three hands will make a long string of fence in a 
day by having two good mauls : the hole is made 
in less than a minute. After the willows are set it 
is best to plat in brush of some kind ; if you do not, 
and water should get high soon after planting, they 
will not stand so well; and another advantage in 
platting in brush is, sediment and trash settle in be¬ 
hind the willows, make them stand firm, and grow 
more rapidly. However, some few plant and leave 
them several years, then cut off the tops and plat 
the fence, which is not a good plan. A live fence 
in this way is ready for use as soon as it is platted. 
We have taken a great many rails and fire wood off 
of those fences when they get ten or a dozen years 
old, the growth on water is so quick. 
I remain, dear sir, your most obed’t servant, 
SAM’L M. SPINGLES. 
Siberian vs. Italian Spring Wheat. 
Utica, September 25, 1838. 
My Dear Sir —The interest which I feel in re¬ 
lation to agriculture has not abated; nor have I 
suffered my attention to, or observations upon, the 
wheat crop to be arrested or diverted by the ill- 
natured remarks which have been elicited from in¬ 
dividuals in Oneida county, where so much Italian 
seed wheat has been sold. I last year gave the 
public my experience in regard to the Siberian va¬ 
riety of spring wheat; and I further did that which 
was not only my privilege but my duty to do, in 
comparing my own Siberian with the Italian which 
was cultivated on three farms adjoining my own; 
which were all the pieces of the kind within my 
knowledge. Whenever public feeling is to be 
awakened to this or to any other important object, 
it is to be expected that the more sordid and bub¬ 
bling passions will foam over first; but you may 
rest assured, sir, that more rational feelings, with 
operative effects, have also been excited : in com¬ 
mon with may others I have myself been induced to 
test the comparative merits of the two varieties. I 
took much pains to obtain from Rome a fine sam¬ 
ple of Italian seed, which, with my own Siberian, I 
subjected to the following culture : 
I had two pieces of ground, of what I consider¬ 
ed equal quality as to soil and adaptation to wheat— 
the one was last year cultivated to peas, with about 
twenty loads of manure (recent) to the acre ; the 
other was in Siberian wheat, after corn, without 
manure—the pea ground I considered of the best 
promise. I concluded to give this lot to the Italian 
wheat, and give the Siberian the trifling advantage 
of sowing first as to time upon the other—-thus with 
the like preparation on both, of ground and seed, 
the two kinds were sowed the first week in May : 
both grew well—the Siberian was first fit for har¬ 
vesting—both cut and secured in fine weather—the 
straw of the Siberian bright and silvery, and berry 
plump and full—the straw of the Italian lacked lus¬ 
tre and was somewhat rusty, insomuch that the ker¬ 
nel was so shrunk that it will injure both its sale and 
its price in market. 
In my former communication I claimed for the 
Siberian variety of spring wheat its ability to with¬ 
stand both rust and smut, to a greater degree than 
any other kind with which I was acquainted. My 
