Jarm (Enraomjr, 
A SUMMER FALLOW. 
DR. JOnN BENNET LA WES, OF ROTHAMSTED, 
ENGLAND. 
To restore the fertility of a soil by means of 
rest is a very old operation. A soil exhausted 
by the removal of crops is said to recover its 
fertility by means of a summer fallow. In 
some localities two or three plowings during 
the summer months and the absence of a crop, 
constitute a fallow, while iu others the applica¬ 
tion of a dressing of caustic lime is added. In 
either case the soil is capable of growing a 
larger crop of grain at the expiration of the 
fallow than it was previously, or, in other 
words, the fertility of the soil is restored. 
Several explanations of the action of the fallow 
and of the lime application have been given ; 
but the general supposition has been, that 
silicate and alkalies are liberated from the 
soil, while fertilizing properties are absorbed 
from the atmosphere. 
A summer fallow has been subject to experi¬ 
ment at Rotbamsted, where, about 28 years 
ago, two half acres of land, side by side, were 
placed under alternate wheat and fallow, both 
being plowed iu the autumn; but while one- 
half was sowu with wheat, the other was left 
without a crop aud again plowed two or three 
times duriug the summer. In the autumn this 
part was sown with wheat, and the jiortion 
which had grown a crop was fallowed : we had 
therefore half an acre in wheat and half an 
acre in fallow every year, and no manure what¬ 
ever w'as auplied to the laud. 
Iu the adjoining field, wheat has been grown 
on the same plot of laud every year for the 
same period (28 yeurs) and some years pre¬ 
viously, also without manure. For a number 
of years the yield of the two experiments was 
equal, that is to say, assuming that the land in 
permanent wheat yielded 14 bushels per acre 
every year, the half acre of the fallow land 
in wheat yielded 14 bushels, or at the rate of 
28 bushels per ucre ; the conclusion therefore 
uppearedto be that, whether the laud was sown 
with wheat every year, or every alternate year 
with a fallow" intervening, the produce would 
be the same. This, however, has not been the 
result, for of late years a change has taken 
place in the relatiou of the produce of the 
wheat on the fallow ground, as compared with 
the crop on the continuous wheat land, in a 
direction which probably few' would have ex¬ 
pected; for, although the produce of the wheat 
grown on the same land year after year has 
declined to some extent, the produce, upon the 
alternate fallow and wheat land has declined 
much luster, the yield of the half acre of wheat 
after fallow being very much less than that of 
the acre growiug continuous wheat. 
The probable explanation of this somewhat 
remarkable fact is based upon scientific inves¬ 
tigations of recent times, quite independent of 
agriculture; but of great importance to it as 
enabling us to explain some of its processes. 
A little more than ten years ago Muller, a Ger- 
mau chemist, suggested that nitrification was 
due to the action of a ferment Schlosiug 
further proved that in the absence of such 
ferment, or by the destruction of it when pre¬ 
sent, nitrification did not take place. In my 
laboratory, Mr. Warrington has confirmed these 
results, and in a paper published in the July 
number of the Journal of the Chemical So¬ 
ciety, has increased our knowledge ou the sub¬ 
ject. An examination ot our wheat and fallow 
land in the autuinu shows that the fallowed 
portion contains a much larger quantity of 
nitric, acid than the portiou which has grown 
the wheat. Duriug the summer months nitri¬ 
fication takes place iu both soils; but where 
the wheat has been sown the nitric acid Is used 
up for the growth of the plant, while iu the 
fallow it accumulates, and as we have no rains 
iu the summer months, us a general rule, sutll- 
eieut to wash the nitric add from the soil, the 
wheat sowu iu the autumn takes a portiou of 
this accumulated uitric acid, while another 
portion is washed out of the soil, aud it is to 
this larger loss by washing on the fallow thau 
upou the laud under the permanout wheat crop 
that we must attribute the greater exhaustion 
of the soil and consequent decline iu produce 
in the fallow. 
Although not yet absolutely proved, it is ex¬ 
tremely probable that more nitric acid is 
liberated ou the land under the fallow thau 
upou that under the permanent wheat, and it is 
evident that of this larger quautlty more 
would be lost to the soil by winter rain. A 
fallow is from this point of view a process by 
which the dormant elements of the soil are by 
means of a ferment brought into au active 
condition, which is accompanied, doubtless, 
with some loss and reduction iu the fertilizing 
capital of the soil. 
Mr. Warrington has shown that nitrification 
goes on very slowly, or ceases altogether iu the 
absence of calcareous matter, iuasmuch as the 
nitric acid found must have some base with 
which to enter into combination, and on soils 
which douotcoutaiu much lime, its application 
is essential to nitrification, while practice has 
long ago shown the great value of lime when 
applied to a certain class of clay soils, as aho 
the beuefieial action of lime, and as a further 
confirmation of these views with regard to the 
action of lime, it is a remarkable fact that Dr. 
Frankland, in his analyses of the water passing 
Pres. Lincoln Strawberry.—The Largest Strawberry ever Raised ?— From a Photograph 
to soils containing much peaty matter. In the through the peat soils in Scotland, fouud there 
process of nitrification by means of a living no nitric acid, although they contain more 
organism, we have a rational explanation of nitrogen than any other class of soils. 
Jjxtlll Crojjs. 
THE CULTIVATION OF WHEAT IN ENG¬ 
LAND. 
PROFESSOR 3. P. SHELDON, CIRENCESTER 
By the exercise of extreme care and the 
greatest nicety, a close study of the principles 
which govern vegetable reproduction, and au 
unsparing use of money and labor, the culti¬ 
vation of wheat in the British Islands may be 
said to have been brought to the condition of 
a line art, aud the result is secu in an esti¬ 
mated average yield of twenty-eight bushels 
per acre, which is more thau twice as large 
as the average yield in the United States. It 
eannot be said that the climate of Britain is 
favorable t.o wheat growing, or even that the 
soil is the best for that purpose; both are 
alike too variable and iu many eases too cold 
and wet; aud it is by sheer force of uutiriug 
industry and of slowly accumulated skill that 
the wheat-yielding capacity of land iu England, 
Scotland aud Wales has been raised to so high 
a state. 
It is probable that the systems employed in 
this country would hardly be applicable to 
other countries, and particularly to the soils 
and climates which are fouud ou the Ameri¬ 
can Continent, without more or less modifi¬ 
cation, and yet it is sure enough that wheat 
cultivation in other couutries would be im¬ 
proved if more care and attention were be¬ 
stowed on it. Whether or not the extra yield 
would pay for the greater care is a matter 
which can be best decided by comparative ex¬ 
periments. It may, however, be said that 
American farmers have an enormous advan¬ 
tage over those of this country iu at least two 
important things—cheap land and a virgin 
soil; to which may be added, a better climate 
for the growth of wheat. 
In England we find that wheat does best in 
a firm soil. We are in the habit of sowing as 
much of our wheat as we can in the autumn, 
at such a time as will allow the plants to be 
well out of the ground before winter comes 
on; but we are at the same time careful not to 
sow it so early that it will be too far advanced 
and the connection between the seed and the 
plant severed; and we find that with our wet 
and bitter winters the young plants throw 
themselves out of the ground and lie prostrate, 
and iu many cases dead, ou the surface, if the 
soil in which they grow is a loose one. 
Therefore we think well of a firm seed-bed, 
and our stiff clays, if properly cultivated, 
yield in many cases the heaviest crops of 
wheat, though they are not by any means 
the most profitable ones, because of the greater 
expense of working and cleaning them. It is 
necessary to make the seed-bed friable in all 
eases, whether the soil be still or not, iu 
order tbut the drill may work fluently and the 
seed may be both evenly deposited and well 
covered ; and 10 briug our heavy soils Imo 
this state is iu most years a tedious aud costly 
process, particularly if we do not take them 
in the nick of time after a shower of rain. If we 
get on them too soon alter the rain, they are 
hopelessly sticky, aud if We let them get too 
dry, they are stubbornly hard; but if they 
are caught at the right moment, they work 
almost as freely as a loose, dry soil. Brought 
into the proper tilth, these heavy soils do very 
well for wheat; for the seed goes in nicely 
aud the soil forms a firm seed-bed about the 
roots, so that the plants are held securely in 
situ when thaws come after frosts. Iu the 
case of soils that are naturally dry, light and 
loose, the difficulty is overcome by passing a 
heavy roller over the land soon after the young 
plants show themselves above ground. This 
may be repeated later ou if necessary ; and 
yet again in the spring, if it is fouud that the 
winter frosts have loosened the soil too much 
We find also that wheat is more prosperous 
if sowu in a stale soil; that is, iu a soil that 
has been plowed up and exposed to the air at 
least a month prior to sowing the seed. Sowu 
ou a freshly-turned-up furrow, the crop is 
usually deficient, aud it does best of ah, par¬ 
ticularly on heavy laud, if the 6oil has been 
“summer-fallowed.'’ Summer-fallowing con¬ 
sists of plowing the land over five or six times 
during the summer months. If it is free from 
couch-grass—Triticmu repens—plowiug alone 
will be found sufficient, repeated at Intervals 
of about three weeks; this will be euough to 
kill all the minor weeds ; but couch-grass re¬ 
quires more drastic treatmeut, and, iu addition 
to the plowing, it la fouud necessary to culti¬ 
vate and to harrow so as io bring the roots of 
the grass to the surface to be killed by the sun. 
By this system of summer-fallowing, the soil 
becomes thoroughly exposed to the summer’s 
sun, and in the autumn is in the best state pos¬ 
sible for wheat-sowing. But summer-fallow¬ 
ing is too costly in this,economic age; we can¬ 
not a fiord to leave the land without a crop of 
some kind through the summer, and this need¬ 
ful eeouomy has changed our whole system of 
cropping. The fallowing and cleaning of the 
land is now got through in time to put in a 
