1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
415 
“But this thirty-acre field that you summer- 
fallowed this year, how many times was it 
plowed ? ”—“ Only once. I broke it up in June 
with a jointer-plow. I have an Englishman 
who is a capital plowman. He plowed the field 
in fourteen days, and made a complete job of 
it. Afterwards it was harrowed and cultivated, 
and drilled in with Diehl wheat the first week 
in September.” 
This is certainly a cheap and to a certain ex¬ 
tent a very effective way of summer-fallowing. 
The land was plowed full seven inches deep, 
and the “jointer” or skim-plow threw the sod 
to the bottom of the furrow, where it was com¬ 
pletely covered with four or five inches of loose, 
mellow earth. There can be no doubt that this 
plan is becoming more and more popular. Said 
one of the best and most successful farmers in 
this section: “ I would not let you plow my 
summer-fallow twice, if you -would plow it for 
nothing.” 
It may well be that turning up this partly- 
rotted sod, full of Aveed-seeds, would do more 
harm than good. So far as the wheat crop is 
concerned, it Avould be better to let these foul 
seeds lie dormant until the next ploAving, three 
or four years hence. But I still contend that, if 
we summer-fallow at all, it is better to break up 
early in the spring (or, better still, if the land is 
a tenacious clay, the fall previous), and then 
cross-plow as soon as the sod is sufficiently 
rotted. Then harrow, cultivate, and roll, and 
make the soil as fine and mellow as possible in 
order to induce the weeds to grorv. Then plow 
again, and thus destroy the Aveeds. After the 
Avheat is up, liarroAV again, to kill the small 
weeds Avliile in the seed-leaf. 
I am expecting to hear that the readers of 
the Agriculturist are getting tired with my re¬ 
peated talk about weeds. I have more than 
once made up my mind not to say another word 
on the subject. But the truth is I can not help 
it. It seems to me that there can be neither 
pleasure nor profit in farming until avc get the 
upper hand of the Aveeds. I have had a hard 
fight with them on my own farm, but have suc¬ 
ceeded far better than I expected. 
The Deacon says he never suav the weeds so 
numerous as they are this season. He thinks it 
must be owing to the unusually dry weather 
that we have had for tAvo or three years. There 
may be something in this, so far as Ioav, wet 
land is concerned, but I tell him that it is more 
likely to be oAving to our better plows and better 
cultivators, harrows, and other implements for 
breaking up and pulverizing the soil. We use 
them enough to cause a greater number of 
weed-seeds to germinate, and to distribute the 
roots of thistles, quack, Avire-grass, etc., but not 
enough to kill them. 
For the first time during the last eight or ten 
years the midge, or so-called “ weevil,” injured 
our wheat the past season. Wherever the crop 
was late the straAV rusted and the grain shriv¬ 
eled up, and there Avas also more or less midge. 
But, in the same field, where the wheat gmv 
strong and ripened at the proper season, there 
Avas no rust and, so far as I could see, no midge. 
The past year was the Avorst season for Avheat 
Ave haye had for a quarter of a century or more, 
and I see no reason Avliy we should feel alarmed 
at the appearance of the midge. But I am told 
that many of our farmers Avere afraid to soav 
Avhite wheat, and have sown Mediterranean. 
Others have sown a mixture of red and Avhite 
wheat together, thinking that if the midge de¬ 
stroys the Avhite Avheat the Mediterranean will 
escape. The trouble is that the millers will pay 
little if any more for the mixed Avhite and red 
wheat than they will for the red alone. 
Mr. Peart, the butcher, Avho Avcnt to England 
last year on a visit, brought me some red Avheat 
that he says yielded 92 bushels per acre. I 
have sown it, but do not suppose it Avill be of 
any value here. Our own varieties are better 
than our culture. No matter Avhat variety Ave 
soA\ r , Ave can not expect a large crop unless the 
land is rich, dry, and in good condition. 
It Avould be a great blessing to the country if 
Ave should have a good Avheat crop next year. 
The Avheat crop of Great Britain this year is 
unquestionably far below the average, and much 
of it has been more or less injured by the Avet 
harvest weather. Good, sound American wheat 
will be wanted, but I fear we shall find that Ave 
have not much to spare. Wheat is likely to 
bring a high price next summer, and there Avill 
be an active demand for our next crop, and avc 
could sell immediately after harvest to good ad¬ 
vantage. Let us hope for a good crop. 
Mr. S. C. Gordon, of Ohio, Avrites: “What 
you say in regard to weeds—' cause as many of 
the seeds to germinate as possible, and then kill 
them ’—is the correct doctrine. But being sin¬ 
gle-handed, and having rather an old farm 
pretty well stocked with weed-seed, it is an up¬ 
hill business.”—No doubt about that. But 
stick to it. Every year the land will become 
cleaner, and the thorough working of the soil 
will make it richer. 
In regard to the latter point I have no sort 
of doubt, except in the case of a very light sand. 
On clays and clay loam, the more you stir the 
soil the more plant-food Avill you develop. But 
it takes time. The Deacon and I used to have 
a good deal of discussion on this point. He 
thought it a very bad thing to “ sun-burn ” the 
land. But I believe I have convinced him, not 
so much by argument as by actual experiment, 
that there is no danger in exposing land to the 
hottest sun, provided it is frequently stirred. A 
wet clay soil will bake and perhaps “burn” in 
the sun; but drain it and reduce it to a fine 
tilth by repeated plowings and harroAvings, and 
it certainly Avill not sun-burn. We all know 
that a good summer-fallow retains far more 
moisture than land that has been “shaded” 
Avitli a crop of oats, barley, or peas. 
Mr. Smith, of Virginia, Avrites that he tried to 
grow some mustard, but that “it avus a com¬ 
plete failure, probably on account of the dry 
season.” I did my best to discourage every one 
from soAving either mustard, rape, or turnips 
unless the land Avas in the very best condition. 
It should be made as fine and melloAV as a 
garden. 
Mr. S. adds: “Suffering and loss from drouth 
seem to be the rule here—or, at any rate, more 
the rule than the exception. I think this sec¬ 
tion, however, is on the Avliole good for sheep 
husbandry, and Avitli good management I think 
it Avould be a good Avheat section. I have this 
year over 20 bushels to the acre on a field of 
summer-fallow, and I have heard of one man in 
the neighborhood of Alexandria avIio had 30 
bushels per acre.” 
“This,” he adds, “is certainly not very dis¬ 
creditable to old Virginia, more especially as it 
has been stated at the NeAv York Farmers’ Club 
that five bushels Avas considered a good crop in 
Virginia. I think those men Avliose remarks 
are so widely circulated ought to be more care¬ 
ful in their statements.”—1 think so too. 
“What avc Avant here,” continues Mr. S., “is 
a little more ammonia, and then, so far as I see, 
there will be no great difficulty in growing 
Avheat. I intend to make that and mutton and 
wool the chief products of my farm.”—Mr. S. 
has hit the nail right on the head. When I 
first read his letter, I thought he meant to say: 
“What avc need is a little more money." But 
he means precisely Avliat he says—“a little more 
ammonia .” He goes to the root of the matter. 
If you can get ammonia you can get large crops 
of wheat, and if you can get large wheat crops 
you can make money. How to get ammonia at 
the cheapest rate is the great question of scien¬ 
tific agriculture. Keeping sheep, and raising 
clover, rape, mustard, peas, turnips, and other 
highly nitrogenous crops to feed them on, and 
buying some bran, oilcake, etc., in addition, is as 
good a plan iu Mr. Smith’s case as I can suggest. 
The great trouble is that avc do not get money 
enough for our meat. The consumers in our 
cities have to pay enough for it, but the money 
does not seem to find its Avay into the farmers’ 
pockets. If I Avant a beefsteak, the butcher will 
charge me eighteen cents a pound for it, and it 
is not unfrequently very poor stuff at that. If 
I Avant to sell a carcass of beef, I should proba¬ 
bly get not to exceed seven cents a pound. 
I do not say that the butchers make exor¬ 
bitant profits. One Avould think there is com¬ 
petition enough to prevent this. I suppose one 
trouble is that our beef is not as good as it should 
be. There is too much bone, tallow, and inferior 
parts of the carcass in proportion to the 
choice cuts. We Avant better bred animals. 
One of my neighbors has some thrifty trvo- 
year-old steers. “I am overstocked,” said he, 
“ and want to sell them, and all that those rascally 
butchers Avill offer me is $35 per head.” I pre¬ 
sume they offer him about what they are worth 
to kill. But Avhy kill them ? To make them 
into really good beef they want tAvelve months 
of good feeding. Many farmers in this section 
seem to have come to the conclusion that it does 
not pay to feed cattle, and are selling off every¬ 
thing that the butchers Avill take. The conse¬ 
quence is that the meat-market is flooded Avith 
inferior beef that must be sold at a Ioav price— 
and is dear at that. It seems to me that those 
who have good young animals should hold on 
to them, and give them good feed. But ill-bred, 
inferior animals may as Avell be sold as not. It 
is impossible to fatten them in Avinter or keep 
them over to good advantage. 
Turnip Flavor in Milk and Butter. 
Col.Thos. S. Stfobecker, of Venango Co., Pa., 
says he has been repaid “many times over” for 
his subscription to the Agriculturist by the sim¬ 
ple benefit derived from Ogden Farm’s informa¬ 
tion that if turnips arc fed only immediately 
after milking their taste Avill not be communi¬ 
cated to the contents of the udder. He states 
that last Avinter he fed turnips to five coavs until 
the milk and butter became so strong that it 
could not be used. He then tried Col.Waring’s 
plan, and found that “ there Avas not a particle 
©f turnip flavor in the milk or butter.” After a 
time the taste returned. On investigation, he 
found that one of the cows Avas nearly dry, and 
Avas milked only once a day, Avliile she Avas fed 
with turnips ttvice a day. She gave but a pint 
of milk per day, so that Avhen fed in the morn- 
