1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
269 
shore, and undulatory in its character, the land has 
proved itself well adapted to the cultivation of both 
grain and the grasses. 
The soil is a clayey loam, the subsoil being mostly a 
stiff clay, having a basis of slate rock, which in some 
parts of the farm, particularly near the lake shore, ap¬ 
proximates the surface. Limestone boulders are occa¬ 
sionally found in different parts of the farm, but to no 
great extent. 
The best method of improving the clay loam, of 
which my farm is composed, f have found to consist in 
deep plowing and ample manuring, care being taken to 
have those portions of the fields which needed it, thor¬ 
oughly drained. 
The usual depth of plowing is between six and seven 
inches, except when fail plowing is done; the furrow is 
then deepened, that a portion of the subsoil may be act¬ 
ed on by the frosts of winter. The soil being uniform 
in its character, it is out of my power to answer the re¬ 
mainder of the question relating to it. 
I have made no particular experiments in reference 
to shallow and deep plowing. 
The subsoil plow has not yet been introduced upon 
the farm. 
The trees indigenous to the soil were red and white 
oak, hickory, hard and.soft maple, black walnut, but¬ 
ternut, red elm, white and black ash, basswood, mul¬ 
berry, wild cherry, crab apple, cucumber, aspen and 
thorn bush. The plants that were indigenous were, as 
far as I can ascertain, as follows: Ginseng, adder 
tongue, Adam and Eve, blood root, blackberry, straw¬ 
berry, elecampane, cowslip, crowfoot, colt’s foot, heal- 
all, pifeworth, Solomon’s seal, wild turnep, wild goose¬ 
berry, mountain mint, wild pea, mandrakes, &e. 
Manures. —Twenty loads of manure, (30 bushels to 
the load,) are usually applied per acre. On some por¬ 
tions of the land where a stiff clay predominates, 30 
loads per acre have proved advantageous. The ma¬ 
nure is allowed to accumulate in the yards until spring, 
when it is either applied in a green state, or drawn out 
and made into a heap, alternating the manure with lay¬ 
ers of straw, care being taken to have a trench made 
at the lower end of the heap, to receive the drainage 
therefrom: this trench being replenished from time to 
time, with fresh straw. 
The manure is made from the straw of the different 
grains raised on the farm. With this straw the sheep 
and cattle yards are kept constantly littered to a good 
depth, and it is freely used as bedding in the horse and 
cow stables, the manure thrown from these being fre¬ 
quently covered with straw, to prevent the action of 
the sun, and retain as much as possible of the ammonia 
escaping therefrom. The number of loads manufactur¬ 
ed annually depends in a great measure on the quantity 
of straw produced, and also varying with the number 
of cattle wintered. The whole number of loads drawn 
from the yards this past season was 400, this number 
would have been much greater, had not a deficiency of 
sheep hay rendered necessary the feeding of straw to 
the sheep for a longer period than has usually been the 
practice. Hitherto all the manure has been applied the 
same year it was made. 
The manure is used partially in a green, and partial¬ 
ly in a fermented state. The land intended for corn and 
potatoes is always covered with green manure, the sur¬ 
plus is applied in a fermented state to the fallows and 
stubbles in the fall. 
There is a bed of shell marl on the farm-lying at the 
depth of two feet from the surface, which having lately 
drained, I intend using in the manufacture of compost 
with my barn-yard manure. I know of no other way, 
by which my supply of manure could be cheaply in¬ 
creased. 
I have used lime, plaster, bone dust and ashes. Six 
bushels of lime were mixed with four of ashes and two 
of plaster, and applied at this rate per acre to the po¬ 
tato field. The vines grew with remarkable luxuriance. 
The yield of potatoes, however, was not great, and the 
tubers were much affected by the rot, contrary to my 
expectation, as this compost was applied in the hope of 
preventing the disease. Plaster is always applied in 
the spring as a top-dressing for clover and for corn, at 
the rate of a bushel per acre, always with very marked 
benefit. The pasture fields also receive a dressing at 
the same rate. Bone dust has been applied to timothy 
meadows, at the rate of three bushels per acre, without 
any visible effect. 
Tillage Crops. —One hundred and twenty-two and 
a-half acres were under tillage this year, as follows: 
55 acres of wheat sown last fall; 13 do barley; 14 
do oats; 13 do Indian corn; ^ do potatoes; 27 do fal¬ 
low, now sown with wheat. 
I have, an addition, sown with wheat this fall, my 
oat and barley stubbles. 
Two bushels of wheat are sown per acre in Septem¬ 
ber. As but one field on the farm is infested with Ca¬ 
nada thistles, or any other noxious weeds, which can be 
destroyed by fallowing, I have pursued the system of 
sowing my oat and barley stubbles, in preference to 
having as large a portion of my farm as is sowm with 
wheat, lying in naked fallow. The crops raised by this 
method, have proved equal both in quality and quantity 
to those of my fallow’s; and as may be easily perceived, 
the profit is increased by the whole value of the sum¬ 
mer crop. My method of stubbling is as follow^: As 
soon as the oats and barley are removed, the land is 
plowed to a good depth, and immediately harrow r ed 
down. The stubble fields are allowed to remain in this 
state until the fallows are sowni, thus giving an oppor¬ 
tunity to whatever seeds or fallen grain may have re¬ 
mained on the ground to germinate. They are then 
cross-plowed, and the wheat sow T n and harrowed in. 
This year Ide’s cultivator has been used in some of the 
fields to cover the seed, and from the appearance of the 
growing crop, successfully. Ic has been found that 
stubble fields prepared as has been stated, have been 
more free from pigeon weed, or red root, (with which, 
most of the farms in this neighborhood are more or less, 
infested,) than the fallows. 
Part of my wheat was sown the past season on a cl<H 
ver ley, plow r ed to a good depth, the wheat sown on the 
furrow 7 , and then harrowed in. The crop proved most 
excellent. It may be here remarked, that many farm¬ 
ers in this vicinity have practiced this method of sow¬ 
ing wheat on a clover ley, and ■with but few exceptions, 
successfully. The fields wdiich are fallowed, are plow’ed 
three times, and thoroughly harrowed after each plow¬ 
ing. The usual time of sowing is from the 20th to the 
30th of September. All the grain is cut before it is 
fully ripe. Hussey’s reaping machine is employed in 
harvesting. Ten men are required to man this machine 
effectually, and twelve acres per day the usual amount 
cut, the machine being in operation about eight hours. 
By having tw r o teams, and changing them every two 
hours, the number of acres cut, might, I have no doubt, 
be increased to sixteen per day* After remaining in 
shock till it is fully ripe, the w r heat is carried to the 
barn wdiere the threshing machine stands. The whole 
amount harvested from 55 acres, w T as 1,422 bushels, 
being at the rate of nearly 26 bushels per acre. 
Barley is sown as early as possible in the spring, at 
the rate of tw r o and a-half bushels per acre. The 
ground selected for this crop is usually that on w 7 hieh 
corn has grown the previous season. It is harvested 
in the same manner as the w r heat. The average yield 
this season was 33 bushels per acre. The oats are 
usually sow*n on a clover sod, which has been used as a 
sheep pasture the previous year. The average yield 
