346 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Oct 
great facility with which crops are grown upon a newly 
broken prairie farm, are among the most prolific causes 
of the backward condition of the agriculture of the wes¬ 
tern prairies. As has already been shown, a trifling 
amount of labor will almost to a certainty produce a 
fair average crop of wheat and corn, on a newly inverted 
prairie sod; and owing to the great depth of the vegeta¬ 
ble soil, ranging from one to'three feet, eveu on the high 
rolling lands, the inference is made, that the sod once 
broken will continue to yield abundant crops, with a tri¬ 
fling amount of labor. Experience has clearly shown the 
fallacy of this opinion, and although the soil contains all 
the elements requisite to produce bountiful crops of the 
cereal grains, for an almost indefinite period of time, yet 
the prevailing practice of husbandry appears admirably 
calculated to dispirit that portion of the farmers who 
depend upon the cultivation of bread stuffs. Contrary 
to the expectations of the first settlers of the Great West, 
the wheat growing business is subject to more casualties 
than is experienced in timbered countries ; and in many 
cases the business has been abandoned, under the pre¬ 
vailing notion that a prairie soil, when subjected to a se¬ 
vere course of cropping, is unadapted to the growth of 
wheat. This opinion ebbs and flows, according to the re¬ 
sult of the harvests,- and seasons like the present, when 
the crop is almost universally a good one, it would find 
but few advocates; whereas, last year, the almost entire 
failure of the crop so far discouraged the wheat growers, 
that it was difficult to convince those engaged in the bu¬ 
siness, that the country was admirably adapted for the 
production of wheat, and that by good cultivation it 
might be made as profitable on the western prairies, as in 
any other portion of this continent. The practice that 
prevails in Illinois, would produce still more favorable 
results in Michigan and Ohio, and a similar system prac¬ 
ticed in New-York and Pennsylvania, would not produce 
sufficient to defray the costs of harvesting the crop. The 
error is in the practice, and cannot in any respect be at¬ 
tributed to any natural defect in the soil, or to the rigo¬ 
rous character of the climate. Although the soil is free 
of stones, roots, and all other obstructions, yet the plow¬ 
ing is carelessly done, and much of the land is overgrown 
with weeds; and, on the whole, the agricultural prosper¬ 
ity of the country is in a worse condition than that of 
any other portion of the Union with which we are ac¬ 
quainted. 
The remedy by which a more wholesome state of things 
might be brought about, may be speedily summed up. 
In addition to what appeared in the papers already pre¬ 
pared on prairie farming, but little need be added, as the 
plans pointed out, if honestly practiced, would secure to 
the western wheat grower, as large an average yield of 
wheat, for the labor expended, as could be obtained in 
any other portion of this continent, and that too, by the 
expenditure of a much less capital than would be neces¬ 
sary in New*York or Ohio. As some time has elapsed 
since those recommendations alluded to, appeared in the 
Cultivator, a mere summary may be given. A proper 
rotation of crops, by which wheat will be grown only 
once in a period of four years, is essential to secure suc¬ 
cess. During that rotation clover should intervene, and 
in fact, should be made to precede the wheat crop. 
Wheat after clover is a much more certain crop than 
when grown upon a purely virgin prairie soil. The clo¬ 
ver roots are calculated to deepen the active soil, and the 
inverted clover sod, when a strong growth of clover is 
turned under, imparts a vigorous growth to the wheat 
plants, by which the roots obtain a strong and healthy 
growth, enabling the crop to endure the rigors of a se¬ 
vere winter. In all cases where drill culture can be suc¬ 
cessfully practiced, it should be adopted, as wheat plants 
standing in rows, and being deposited some four inches 
below the surface, take a much firmer root, and will not 
be nearly so apt to winter kill, as when scattered promis¬ 
cuously over the ground. Liberally seeding the ground 
is of the greatest importance, and in an average of cases 
two bushels per acre will not be found too much, as the 
ground should be perfectly matted with a covering of 
plants at the setting in of winter. 
The labor necessary to.produce a crop of corn, by ju¬ 
dicious management, might also be made to yield a crop 
of wheat. In this case the clover and timothy would 
have to be-sown with oats or barley, and the corn would 
follow in succession after the clover. In some respects, 
corn is a better preparative crop for wheat than clover, 
for a bleak prairie country. The course to pursue when 
this rotation is adopted, is to plant the corn in drills five 
feet apart, making the hills in the rows average about 18 
inches asunder. The corn would have to be worked 
lengthwise, or only in one direction. About the last of 
August the sowing of wheat may be commenced, and 
continued throughout September. The seed should be 
plowed in by the use of a small one horse plow, forming 
neat ridges of six furrows, thus making a neat water fur¬ 
row at the center of each row. The corn in this case, 
should be harvested on the ground, leaving the stalks to 
stand, to protect the wheat plants from the severe winds 
and frosts of winter. After the frosty season has passed 
in the spring, the corn stalks should be cut up close to 
the ground, and carried off the field and burned. By 
this plan, nearly as much corn can be grown, as by 
the ordinary method of planting in rows in opposite di¬ 
rections across the field, and the yield of wheat will ex¬ 
ceed what can be obtained by any other process, costing 
a comparative trifle in cultivation over and above what 
would be necessary to secure a good crop of corn. Other 
suggestions, applicable to the culture of wheat on the 
prairies, might be added; but if the systems recommend¬ 
ed in the series of articles prepared by the writer during 
the last twelve months, be practiced, what is now a very 
uncertain, and in many cases, ruinous business, might 
become a reliable and profitable operation. 
Indeed, in no portion of the world could the business 
of wheat growing be more extensively and profitably 
prosecuted, than in a very large portion of Illinois, Iowa, 
and Northern Missouri. An enterprising farmer, with 
ample means, might, if needs be, extend the business of 
wheat growing to almost any scale that his ambition 
might lead him$ One hundred acres of wheat, to be 
sown among corn as recommended, would actually cost 
less labor to produce it, than wmuld be necessary to pro¬ 
duce 20 acres in New-England, where thorough naked 
summer fallows have to be made to secure a yield of 20 
bushels per acre. The wheat crops in the prairies are not 
