390 Wisconsin state agricultural society. 
the coming year, average. I now state that I hope to raise 27 
next year, if no calamity befalls it; and I intend to increase 
the average some 20 acres. 
The question, perhaps, is, how do you do it? There is no 
secret about it. Any man can do as well; only sow plaster 
and clover. 
My plan of rotation is somewhat different from others. I alter¬ 
nate each year with wheat and clover, excepting corn ground, 
which I sow to wheat or barley after, thus not keeping any piece 
more than two years without clover. Seeding at the time of sow¬ 
ing wheat, sowing plaster at the time of seeding, or before, 100 
pounds per acre. The year following, cut the first crop of clover 
for hay, and the second crop for seed, if it fills well, or if not, for 
hay. Then break the ground, and in the following spring sow to 
wheat, and seed to clover again. I sow clover seed on all the 
land I sow to grain, even if I plow it up in the fall. Frequently, 
the growth of clover from spring till fall will be as much as can 
be turned under with a good team and the best plow. It is better 
to raise clover than weeds; wheat will fill better with young 
clover in the bottom, particularly if, as is sometimes the case, sev¬ 
eral days of very hot dry weather continue just as the wheat is 
filling or ripening. The clover shades the ground and keeps it 
moist and cool. If the chinch bugs should be troublesome, they 
will have a poor chance to do much damage with a thick mat of 
clover on the ground. But, says some one, I cannot make clover 
grow in that way. No, indeed you cannot , unless you sow plaster 
at the time of sowing the seed. It is not the quantity of seed we sow 
on the ground that makes a good seeding , but the quantity we make live. 
Plaster sown at the time of seeding will surely do it, and continue 
strong in the land to produce a crop of clover as thick and big as 
the very best mower will cut the succeeding year. 
I sometimes hear the remark, “my clover is just splendid, not 
lodged, it stands up all over the piece so it can be cut nicely.” 
That man has not learned more than half the benefits of clover 
raising. I want my clover so big as to fall down all over the 
ground ; even if it falls before it heads out, all the better. Why? 
It serves as a mulch to the land, enabling it to retain the moisture 
and ammonia brought down from the atmosphere, to be incorpor- 
