d reasonably expect a great crop."

The truth is, that clover-seed is sometimes a very cheap manure, and
farmers are in no danger of sowing too much of it. I do not mean sowing
too much seed per acre, but they are in no danger of sowing too many
acres with clover. On this point, there is no difference of opinion. It
is only when we come to explain the action of clover--when we draw
deductions from the facts of the case--that we enter a field bristling
all over with controversy.

"You have just finished threshing," said the Deacon, "and for my part,
I would rather hear how your wheat turned out, than to listen to any of
your chemical talk about nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash."

"The wheat," said I, "turned out full as well as I expected. Fourteen
acres of it was after wheat, and eight acres of it after oats. Both
these fields were seeded down with clover last year, but the clover
failed, and there was nothing to be done but to risk them again with
wheat. The remainder was after barley. In all, there was not quite 40
acres, and we had 954 bushels of Diehl wheat. This is not bad in the
circumstances; but I shall not be content until I can average, taking
one year with another, 35 to 40 bushels per acre. If the land had been
rich enough, there would unquestionably have been 40 bushels per acre
this year. That is to say, the _season_ was quite capable of producing
this amount; and I think the mechanical condition of the land was also
equal to it; all that was needed was sufficient available plant-food in
the soil."

"I can see no reason," said the Doctor, "why you may not average 40
bushels of wheat per acre in a good season."

"The field of 14 acres," said I, "where wheat followed wheat, yielded 23
bushels per acre. Last year it yielded 22 bushels per acre; and so we
got in the two years 45 bushels per acre."

This field has had no manure of any kind for years. In fact, since the
land was cleared, 40 or 50 years ago, I presume that all the manure that
has been applied would not, in the aggregate, be equal to more than a
good crop of clover-hay. The available plant-food required to produce
these two crops of wheat came from the soil itself, and from the rain,
dews, and atmosphere. The land is now seeded down with clover, and with
the aid of a bushel or two of plaster per acre, next spring, it is not
improbable that, if mown twice for hay next year, it will yield in the
two crops three tons of hay per acre.