at any rate," said I, "that those of us who have good,
clean, well-drained, and well-worked land, that is now producing a good
growth of clover, may reasonably expect a fair crop of wheat, barley,
oats, corn, or potatoes, when we break it up and plow under all the
roots, which are equal to 13 or 19 tons of stable-manure per acre.
Whether we can or can not depend on these figures, one thing is clearly
proven, both by the chemist and the farmer, that a good clover-sod, on
well-worked soil, is a good preparation for corn and potatoes."

MANURES FOR WHEAT.

Probably nine-tenths of all the wheat grown in Western New York, or the
"Genesee country," from the time the land was first cleared until 1870,
was raised without any manure being directly applied to the land for
this crop. Tillage and clover were what the farmers depended on. There
certainly has been no systematic manuring. The manure made during the
winter, was drawn out in the spring, and plowed under for corn. Any
manure made during the summer, in the yards, was, by the best farmers,
scraped up and spread on portions of the land sown, or to be sown, with
wheat. Even so good a farmer and wheat-grower as John Johnston, rarely
used manure, (except lime, and latterly, a little guano), directly for
wheat. Clover and summer-fallowing were for many years the dependence of
the Western New York wheat-growers.

"One of the oldest and most experienced millers of Western New York,"
remarked the Doctor, "once told me that 'ever since our farmers began to
_manure their land_, the wheat-crop had deteriorated, not only in the
yield per acre, but in the quality and quantity of the flour obtained
from it.' It seemed a strange remark to make; but when he explained that
the farmers had given up summer-fallowing and plowing in clover, and now
sow spring crops, to be followed by winter wheat with an occasional
dressing of poor manure, it is easy to see how it may be true."

"Yes," said I, "it is not the _manure_ that hurts the wheat, but the
growth of spring crops and weeds that rob the soil of far more
plant-food than the poor, strawy manure can supply. We do not now,
really, furnish the wheat-crop as much manure or plant-food as we
formerly did when little or no manure was used, and when we depended on
summer-fallowing and plowing in clover."

We must either give up the practice of sowing a spring crop, before
wheat, or we must make more and richer manure, or we must plow in more