ew York."

"I do not think," said I, "that Mr. Lawes' land is any better than yours
or mine; and I do not think the climate of England is any more favorable
for growing wheat without manure than our climate. If there is any
difference it is in our favor."

"Why, then," asked the Doctor, "do we not grow as much wheat per acre as
Mr. Lawes gets from his continuously unmanured plot?"

This is a question not difficult to answer.

1st. _We grow too many weeds._ Mr. Lawes plowed the land twice every
year; and the crop was hoed once or twice in the spring to kill the
weeds.

2d. We do not half work our heavy land. We do not plow it enough--do not
cultivate, harrow, and roll enough. I have put wheat in on my own farm,
and have seen others do the same thing, when the drill on the clay-spots
could not deposit the seed an inch deep. There is "plant-food" enough in
these "clay-spots" to give 17 bushels of wheat per acre--or perhaps 40
bushels--but we shall not get ten bushels. The wheat will not come up
until late in the autumn--the plants will be weak and thin on the
ground; and if they escape the winter they will not get a fair hold of
the ground until April or May. You know the result. The straw is full of
sap, and is almost sure to rust; the grain shrinks up, and we harvest
the crop, not because it is worth the labor, but because we cannot cut
the wheat with a machine on the better parts of the field without
cutting these poor spots also. An acre or two of poor spots pull down
the average yield of the field below the average of Mr. Lawes'
well-worked but unmanured land.

3d. Much of our wheat is seriously injured by stagnant water _in the
soil_, and standing water on the surface. I think we may safely say that
one-third the wheat-crop of this county (Monroe Co., N.Y.), is lost for
want of better tillage and better draining--and yet we think we have as
good wheat-land and are as good farmers as can be found in this country
or any other!

Unless we drain land, where drainage is needed, and unless we work land
thoroughly that needs working, and unless we kill the weeds or check
their excessive growth, it is poor economy to sow expensive manures on
our wheat-crops.

But I do not think there is much danger of our falling into this error.
The farmers who try artificial manures are the men who usually take the
greatest pains to make the best and most manure from the animals kept on
the farm. They know what manures cost and