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and instruct American readers. We condense them in the two following paragraphs, and add some facts from a practical New England farmer and writer.

Deep plowing is most effectual in the autumn, exposing the soil to the influence of frost, rain, and air through the winter, which act upon the mineral ingredients of the soil, rendering them available for succeeding crops; also pulverizing the soil and thus facilitating the passage of the roots into the subsoil. As regards the period of the rotation, it should precede root crops, (or, in this country, Indian corn), or may be the first plowing for fallowing preparatory to the wheat crop. Deep plowing is most beneficial to stiff clays, and as a rule we may plow deep when the subsoil is of the same character as the surface soil if both are tenacious, or when the subsoil is composed of good clay, only requiring atmospheric influence to sweeten it.

Deep cultivation should be avoided on nearly all very light soils, and in plowing for crops after large applications of manure, thus burying it too deeply, or in turning under clover or other green crops. Deep plowing in autumn, on most clays, is equal to a half dressing of manure. Clay from which the air is excluded exhibits a dark bluish color. After draining it is not advisable to bring up more than two inches of clay subsoil at a time; otherwise more is brought up than the frost, &c., can fit for growing good

crops.

The Hon. F. Holbrook, writing of the advantages of deep plowing on long cultivated soils to the New England Farmer, says: "Where the land is of a close texture, with a strong compact subsoil, it is not unusual to find a better underneath than that which has been worked so long, and so shallow on top. By breaking through this artificial hard pan or crust, and bringing up a portion of the under soil to the light of day and the influence of manure, the crops are by that operation considerably increased, even though no more than the customary quantity of manure per acre is applied. And if high manuring is practised in connection with the deeper cultivation, the crops will be very much increased over what could be realized from the old shallow plowing and artificial hard pan near the surface, accompanied by as high manuring. Then there is the difference, too, in the care of tilling the crops raised on deep, mellow land, as compared with those on hard, shallow plowed land. If deep sod-plowing is to be practiced, it is especially desirable to do it in the autumn, that the atmospheric influences may ameliorate and modify the upturned subsoil, preparatory to future cultivation.

Plow the greensward in November, say eight to nine or ten inches deep, according to the quality of the subsoil. In the spring spread a good coat

of manure, which if fine compost can be sufficiently mingled with the soil and covered by the harrow and cultivator; or if coarse, can, by lightly cross-plowing, be turned under three to four or five inches deep, according to the depth of plowing in the fall. If the plowing was, say nine inches deep, there will be no difficulty in gauging a light plow, with a sharp share and wheel on the beam, so as to cross-plow in the spring and cover the manure about four inches deep, without disturbing the sod underneath. Green manure well covered that depth will decompose readily, and be more active and effective on the succeeding corn or other hoed crop than if turned down under the sod.

An instance is given where sod land was plowed in the spring for corn, turning under the manure some six inches deep. "Nearly half the crop was destroyed by grub-worms; and the soil being of a close, compact loam, the manure under the sod was too inactive, so that the corn which did survive was backward in maturing." The next year the owner wishing to plant a piece of greensward adjoining, also infested by grubs, consulted Mr. H., who advised as above. It was plowed in November, and in the spring harrowed lightly, and then manured and cross-plowed, turning under the manure from four to five inches deep. The corn was planted in the usual manner, and produced a good crop. No traces of worms have been seen, and the soil has been very mellow, and free from grass and weeds, and easier to till every way than the piece of the previous year. The subsoil was a close, light-colored clayey loam, but by spring it had changed to several shades darker color than when first exposed to the air, and no doubt the good effects of this deep plowing will last for many years. An instance of the renovation of old worn-out plain land by deep plowing, accompanied by high manuring, is given by the same writer: "The land had for many years been under the wasting effects of shallow-plowing and severe cropping with rye, until at length it was quite exhausted and abandoned to pasturage, yielding a scanty herbage in the early part of the season, but becoming dry and sere by midsummer, and remaining so through the remainder of the year. My friend found that the surface soil was of little or no account any way, but thought there might be some hope of making productive land of the subsoil. He accordingly commenced on a piece of the tract of about five acres, by at once putting in his universal sod and subsoil plow ten inches deep, in the month of November, and turned up a subsoil of yellow loam, fine grained and free from stone, that had never before seen the day. In the spring following the plowed land was manured broadcast, at the rate of about twelve cords per acre, and crossplowed with a sharp steel plow, turning the manure under four or five inches deep. The field was then harrowed, furrowed out in rows each way,

a tablespoonfull of superphosphate of lime put in each hill, and the piece planted with corn. It yielded about seventy bushels of shelled corn to the acre, and the next year a good crop of oats, and is now well set in grass for a mowing field. Other portions of the condemned old plain are now undergoing a similar process of deep plowing and high culture, with good results; and this desert will doubtless soon blossom as the rose." As we have remarked before, there can be no question that a deep and fertile soil will produce much the largest and best crops. There must be room for the roots to go down beyond the reach of a common drouth, and to find appropriate food for their use; and this is most largely present in a deep and mellow soil. Deep plowing and high manuring will on most soils produce profitable results, and as the present is a very favorable time for the first, we hope these broken hints and gleanings will prove of service to our readers.

After the ground has been properly prepared, great care should be taken to seed it with well selected seeds. But as every one may not know how to select seeds, especially among the cereals, we will in a few words describe the most approved manner.

In every field of grain there are to be seen ears differing in size, in form, and in general appearance from those growing beside them. Some of these can be recognized as the ears of established varieties, but a few will be distinct from any of the kinds in cultivation. Farmers usually bestow little attention on the different kinds of ears which may be sometimes seen growing in the same field, and which can be best observed during the cutting and harvesting of the crop; but if one farmer in a thousand would undertake the collection of such ears with the intention of sowing the seed, and thus propagating the kinds, the number of varieties would soon be considerably increased, and the kinds in cultivation would be improved by this selection of the best ears. Those who intend to collect ears of one or more of the cereals, should proceed methodically, not only when selecting but in keeping the ears of the apparently different kinds distinct at the time of gathering them, so that each kind can be sown by itself, and the produce from the seed of the selected ears collected and stored for future sowing. During the time of selecting ears, small bags formed of cloth should be carried, and as the ears are separated from the stalks they should be placed in one or other of the bags. Care should be exercised to prevent confusion and intermixing of the seeds. Every circumstance should be noted at the time, such as the field of grain in which the ears were gathered; the characteristic features which the ears presented when growing, such as size, form, whether the ears are close or open, the color of the chaff and straw, ehaff smooth or downy, and other points deemed worthy of being recorded.

A written description should be placed with the ears put into each bag, for after reference, as it is seldom advisable to trust to the memory as to facts. The bags containing the ears should be hung in an open place, away from mice and other depredators until the period of sowing the seeds. When it has been determined that the sowing of the seeds of the selected ears shall be proceeded with, a plot of ground near the entrance of the field can be chosen, the remainder of the field to be seeded with grain of the same kind, whether wheat, barley, or oats. Small ruts can be formed by a hand hoe, the seed thinly sown, and the earth returned by a garden rake, the seed being lightly covered. Each plot seeded should be marked by a piece of wood inserted at the end of the rows, and the number marked on the wood for after reference. A note-book should be used for inserting all facts connected with the selecting of the ears, the sowing of the seed, the appearance the different plots presented at the period of brairding, tillering, earing, blooming, and ripening, with dates and other particulars.

The amount of trouble which the propagating of varieties entails renders it advisable for experimentors not to attempt too much at one time. Only those who are resolved to bestow minute attention during the whole period, from the time of selecting the ears until the quantity of grain produced admits of its being distributed, should undertake the selection of ears for propagating the varieties.

There is seldom a spring during which we do not hear farmers complain -in level regions especially-of the crops having been "winter killed.” Strictly speaking, there is no year in which the spring shows us the same number of apparently healthy plants in a field as there were at the commencement of winter. A portion of them always are killed, or rather die, either from the injurious influences of an inclement season, or from the improper condition of the soil-the loss by winter killing is in a greater degree due to the latter than the former cause. Every where the farmer is agreeably disappointed if he meets with no losses of this kind, and therefore always sows a proportionably larger amount of seed. The farmers to-day, in many regions of the State, sow from two-fifths to one-half more seed per acre than they did forty years ago for winter crops. So far as wheat, one of the great staples of the State and the main winter crop, is concerned, the amount of seed sown per acre is entirely too great. Any one may soon convince himself of this fact if he will make a little calcula tion of the productiveness of wheat. A head of wheat usually contains from forty to sixty grains; it follows then, as a matter of course, that if every seed sown yielded forty grains only, that a bushel sown would yield forty bushels; but the general practice is to sow a bushel and a half per acre, and harvest twenty bushels at most, but not unfrequently fifteen or

sixteen bushels only are harvested per acre. A majority of the heads composing these twenty bushels have 60 grains per head-what has become of the other grains? The general reply is "winter killed," "did not come up," and "eaten by the birds." Probably the reply is correct. But as Ohio sows about two millions of acres in wheat, and sows a bushel and a half per acre, if winter killing were prevented, and all the seeds came up, and the birds were obliged to seek some other food, it is evident that three pecks, or a bushel at most, would be sufficient to seed an acre, thus saving about a million of bushels in the State on the seed alone.

There is in the soil a certain amount of plant food in a condition to be appropriated by the plant. This amount of food may be increased by manures, by plowing, or otherwise preparing the seed bed, and by the action of frost, rain, wind, &c. Now, if a square foot contains plant food in a proper condition to nourish and mature in perfection twelve plants only, (but the farmer puts forty seeds on this square foot), is it not very evident that either twenty-eight of the plants must starve, or else that the entire forty will be weak and puny; much more liable to be killed by inclement weather than stout, vigorous, and healthy plants would be?

The Darwinian doctrine of the law of selection and struggle for existence is just as applicable to the vegetable kingdom as it is to the animal. The stout and vigorous plants will monopolize the food within the reach of their roots, whilst the weaker ones would be deprived of what would otherwise be their just portion. Hence they are not only more liable to be attacked by insects and fungoid diseases, but will sicken and die.

Many experiments have been made to ascertain the proper depth at which wheat should be planted or sown, and the result of every one of these experiments is decidedly adverse to deep sowing or planting. The most recent of these experiments may be found reported in "Stockhardt's Zeitschrift fur Deutsche Landwirth," vol. XV, No. 6, p. 192, by Dr. B. as follows: "I sowed one thousand grains of wheat in a medium soil, with the following result, viz:

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