INDIANA FARMER.
Vol. VII.] INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SEPT., 1858.
[No. VI.
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SEPTEMBER.
Practical Suggestions.
r'At first view it seems unnatural to
associate the septimus of the year, the
culmination of vegetation, and frost carrier of winter, with the idea of seed
time. Yet such is its true character.
And if vre note well the economy of nature, we shall find that the seed of the
vegetable kingdom is generally planted
as the flower fades and the leaf grows
sear.
By this uniform rule in her economy,
Nature forcibly propounds to our minds
tho question—-Do we not err in our common habit of planting and sowing, as
far as we can, in the spring of the year?
Should we not reverse this rule, and
plant everything in the fall, which may
as well be planted then ? If there is no
other advantage to be derived from the
change, than a relief from that concentration of half the work of the cropping
season into the first month of spring,
which compels us to slight our work, it
will amply pay us for the time and expense requisite to determine how far this
VOL. VII.—12.
change may be carried. The question
is an important one, and merits the
most thorough investigation. Is it
not true that grass sown on ground
well prepared, late in the fall, and well mixed with the soil by the harrow and the roller, stands the best possible chance to
make a good set? In other words—May
we not attribute our bad luck in fall
sowing of grasses, to the fact that we
sow too soon, in the face of a burning
sun and withering drouths, and to the
slovenly way in which we do our work?
Are there not some means by which>the
cultivation of spring wheat may be superceded by the more valuable and enduring winter wheat? We firmly believe that if winter wheat were drilled,
one foot apart, three or four inches deep,
with a drill that would leave a furrow
two or three inches deep, the spewing up,
and drying out effects of winter would be
obviated. By this means, the furrowi
would retain moisture in dry weather,
and when freezing weather would spew
up the wheat, it would spew off the banks
of the furrows also, thus keeping dirt
about the roots. The ordinary drill,
which leaves a furrow only about one
inch deep, is well known to be a partial
remedy for the evil of winter killing.
These, however, do not afford a thorough
test of the remedy. The shews must be
twice as wide as they are to leave a furrow three inches deep; and if the furrows are three inches deep, they must be
ten or twelve inches apart, from center
to center. The weight of common sense
alone, in favor of this theory, should
induce farmers to subject it to a more
thorough and practical test.
The Irish and the Sweet Potato also—
is it not true that the large quantity of
water which they contain, as an elementary principle, in connection with other