St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1856-12-04
agricultural.
Cultivation Of the PrairieS.

The first object with farmer on
taking up prairie farm, is to pillow
the ground. The natural vegetation
does not make close sward, like some
of the cultivated grasses, but the roots
are very tough, and considerable force
is required to sever them. A pillow of
peculiar construction is used. 1t is
sometimes made wholly of steel, but
steel share is indispensable, as no 9TH
er metal will hold an edge keen enough
to do the work properly. The shape
of the pillow is adapted to turning
wide, shallow furrow, it having been
ascertained that the sod rots much
quicker when the burrows are thin
Ihe beam of the pillow is supported on
two wheels, which give the implement
a steadiness of operation. The imple-
ment is, on the whole, well adapted to
its purpose, and the work performed
by it is in some instances nearly un-
exceptionable. The burrows are cut of
uniform width and depth, the sod COM
pletely inverted, and left in such
manner that decomposition must take
place in the least possible time. Ok
en- are generally used for breaking the
sod, from three to five yoke being put
to pillow, and from an acre and a half
to two and half acres are plowed in
a day. The blowing is done whenever
it is convenient to do it. If it is done
in the summer, the sod gets rotted suf-
fciently by spring to cross-plow it and
sow wheat, or it is in good condition
for corn. If it is plowed in autumn
or early in spring, it will answer for
"sod corn" Holes are opened in the
burrows with an axe and the seed corn
dropped in. From that time to har-
vest the field is not touched. The sod
is so tough that it is of no use to try
to use any implement of cultivation
on it. Such corn sometimes yields
thirty bushels to the acre, and an av-
erage annual yield is from fifteen to
twenty bushels to the acre.
The sod becomes pretty thoroughly
rotted during the first season, and the
ground is easily plowed afterwards.
1t becomes, in fact, too loose for either
wheat or grass. This may not agree
with the ideas Of some people who are
always talking about the necessity of
loose Soil, but the fact can't be
rubbed out" An average yield of
corn, after the first season, is, perhaps,
forty bushels to the acre, though six
ty, seventy-five, and sometimes hun
dred bushels to the acre are obtained.
Corn is the great crop of the prairie
regions. The soil is better adapted to
this than to any other crop. A very
judicious and close observing gentle
man who had visited Illinois, was ask
ed on his. return to New England, what
he thought of the country he had seen.
He replied" 1t is a great country for
corn This was his description, and
aperson who has surveyed the same
ground, with a practical eye, will re-
alize the comprehensiveness of the
language. Comparing the yield of
crops, and the facility and certainty of
their production, it is in Indian corn
that the West strikingly excels.
The prairie sections are not so good
as some for wheat, grass, or fruits
The wheat mostly cultivated in Hi
nois and Iowa, is spring wheat. Win
ter wheat is SO liable to be killed by
the winter that it's cultivation is sell
dom attempted. Ihave seen but very
few fields that have been sown this
fall 1t is not generally killed by the
heaving Of the ground, but the soil has
SO little adhesiveness that the high
winds which blow here ever and anon
sweep the roots ofthe plants bare, and
they die from exposure. Spring wheat
is therefore taken as a last resort 1t
yields an. average, perhaps, of fifteen
bushels to the acre, though twenty
five to thirty bushels are sometimes
obtained. 1t brings fifteen to twenty
cents a bushel less than white winter |
wheat. The kinds preferred are the
Rio Grande and the Canada Club
Machines are frequently used for SOW
ing, both broadcast and in drills, and
man with a pair Of horses can put
in from eight to ten acres in day
Barley has not been extensively cult
waited, but the multiplication of brew
cries creates demand for it, and it
may be produced at handsome prof.
it. / have heard of several instances
where it has yielded thirty-five to for
ty bushels per acre. Oats do not do
as well as in some other sections.
have alluded to the character of
the soil in regard to the production of
wheat and grass. 1t is not, perhaps,
easy to tell why these crops do not
succeed better. In reference to the
soil, Mr. f. K. Phoenix, in late num-
Der of the Prairie Farmer, observes
"Our Western soil is such puzzle
though seeming to pass off any sur
plus moisture almost as soon as gen.
uine sand, yet still there remains that
extreme fineness, and, when moist,
certain softness and adhesiveness that
forms through all our vegetable
growths a looser, fabbier texture than
the gravelly loans of the East" Mr..
P. suggests that subsoiling and drain
ing would be the best means of i'm
proving the Western lands | have
seen some land which evidently need
ed draining, but a much greater pro-
portion on which neither draining nor
subsoiling would be found to pay.
The nrincina1 canse xvhv tho soil ;s