Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1861-03-07
agricultural,
From the American Farmer.
MARCH.--WORK FOR THE MONTH.
THE CROPS OF THE SEASON.

Have you, as we suggested last month,
laid your plans for the season? What crops
will you plant, and what land will you de-
vote to them? What manures must you
provide for the several crops2 Are any de-
6ciencies in team or implements supplied
These are all matters which should be at
tended to without delay.
pLoUaH1Na.
Before starting his plough, the young far
mer should -haye his mind impressed with
the great Importance Of laying web the fnun-
dation of the seasons work by deep and
thorough overturning of the ground. This
is revolution about the necessity of which
there is no question. The mere destruction
of the grass, however, to make room for a
growing crop, is only one of the many good
reasons for ploughing, and he who fails to
see them all will not so we'll understand the
necessity of deep as we'll as complete in
version of the sod We will revert to the
subject on another page. la the meantime,
let good plough and not less than three
well-conditioned horses, be in readiness for
breaking any sod land which you may wish
to prepare fer crop.
The FIRST ploughing to be done on To-
bacco farm should be the ground intended
for that crop. It is the practice of some
planters to postpone this until the corn is
planted As general thing the practice is
unquestionably bad one. 1t is difficult
matter to plough and prepare for planting
in due time, and the work will very proba-
bly, be imperfectly done. This will especi-
ally be the case should the season be dry
one, and the soil tending to clay. On the
other hand, if we'll turned in early spring
and rolled or narrowed to close the seams,
the after work in preparation for planting
will be easily and thoroughly accomplished,
and the young plants will have bed pre-
pared in which they will start quickly and
grow rapidly.
THE CROP OF OATS.
This crop usually follows the corn crop Of
last year. Under one system it goes upon
such portion of the corn field as may be con-
sidered too poor to produce wheat, In this
case it is poor crop sithour manure, and
as it is part o. the same system to SOW
clover seed with the small grain, the result
is very apt to be failure of both oats and
clover. unless some fertilizer be used. We
commend rather the Pennsylvania system,
which gives the corn ground to oats withsut
clover seed The oat stubble is then plough
ed soon after harvest for wheat. All the
manures of the yard are applied, and the
clover seed sown the following spring on a
better preparation than it gets under any
other system, while the wheat has the bene-
fits both Of manure and early sowing.
The proper preparation for this crop is a
good ploughing as soon as the frost is out of
the ground and it is dry enough. Sow two
bushels of seed to the acre on the fresh turn
ed ground and harrow in. If clover seed
are to be sown, sow Immediately and follow
with roller or heavy brush.
BARLEY.
This crop does best on light rich soil.
If sown on ground not rich. it should have
hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds
Of manipulated guano or its equivalent in
other manure. One and half to two bush
sis of seed should be sown. Prepare as for
oats, and SOW whenever the ground may be
in order.
No farmer in Maryland who deserves the
name, will dispense with the clover crop as
part Of his system. We hope it will in
time become as common in the more South
ern States as il is here where itis.censider-
ed the very groundwork of improvement as
we'll as Of successful cropping. For prepa-
ration of seed refer to our notes of January.