Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-12-16

BY ELI STILI.SON.

! The question how to grow whea
successfully Is one Of great import
ance to Us aud TO the coming farmer
The decreasing average yield. th,
worn appearance of the old whea
fields. the slIviyeled aud starved ap
pearanee OF the berry i'm many part,
nf the State, all these admoniah u,
that If we would save our farm,
from exhaustion we must all adopt ,
higher system Of farming, by 4
| greater system of agriculture, bs
Keeping more stock, mixed farming
aud hy a more sci, ntific and system
attic rotation of crops.
Farming, To be permanently sue,
cezsfuI, must I've founded on tn.
principle OF returning To the soil the
elements abstracted by the growing
crop.
Nearly ten years prior to 1859, ohlt
stood at the heail of tie wheat, grow
ing states of the Union, and the
geological survey reported her pos.
seSsed of n fine wheat soil. But
according To the census based on the
crop of 1859, she dropped to the fourth
rank of wheat growing States.
Again. in the year last named,
Wisconsin tose To the third, and in
The next year cnntcnded sharply for
the hnnnrs of being the first wheat
growing State. She has now fallen
down Ia l3i ~ the average product ;
and in the reports of the agricultural
department, for October aud NOvem
ter, 1869, the famous district of Rock
County ~ set down as yielding an
average Of : bushels.
Meantime Ohio has at least once
gone down To four bushels per acre,
aud her agricultural leaders were
very properly sounding the alarm.
With such facts as these before US, it
- useless for the wheat at-grOwers oi
Iowa to close their eyes to the fact
that our soil H. fast being exhausted
OF it's wheat elements; so that, with
The present low prices, wheat grow
ing must have resulted in the loss OF
several million dollars, besides the
exhaustion of the soil.
RESTORATION By ROTATION OF CROPS.
In seeding with tame grass, it il
advisable to use clover and timothy
mixed; for while timothy grass is
not u rruuvator of soil il improves
thc quality OF the hay and helps The
clover To stand up. One-third clover
aud twoIhirds timothy seed makes
"a good mixture for meadow, and on
very dry or worm land Oue-hal
clover wonld be better, while fol
pasture 1t is best To use two thirds
Glove, because of its reuovating
power; its long tap root drawing
uuurishmeut from the suhs0il, while
ats immense foliage assists IN apply
,ng nitrogen for plant food.
LXrrrlence proves that 1t is moi
! adv isHhtc 10 c":!:.Lue n fell In gras,
! tUnEer than three years. When tht
! farm /. 50 fenced as To admit OF past
uiHg The laud, il is decidedly pref
rfahic tn pasture IL the last year ol
Two of the three. The creates
amount of hay and pasture can bt
obtained from the land when this
plan is pursued.
The land should he manured and
spring pluN eel and planted To corn
the fourth year, and the corn well
titled SO as TO leave the land clean
for the crop of wheat that is to fol,
low. The land should be plowed IN
the fall for wheat, as the diilerenc,
al IL few days In the spring, in tho
time ol sowing, viii often cause 1
lo-s of one fouith or one third of lht
crop. Fall piDwing is the most pro
duclive, ii the sowing is done at thC
same tiuJe and If the land is no
tHG best ol wheat land aud in th'
highest state of fertility, IL shout,
be -eedcd down TO grass again. Blu
If the land II in II high condition
aud good wheat soil, "a second crol
of wheat may he taken before seed
lug again. But when our agrical
ture shall become more diversified i
will be best To abandon this secon,
crop of wheat on our best Iowa soils