Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-05-01
6hf farm
Something for TURNER'S to Think of.
-. Which is Right?

ing paragraph:
--7HAs to green manuring, of all the plants re-
commended, none is to be compared to clover.
This every extensive wheat grower knows and
uses We have known buckwheat, (Which for
blowing under is next to clover in its good eff
fects, various other grasses, and even maize
two or three feet high, to be turned under; but
the latter, as every one might suppose, soured
ed the land and rendered it unproductive until
agood coat Of lime had time to show its effects
:. A worthy and intelligent farmer of our
county, who does not believe in the prac-
tice recommended in this article, sends us
the following as his ideas on the sub
ject, but mot for publication" for fear he
smight be thought insane" Weknow his
modesty as well as his worth, and would
say that if there is any breach Of conf
dence in publishing his views, We shall
have to take the consequences, feeling sure
that our readers will stand by to defend
us from all blame in the matter. The
writer quotes and then comments:
Gas to green manuring, of all the plants re-
commended none is to be compared TO clover.
This every extensive wheat grower knows and
useS.h
Every wheat grower in America, it
should have said. Every wheat grower
in England knows no such thing and prac-
tees no such thing, (and believe it is ad-
mitted that more wheat, to the acre, is
grown in that country than in any other.)
He knows he can get very good wheat af-
ter clover under any and all circumstances,
even when the clover has been closely graz
ed by cattle or sheep. He knows he can
get still better wheat when the clover has
been moved once for hay and grazed the
rest of the summer. He also knows he can
get still better wheat when the clover has
been moved twice for hay. But he knows
he can get the re'y best Of all when the
clover has stood for seed, and the whole
years produce taken off the land. No
wheat grower in that country ever thinks
Of blowing in clover, not that he thinks
itwould hurt his following wheat crop,
but that it would hurt his pocket, and hurt
his clover stack, and hart his manure heap,
made in that yard where his clover stack
would be consumed, or used for bedding
if the clover stood for seed.
awe have known buckwheat (Which for
blowing under is next to clover in its good eff
fect)-"
I can readily believe good crop Of
wheat could be grown after buckwheat.-
But would that be so from the blowing
,,rlor o. booar III, .a-ooI srJauy 4 al; rrbtc
in folewing..a broad-leaved plant. All
the cerealsor narrow-leaved grasses, such
as corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats and timo-
thy, grow luxuriantly after broad leaved
plants such as Glover, buckwheat,s peas,
beans, rape, turnip, tobacco and many
others Il pretend not to explain, or even
know, why. this is SO, but practice and OBJ
servationss confirm it on every hand. If.
sir, you would take the trouble to walk
along Port Tobacco Valley from the Ware
house to the Mill of Mr.. Cox, where the
land is uniformly good, you would see sew
efal fields. now in wheat, every one 1of
which, last summer, was part tobacco and
part corn. The wheat growing on the
corn land looks only tolerable, while that
on the tobacco land really splendid. At
Cedar Hill" there is now the finest piece
Of wheat ever saw in any country, and it
is after two crops of tobacco in immediate
succession. And yet all these heavy crops
of tobacco were Immediately taken off the
land, ateleast l never heard Of any of them
being "turnaed uRder." a's
-ssyarious other grass, and even maize two or
three feet high, to be turned under, but the
latter, as every one might suppose, soured the
land and rendered it unproductive."
s.Rendered it unproductiye," certainly
of cereals, but not of broad-leayed plants.
1, for one, could not suppose that theplow
ing in of maize would 'sour" the land,
whatever that may mean. 1t has always
been said that the stalk and leaf of maize
contain sugar, and sugar is thought to be
an antidote to sourness, especially in goose
berry pie, what it may be in land it is hard
to say. But should l ever become con-
vert to burying valuable crops, which l
Certainly shall not, corn would be the very
thing / should employ for that purpose,
seeing that four times the weight could be
produced in one quarter of the time.
What better proof could there be Of the
defusion Of blowing in green crops than
this failure, and the lame attempt to ex-
plain it by sourness, term, when applied
to land, that no one can really understand.
The fact is, after cereal, cereal does not de-
light to grow, but after broad-leaf plants
cereals flourish to the full extent of the
goodness Of the land and the goodness of
the farming, and cice versa.
If any farmer having a piece of clover
uniform, both in clover and quality! of
land, will NOW piece twice and by the
side Of it pillow in the whole summers
growth--if he shows the best wheat onthe
latter, It would, in part contradict my as.
sertions.. But I am sure shall never see
any such thing.