Crop

“ Every species of soil and crop has its peculiar apparatus; in the field and the farm-yard; for getting seed into the ground, clearing and dressing when there, for thrashing it out and cleaning it for market; for sowing peas, beans, turnips, carrots, parsnips, etc., for chopping, slicing, and preparing them for cattle; their machines for tedding hay, for stacking it with least possible risk, for cutting and steaming it ”

“ Let a farmer examine the extent and depth to which the roots of grain, in a loose and favourable soil, will spread, and he will cease to wonder at the failure of a crop where the subsoil has never been stirred by the plough. ”

“ We raise a great amount of wheat, and crop our land year after year with the same crop. This is a pernicious practice for our land. It would be much better to introduce a rotation of crops suited to the land and the climate. ”

“ Everywhere else there have been such results as to prove that it ought to become, in greater or less degree, a staple crop on practically every farm, dependent only upon more energy, faith and skill on the part of the farmer, and a natural acclimation. ”

“ In size it is scarcely large enough for a field crop, but though not at present recommenced for the farm, its history may well serve to explain the origin of crop plants, as derived from the cultivation and improvement of wild species. ”

“ It enables the farmer to maintain the supply of organic matter in his soil. The roots and stubble of a grain crop are insufficient for this purpose, and the introduction of a sod or cover crop is helpful. ”

“ As crop plants are derived from wild ones, as the effect of cultivation, it follows as a matter of course that these will be varied, both in form and constitution, according to the circumstances under which they have been produced. ”

“ The older the country has become, as a rule, the more obnoxious has been the vegetation that the soil has produced of its own accord. But there has been in my recollection, which goes back more than seventy years, a great many changes in the crops of vegetation on those lands, showing to my satisfaction that there is an inherent potency in nature, in rich soil that will cover itself every year with a growth of some kind. If it is not cultivated and made to produce fruit, vegetables, and cereals, it will nevertheless produce a crop of some kind. ”

“ When new land is first taken into cultivation the most effective use of it is found in the continuous production of some staple crop like wheat and corn, which can be grown, so long as the cream of the soil is not exhausted, year after year with large returns. ”

“ When, however, the virgin soil is broken up by the plough and brought into cultivation the native vegetation and the crop are alike removed, and therefore the sources of gain are considerably reduced. ”

“ You can have drought, and you can have caterpillars, and you can have frost. You can lose your hay crop, and your apple crop, and your potato crop; but there's one crop there can't nothin' touch, and that's the fool crop. ”

“ With crops that can be grown on a wide range of soils the water which the soil can furnish largely determines the time of maturing, the yield, and often the quality of the crop. With such a crop a small supply of water tends to hasten maturity at the expense of yield. ”

“ Every crop of the farm has been changed and improved in many ways since its forefathers were wild plants. Those plants that best serve the needs of the farmer and of farm animals have undergone the most changes and have received also the greatest care and attention in their production and improvement. ”

“ The soil being turned up to the action of the sun and air, becomes enlivened, and better fitted for producing vegetation. An acre of land yielding a ton of hay, at the usual season of ploughing greensward contains more than twelve tons of vegetable matter, consisting of the roots and lops of grass, and other vegetable remains upon the surface. Such a method of ploughing, then, as will be best calculated to secure for the benefit of the crop, this mass of enriching substance, the farmer should not hesitate to adopt. ”

“ Men had long known that the seeds of some of the wild grasses and plants were good to eat. Now some one noticed that if these seeds were sown they sprang up and brought forth many more seeds. Then it was discovered that the seeds grew better and yielded a more abundant crop if the ground were broken up and made soft before the seed was sown. Because of these discoveries some men began to be farmers. By cultivation, the wild grasses which grew in the fields or beside the rivers were developed [Pg 127] into wheat, oats, barley, and rice, the great cereals of the world. ”

“ By keeping the surface broken and well pulverized the moisture rises sufficiently to insure a crop. Many Western farmers have found out this secret of cultivation, and more will learn in time the good sense of not spreading themselves over too large an area; that forty acres planted and cultivated will give a [Pg 106] better return than eighty acres planted and neglected. ”

“ This is encouraging. As our lands get older we may look for yet better things. Some farmers put in from 100 to 800, and even 1,000 acres of wheat. The native qualities of the soil are relied upon for the crop. ”

“ The food on which they have been brought up has been gathered from the soil—the grass, the hay, the root crops, the linseed, the barley, the oats. And how much intellect, from the earliest dawn of civilisation, has been lavished upon the soil!—how many branches of knowledge are at this moment uniting their strength to develop its latent capabilities! Geology yields the raw materials upon which, in after ages, the toils of the husbandman are expended. ”

“ Do not laugh at such farming and such a farmer. The soil overhead bears larger and better crops, for a sensible man, than does the soil under feet. There are blossoms in the clouds. There is fruit upon invisible trees, to those who know how to pluck it.
But then sky-gazing and this dallying with the landscape will not do. What crowds of things require the eye and hand! Flowers must be transplanted. Flower-seeds must be sown; shrubs and trees pruned; vines looked after ”

“ Agriculture.—The soil is exceedingly fertile, nearly every agricultural product thriving well, according to locality. The principal grain crops are Indian corn, wheat, and oats; and cotton, tobacco, flax, and hemp are extensively cultivated. ”

“ The majority will probably say, study the soil first, "because we must work the soil before we can grow good crops." Some few will mention "plants." This last is right. The farm animals are dependent on plants for food. ”

“ The pleasures of cultivating the soil, and attending to the growth and progress of the crops, can only be known to, and can only be estimated by, one who has a perfect knowledge of agricultural pursuits. ”

“ In using these immature forms of vegetation so largely as food they are able to produce an immense amount that would otherwise be impossible, for this is grown in a shorter time, permitting the same soil to produce more crops. ”

“ But let the good old crop adorn The hills our fathers trod; Still let us, for his golden corn, Send up our thanks to God! ”

“ Field cultivation Field cultivation is growing crops on burned and cleared land. The soil is mechanically cultivated on an annual basis, or is enriched by periodical floods or other natural processes. ”

“ In the valleys the soil is particularly fertile, yielding luxuriant crops of wheat, maize, barley, spelt, beans, potatoes, flax, hemp, hops, beet-root, and tobacco; and even in the more mountainous parts rye, wheat, and oats are extensively cultivated. ”

“ Many of our farmers are like the alchemists of old,—they are searching for the miraculous seed,—the means, which, without any further supply of nourishment to a soil scarcely rich enough to be sprinkled with indigenous plants, shall produce crops of grain a hundred-fold. ”

“ Soil appropriate for crops of grain, is also adapted to the cultivation of fruit trees, shrubs or vines. Occasional digging, mellowing the ground, keeping down underbrush and weeds, and manuring, are beneficial. ”

“ The soil in which no weeds sprout up, will reward the cultivator with plenteous crops of useful grain. Accordingly we find, from his first appearance in the world, he was possessed of three of the cardinal virtues, justice, temperance, and fortitude, in an eminent degree. ”

“ That when a soil is particularly poor in certain of these substances, the valuable, cultivated corn crops, grasses, and trees, refuse to grow upon them in a healthy manner, and to yield remunerating returns. ”

“ Even in the cultivated fields, where man tries to help the plants to overcome their surroundings, you will find the influence of the soil is very largely felt. Ask any farmer about his land, and he may tell you that a certain one of his fields is specially good for potatoes, another for barley, or that in a village a few miles away they can grow splendid crops of strawberries, while his are not worth the planting. ”

“ The agricultural history of tracts of land of different qualities, shewing how they had been cropped and tilled, and the average produce in grain, hay, straw, and other crops, every five years, during an entire century, would be invaluable materials both to theoretical and to practical agriculture. ”

“ A little careful observation and study soon teach what kinds of soil produce crops of the highest excellence. This learned, the planter is able to grow in each field the several crops best adapted to that special type of soil. ”

“ This book is intended as a sequel to the Elements of Agriculture, being a larger and more complete work, containing fuller directions for the treatment of the different kinds of soils, for the preparation of manures, and especially for the drainage of lands, whether level, rolling, hilly, or springy. Particular attention will be paid to the use of analysis. The feeding of different animals, and the cultivation of the various crops, will be described with care. ”

“ Crops must be selected or developed that will fit the environment, and there is ample field for investigation in the improvement and development of crops suitable to dry lands. Wheat stands at the head among cereal crops. ”

“ A more rational system of cropping now began to take the place of the thriftless and barbarous practice of sowing successive crops of corn until the land was utterly exhausted, and then leaving it foul with weeds to recover its pover by an indefinite period of rest. Green crops, such as turnips, clover and rye. grass, began to be alternated with grain crops, whence the name alternate husbandry. ”

“ Agriculture.-The soil, an open sandy loam, deep red in colour, which was slightly exhausted at the beginning of the century by repeated crops of cereals, has been renewed by the application of rnussel mud dredged from the bays and tidal streams. All the staple crops are grown-especially oats, potatoes and turnips. Wheat is raised only for local consumption. ”

“ I am aware that it may be urged by the theorists of agriculture, that these crops call upon the soil for different elements, and that, according to the customary views of the objects attained by a rotation, they may even be of advantage to those which are to follow. Others will make the practical observation that the fertilizing materials of common use in modern agriculture, may so readily be applied to compensate for these abstractions from the soil, that this is a matter of little moment, and not worthy of serious consideration. ”

“ An English farmer looks not merely to the present year’s crop. He considers what will be the condition of the land when that crop is off; and what it will be fit for the next year. He studies to use his land so as not to abuse it. On the contrary, his aim is to get crop after crop, while still the land shall be growing better and better. If he should content himself with raising from the soil a large crop this year, and then leave it neglected and exhausted, he would starve. ”

“ Orchard-fruits, small fruits, grain and forage-crops have been satisfactorily produced in these localities. The soil whereever irrigated yields abundantly, and is adapted in different sections either to agricultural or subtropical products. ”

“ But you have practically but one soil to deal with, a true limestone soil of high fertility, which has received considerable accessions from silicious rocks. Your bottom lands do not differ materially from the upland, except that the former have received considerable vegetable matter, which the latter have lost. For the lowlands, corn, grass, and potatoes are the best crops; for the highlands, the small grains, sorghum, beans, etc. ”

“ The Exhaustion of the Soil.—The agricultural production of the country depends upon the fertility of the soil. Agricultural soil contains various chemical properties which are exhausted by long-continued cropping, particularly if only one type of produce is grown. ”

“ A field that has been reduced to temporarily low productive power by heavy cropping or bad farming methods may show a greater content of plant-food than another field that is in a highly productive condition. ”

“ Crops are raised year after year, sometimes for twenty successive years, on the same fields, without the soil's showing exhaustion; and what are called volunteer crops, sowing themselves, give good yields for the first, second, and even third year after the original planting. ”

“ All their lives now depended on the crops of grain and vegetables which they could raise in the valley. They made the barren land fertile by spreading water from the little streams over it,—what we call "irrigating"; and they planted enough corn and grain and vegetables for all the people. ”