Manure is a costly and valuable article, and we want to convert it
into plants, with as little delay as possible, which will, directly or
indirectly, bring in some money.

Our climate is very different from that of England. As a rule, we seldom
have enough rain, from the time corn is planted until it is harvested,
to more than saturate the ground on our upland soils. This year is an
exception. On Sunday night, May 20, 1883, we had a northeast storm which
continued three days. During these three days, from three to five inches
of rain fell, and for the first time in many years, at this season, my
underdrains discharged water to their full capacity. Had nitrate of
soda been sown on bare land previous to this rain, much of it would,
doubtless, have been lost by leaching. This, however, is an exceptional
case. My underdrains usually do not commence to discharge water before
the first of December, or continue later than the first of May. To guard
against loss of nitrogen by leaching, therefore, we should aim to keep
rich land occupied by some crop, during the winter and early spring, and
the earlier the crop is sown in the autumn or late summer, the better,
so that the roots will the more completely fill the ground and take up
all the available nitrogen within their reach. I have said that this
idea had modified my own practice. I grow a considerable quantity of
garden vegetables, principally for seed. It is necessary to make the
land very rich. The plan I have adopted to guard against the loss of
nitrogen is this: As soon as the land is cleared of any crop, after it
is too late to sow turnips, I sow it with rye at the rate of one and a
half to two bushels per acre. On this rich land, especially on the moist
low land, the rye makes a great growth during our warm autumn weather.
The rye checks the growth of weeds, and furnishes a considerable amount
of succulent food for sheep, during the autumn or in the spring. If not
needed for food, it can be turned under in the spring for manure. It
unquestionably prevents the loss of considerable nitric acid from
leaching during the winter and early spring.

Buckwheat, or millet, is sometimes sown on such land for plowing under
as manure, but as these crops are killed out by the winter, they cannot
prevent the loss of nitric acid during the winter and spring months. It
is only on unusually rich land that such precautions are particularly
necessary. It has been thought that these experim