Staunton Spectator, And General Advertiser

Harrowing Grain.—This is the proper season to call the attention of farmers to this subject, as the operation should be performed as soon as the ground is sufficiently settled to bear the cattle. We have published several articles, showing the manifest utility of spring harrowing winter grain, and explaining the why and the wherefore. The harrow should be light, and if the teeth are long, it is well to intertwine a few branches of pine or other wood among them, to prevent them cutting too deep—The operation closes the fissures caused by the earth contracting as it does, pulverizes and opens the surface to the genial influence of heat and moisture, and, by covering the crowns of the plants, causes them to tiller more abundantly. We advise that in every case, eight or ten pounds of clover seed be sown to the acre before the harrow is introduced. It will more than repay the expense of seed, in the fertility it imparts to the soil, to say nothing of the value of the herbage for farm stock — The Cultivator.