TOBACCO. 201 



a good sod, but I never found any benefit from plowing in a 

 crop. 



Dr. Riggs. There is no question that a crop that is matured 

 and dry will produce more effect when plowed in than a green 

 crop. I consider a clover crop that has perfected its seed, 

 whether the seed be gatliered or not, if the stems are all dry, 

 a third or a half better than to plow it in perfectly green. 

 But in the case of the rye crop, I have to plow that in to get 

 the vegetable matter. I have to raise a crop after my tobacco 

 and get the land ready for the next crop of tobacco, hence I 

 cannot let it mature. 



W. W. White, of Putnam. I have in mind a piece of sandy 

 loam on whicii buckwheat was raised for eighteen years. It 

 ■was plowed every June, and whatever grew upon it was 

 turned in ; it was sowed for eighteen years, and the last buck- 

 wheat was as good as the first, and rather better. That land, 

 originally barren, would raise a very nice crop of ordinary 

 tobacco. It never had received any manure for eigliteen years ; 

 but we have been plowing turf, as a general thing, for one 

 crop or two, and never saw any difference. The land was 

 improved, and the crops improved by that process. One of 

 my neighbors has a piece of land that is too light to cart ma- 

 nure upon, and he has invariably sowed clover, turned it over 

 in August, and. sowed rye, and taken off a crop of rye ; and 

 he says that in eight years the crop became so heavy that it 

 lodged. In that case probably part of the clover ripened and 

 went to seed. 



Adjourned to seven o'clock. 



