FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 231 



enrich the ground. For tlie same reason it may be more beneficial to the laud 

 to take off a crop of clover hay than to pasture the field during the early sum- 

 mer, even when the stock are kept continually in the field and all the manure 

 produced from the clover returned at once. Keeping the clover fed and 

 tramped down would prevent a large growth of roots, which might be a greater 

 loss than would be made up by the droppings of the cattle or other stock. 



There is undoubtedly considerable land in this State the productiveness of 

 which may be continually increased, for the present generation at least, by ap- 

 plying plaster and growing clover two years out of every five, even if one or 

 two crops of hay, or one of hay and one of seed are taken off. 



The application of from GO to 100 pounds of plaster per acre to young clover 

 has a wonderful effect on its growth, and this small amount seems to do as 

 much good as when more is used. But the great majority of accurate experi- 

 ments, not only in tliis country but in Europe, show that plaster is of no par- 

 ticular benefit to corn or grain crops. It will make them grow ranker, of bet- 

 ter color, make more straw and stalks, but carefully repeated experiments time 

 and again, with but few exceptions, do not show any increase in grain. 



Why plaster is beneficial to clover and not to the grains or cereals I will not 

 attempt to tell you. So long as the ablest chemists can't agree on the ques- 

 tion, it is not worth while for us to take it up. The fact that it is so, and not 

 why it is so, is what most concerns us. 



Land that will grow a good crop of clover can be relied upon to produce 

 other crops, but at the present time there is great complaint that clover seed 

 will not catch. This is owing to a variety of causes, but usually to bad man- 

 agement. We may lay it down as a general rule that the finer the seed the 

 finer must be the particles of the soil and the more loose must be its structure 

 to cause germination and growth. The finer varieties of vegetable and flower 

 seeds will not grow at all in ordinary ground. The soil must be made fine 

 and mixed with mold, fine rotted manure, or something of the kind to keep 

 the soil loose. Wheat or oats will grow readily where clover will fail. I have 

 observed tliat garden soil when fertilized with manure in which clover straw 

 from whicii the seed had been threshed out was used for bedding that clover 

 would come in from the seed left in the straw so thick and strong that it was 

 almost impossible to clean it out. In the garden are the three necessary con- 

 ditions for the growth of a small seed like that of the clover: 1st, a fine soil 

 made so by thorough cultivation; 2d, a loose soil by reason of the decaying 

 matter, manure, etc., in the soil, which also keeps it moist; and 3d, it is rich, 

 and as soon as the seed throws out a rootlet it finds food in such condition that 

 it can take it up. Furnish these three requisites and there will be no difficulty 

 in making cloverseed grow in ordinary seasons. Many farmers have grown 

 from two to five crops of wheat or other grain in succession and then find clover 

 will not catch. Several grain or cultivated crops in succession without apply- 

 ing any manure will sometimes use up a large part of the vegetable or organic 

 matter in the soil. The ground looses its life so to speak, and is heavy and 

 lumpy; it does not work up fine, and a seed so small and delicate as that of 

 the clover, even if it sprouts, dries out and dies before it can get any nourish- 

 ment, and this may happen when grain will grow readily. 



Some of the best farmers always sow clover with tiieir wheat no matter if 

 the next crop is to be wheat also, to furnish vegetable matter to plow under, 

 and they are not troubled by clover not growing. It is sometimes advisable to 

 turn under some green crop to restore vegetable matter to the soil to cause clo- 

 ver to germinate. Oats and peas mixed make one of the best green crops. 



