TRANSACTIONS OF WARSAW HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 249 



heat and water, three necessary essentials to vegetable growth, are freely 

 admitted into the soil ; no other cereal has the same fertilizing properties. 



Salt, at this distance from the ocean, is our most available as well as 

 economical fertilizer for all kinds of fruit trees. Nothing so stimulates a 

 rapid and healthful growth, besides being destructive to insects in the 

 larval state, especially our plum destroyer, the curculio. For grass also, 

 two or three bushels to the acre has proved equal to a fair top-dressing 

 of barn -yard manure. 



Mr. McCune inquired of Capt. Hathaway how high clover would 

 be at the time of turning it under the first year? 



Mr. Hathaway — About six inches. 



Mr. McCune thought that it would not amount to much as a fertil- 

 izer till the second year. 



Mr. Grover — Clover mellows the land and is a subsoiler. Rotation 

 may produce favorable results ; five years is too long to keep land in pas- 

 ture. Selling hay exhausts the land ; feeding it on the farm is very 

 different. I don't want to be understood as saying that any lar|,d will not 

 deteriorate ; land will wear out unless renewed. 



Mr. Hathaway — Meadow land will not fail if the aftermath is 



left on. 



Mr. Grover — The crop taken off tends to impoverish ; vegetation 

 of any kind has the tendency to enrich, if left on the land or restored 

 to it. 



Mr. Hollowbush — Land needs rest; when so trec^ed it has the 

 inherent properties of recuperation. Clover is one of the best fertilizers. 



The benefit of mulching was brought up by several of the members. 

 It was claimed that mulching, rest and exclusion from light enriched 



land. 



Dr. Taylor said that such a covering prevents in a measure exces- 

 sive exhalations of moisture, which would allow the gasses to escape 

 which accumulate beneath the mulch, and promote the decomposition of 

 vegetable matter. 



The utility of salt suggested by Capt. Hathaway was questioned. 



Dr. Hollowbush said the soda remaining might, to some extent, 

 have a beneficial effect, the hydrochloric acid and chlorine would be 

 given off in gasses. 



Mr.. Calkins — Is it best to put manure on meadows or on plowed 

 lands ? 



Mr. Grover said the most perceptible benefit was on meadows. 



Several gentlemen testified to the benefits of top-dressing grass land 

 with manure. 



