274 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



How best improve a worn-out sandy soil? 



Mr. Van Alstyne. — The question refers to a light soil devoid of 

 humus. That must be present to hold moisture to get a crop. 

 Cultivation will do it in part, but I incline to the belief that a 

 crop of cow peas sown in June and plowed under the next spring 

 would be a good crop. " Whipporwill " or " Clay " are the best 

 of perhaps 20 varieties. If I did not sow the cow pea, I would 

 try winter rye to plow under. So far as fertilizers are concerned 

 I do not think I would buy nitrogen. If I did it would be in the 

 form of dried blood. If I wanted potash I would buy the muriate; 

 if phosphoric acid, I would buy dissolved South-Carolina rock; 

 if I found the soil acid I would apply 20 bushels of slaked lime, 

 broadcasted, per acre, to correct the acidity. 



Mr. Cook. — I think that the best way would be to put on a herd 

 of dairv cows. 



What is the relation, that is, manurial value, of oats, corn, wheat bran, 

 or wheat middlings, if either of them be fed to live-stock? 



Mr. Cook. — If the voidings are all saved, there will be found 

 most manurial value in the bran, next in the oats. There is more 

 value in the manure made from nitrogenous than from carbona- 

 ceous foods. Corn is of the latter class, and its manurial element 

 is quite low compared with bran. The same is true of timothy 

 hay when compared with clover. Corn, timothy hay, the straws, 

 cornstalks and corn ensilage are all starchy foods, and so contain 

 but very little manurial value, while clover, wheat bran, wheat 

 and buckwheat middlings, gluten meal, oil meal and cotton-seed 

 meal are all nitrogenous and have nearly as much manurial as 

 feeding value in them. Peas belong to the same class. Next, 

 perhaps, come the oats. 



What crops do you recommend as best to plow under to furnish nitrogen 

 and humus, and what element of plant food would you apply if you did 

 not have manure enough? Would you buy plaster? 



Mr. Cook. — I would plow under clover or cow peas. Both are 

 nitrogen-catchers from the atmosphere, which they give up to 

 the soil, and both furnish humus, but put in the peas as soon as 

 all danger of late spring frosts is past, and plow them under 

 before the early autumn frosts come. You will have to watch out 



