No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 367 



And what did the original settlers do with these crops? Mauy of 

 them were sold oil" the farm, carryinj>- away larf;e quantities of jjlant 

 food; tho rest wore fed to stock, and no care whatever was taken 

 to save the liquid part of the manure. Indeed, in many cases special 

 pains were taken to make holes and cracks in the floor to let the 

 supposed worthless material escape. But all this licjuid manure 

 was carrying off with it the potash of the food. In other words, 

 the farmer was drawing the potash from the soil and allowing it 

 to run to waste into the streams. Not many years of such a proce- 

 dure would be required to affect the growth of the clover, for this 

 plant requires a large amount of available potash at its command 

 in order to be a success. At the same time that the clover was 

 being robbed of its pota^i it was also being injured in another di- 

 rection. On the removal of the forest the soil was left full of vege- 

 table matter, and consequently light, springy and porous. These 

 are the necessary conditions for a good crop of clover, since the 

 clover plant requires air at its roots, equally as well as at its 

 leaves, to grow vigorously. The system practiced of removing 

 much and returning little soon decreased the vegetable matter or 

 humus of the soil, leaving it more and more compact, increasing the 

 difficulty of securing a stand of clover, decreasing the size of the 

 crop, and adding largely to the chances of the clover freezing and 

 heaving out in the winter or drowning out in the spri'jg. It is 

 scant wonder that we are told in meeting after meeting that the 

 farmers of the vicinity can no longer grow red clover. 



To obtain again good crops of clover, it is necessary to restore 

 the original conditions, that is, to lill the soil once more with avail- 

 able potash, and with vegetable matter. The beftt and cheapest 

 way of doing this is by feeding stock, saving all the manure and re- 

 turning it to the soil. It is best not to attempt to save the liquid 

 by itself in cisterns, or to apply it to the land in the liquid form. 

 The liquid and the solid portions separately rira each a one-sided or 

 unbalanced fertilizer; the solid contains nitrogen and phosphoric 

 acid witliout potash, while the liquid is well supplied with nitrogen 

 and potash, but lacks phosphoric acid. The best plan is to use some 

 absorbent for taking up the liquid portion, mixing this with the 

 solid and applying both together to the land as a complete fertilizer. 



What is used as an absorbent makes but little difference; straw, 

 chaff, sawdust, leaves, muck, all are excellent. One of the best 

 absorbents for the cow stable is the bedding and manure from the 

 horse stable. Horse manure is dry, heating and injuring easily; 

 but put in the gutters behind the cows, it acts as an absorbiuit and 

 all the manure is thereby improved. A liberal sprinkling of land 

 plaster or finely ground phosphate rock is excellent for the absorp- 

 tion of odors and the decrease in the loss of the nitrogen of the 

 manure. 



