102 STATE BOARD OF AGEICULTURE. 



Mr. Anderson. — I -would like to state, in regard to the hogs wliicli I am breed- 

 ing, that Mr. Jones of Eichland, Kahxmazoo county, of Avhom I jDurchased, 

 informed me that he bought in Ohio some of both sexes from two distinct fami- 

 lies, called the large-bone and small-bone Poland China. These varieties he 

 crossed, and the hogs I now have are products of that cross. The first Poland 

 China which I bought of Mr. Bracket, and butchered a year ago this fall, was 

 fed no grain during the summer, and had June grass instead of clover. He got 

 no grain at all until I turned him into my wheat stubble, where I kept him 

 until I took him up to fat. I butchered him in Decenil:)er, and he dressed 564 

 pounds. I might easily have put another hundred pounds on him, if I had fed 

 grain during the summer. I have no doubt at all that I fatted that hog and 

 raised him as cheaply as I have a great many hogs of other varieties which did 

 not dress 300 pounds. 



Mr. Henry Shultes, of Martin, next read the following essay, entitled : 



KAISING HAY AND FATTENING CATTLE. 



The grass crop of this state, as well as the other states of the union, is among 

 the most important of its products, and the question how to raise a sufficient 

 amount of liay to projDcrly feed the stock which ought to be kept on the farm, 

 is one which ha? sorely perplexed many a farmer. Especially has this been the 

 case during the last three or four years, when excessively dry weather during 

 the growing season has been the rule, and moist weather the exceptioji. On 

 every hand we hear the complaint from farmers: "My grass seed failed to 

 catch on account of the drouth." AYhile it may be, and undoubtedly is true, 

 that extremely dry weather during the latter part of the spring and early sum- 

 mer have contributed in no small degree, it is equally true that tlie difficulty 

 may be partially traceable to other causes. The desire to produce those crops 

 which may be most easily and speedily converted into money has induced many 

 a Michigan farmer to direct all his energies to tlie raising of wheat, barley, 

 oats, and corn ; and these products have been sold from the farm from year to 

 year, while little or nothing has been returned to the soil to restore the fertility 

 thus taken away. At length, when inferior yields admonish the hiTsbandman 

 that his soil is becoming exhausted by these repeated croppings, and he 

 concludes to seed his lands to grass, to his great surprise his seed does not 

 "^ catch." Unwilling to charge this result to his own mismanagement, he 

 attributes it to drouth, frost, or anything beside the real cause. Assuming that 

 Ave find the farmer in this situation, how to make a meadow becomes a serious 

 question. To rescue the soil from its barrenness and restore its fertility, is the 

 point toward which the first effort should be directed. To sow grass seed on 

 land, on wdiich repeated experiments have demonstrated that it will not grow, 

 is sheer folly. In making a meadow, I would recommend, first, summer-fal- 

 lowing thoroughly, thereby destroying all weeds and rendering available for the 

 growth of grass every particle of fertility remaining in the soil. Next, I would 

 spread upon tlie surface all the barnyard manure obtainable, together with 

 ashes (which, by the way, are a very good fertilizer), and g3'p^um or plaster. I 

 would leave the plaster and ashes, and the manure, if well rotted, upon the sur- 

 face, or slightly Avorked in Avith the cultivator. Then, about the first of Sep- 

 tember, soAv six quarts of timothy seed to the acre, and in early i-pring four 

 quarts of clo\'er seed to the acre. Clover seed should be sown Avhen the ground 

 is honey-combed AA'ith frost, and befoi'e it is settled. If the ground to be soAvn 

 is reasonably fertile, wheat may be soAvn or drilled in at the same time Avith the 

 timothy seed ; Imt if the field has been exhausted by repeated croppings it would 



