FAEMEES' INSTITUTES. 105 



their experience on the subjects herein touched npon, I shall feel that my object 

 has been fully attained. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Tomlinson. — Do you consider hay a first-rate article for fattening cattle? 



Mr. Shultes. — I think good hay is a good thing to feed ; but I don't know as 

 a man can get ^15 a ton for his hay by putting it into beef. 



Mr. Tomlinson. — I a^ked the question because I lately read an article in the 

 New York Tribune, from Prof. Arnold, in Avhich he considered dry hay, in a 

 measure, indigestible ; and he claimed that grass was the true standard to go 



by- 

 Mr. Shultes. — Hay is the next thing to greeu grass for fattening cattle ; the 



time of cutting and curing it is, however, a matter of considerable importance. 



I cut my hay when it is nicely in blossom, and cure it with as little exposure to 



the dew as possible. Hay that is fully ripe is of little value. 



Mr. Loomis. — Do you ever try sowing your grass seed when you drill in your 

 wheat? 



Mr. Shultes. — I sometimes seed at the time the wheat is sown. If I don't 

 ■sow my grass seed in the fall, I wait in the spring until the ground is 

 sufficiently dry and then I go over it -with the harrow. My soil would be called 

 -a clay loam. It is underlaid with gravel to the depth of about three feet. 



Mr. Blackman. — AMiat kind of grass, do you think, makes the best kind of 

 hay for fattening puqioses? 



Mr. Shultes. — About 25 per cent of clover, — usually less, — and the other 

 portion timothy. 



Mr. Jewett. — How long do you allow meadows to be seeded before breaking 

 up again? 



Mr. Shultes. — N"ot more than two or three years. I think four times is the 

 most I ever mowed a meadow in succession. 



Spencer Marsh. — Do you over cut hay when the seed is fully formed? 



Mr. Shultes. — I have, some. That used to be the rule, and it wa? said that 

 you got both hay and grain ; but I failed to find that it Avas either. 



Mr. Loomis. — Grass-growing is getting to be an important question. You go 

 into adjoining counties, where they use plaster liberally, and you will find they 

 cannot grow grass. I would like to know if there is any man here who can give 

 us a reason for this. Isn't this getting to be the ca=e in Allegan county? 



Mr. Blackman. — I have sowed plaster for the last twenty years, and gener- 

 ally have good success in getting a good stand of clover. The drouth has killed 

 it sometimes, but I can see no difference in late and former years. 

 - Mr. Loomis. — That is not the case with men in Calhoun county. Some of 

 the best farmers of that county cannot grow grass. Some of these farmers 

 have sold all their hav, grain, and wheat for years, and they now find it impos- 

 sible to seed their ground. I haven't sold as much hay as I have given away iii 

 the last 25 years, and I never have any trouble in dry weather, Now, there is 

 sometliing wrong, and if this thing hasn't got into Allegan county, don't let us 

 allow it to get here. 



Mr. Sailor. — I was brought up in Pennsylvania, where the people don't see 

 after four clock, but you can hardly get one of those farmers to sell a pound of 

 hay or a pound of straw. They raise timothy and clover, and believe in a rota- 

 tion of crops ; but you can't get them to sell their hay or straw, and the conse- 

 quence is I never saw finer farm products than they raise. They believe in the 



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