298 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



terest, by offering a portion of the premiums in books, diplo- 

 mas, and silver-ware. 



Edmund Hersey. 



John B. Moore. 



C. S. Sargent. 



The essay was read, discussed, and laid over, when Mr. 

 INIiLO J. Smith submitted the following paper : — 



GREEN CROPS AS A MANURE. 



JNIuch has been said and written upon the question as to 

 how we shall best restore our exhausted out-lands ; and vari- 

 ous green crops to be turned under have been strongly recom- 

 mended as a cheap, sure, and speedy means of restoration to 

 such lands. After thirty years of experience and observation 

 I cannot indorse the theory of it ; and, in my opinion, all green 

 crops (except clover) turned under in their full, succulent 

 state, are a decided damage to land and the crop. 



I have turned under clover at its full growth (both first and 

 second crops), and the stubble after the hay-crop was taken 

 off, and always with good results. It would undoubtedly be 

 better still to let the crop ripen on the ground. The fact 

 that the roots of a good clover-sod, to all appearance, are as 

 valuable as the crop for fertilizing the soil, has, of late years, 

 led me to hay off the crop ; and, where hay is worth twenty 

 dollars per ton, I do not think it advisable to turn it under. 

 We find in the wheat-growing sections of the West, espe- 

 cially in the counties of Monroe and Genesee, New York, 

 that, after cropping their lands with wheat for a series of 

 years, they found the crop gradually failing. The straw 

 became weak and puny, so as to invite the ravage of the 

 Hessian fly, when they resorted to the use of clover. They 

 found it greatly invigorated and strengthed the straw, 

 so as to enable them to overcome many of the evils they 

 had to contend with. 



I will state my experience with buckwheat as a fertilizer. 

 Some thirty years ago, I had a lot of land a little distance 

 from my barn, that had been cropped for a long series of 

 years, with but little manure returned ; and, of course, crops 



