330 STATE BOAKD OF AGEICULTUKE. 



Uukiiowu, from "Watertown. — I bought a farm that had been poorly tilled 

 and the first season only harvested 10 bushels of wheat per acre. The same 

 ground broken up deeply and planted to corn, followed by barley and this by 

 wheat gave me 20 bushels per acre. I broke up a sod plowing twice and har- 

 rowing well and harvested 25 bushels of wheat per acre, while a neighbor on a 

 similar soil and sod, who plowed only once and then tilled with a cultivator, 

 harvested onlv 15. 



Mr. Thomas. — Have had considerable experience in wheat growing and upon 

 sod I consider one good thorough plowing, followed by a frequent use of the 

 cultivator and harrow, better than twice plowing. The loose, mellow surface 

 soil accumulates plant food which is right where it gives the wheat plant a good 

 start in the fall. 



Mr. L. B. Potter. — I think we ought to compare our soils as well as our 

 methods. 



Prof. C. L. Ingcrsoll. — Profitable wheat culture depends largely on the seed 

 bed. If the season or soil is such that the ground becomes compacted and hard 

 a second plowing may be necessary to mellow it up. 



Mr. More. — Are our soils so changeable that we can know nothing of their 

 composition? 



Dr. Kedzie. — Our soils are not Hxed and changeless, neither are they very 

 fickle. Plant food is constantly forming in the soil and is also being con- 

 stantly Avashed out. The inert plant food in the soil is also constantly being 

 changed to an available form. Chemistry will sometimes tell us the cause of bar- 

 renness in a soil, while in other cases it may be owing to physical causes and 

 cannot be detected by analysis. The great trouble is to find two soils of the 

 same composition, even when taken only short distances apart. Prof. Johnson 

 says soil analysis is useless ; this is one extreme ; the other is to tell by analysis 

 just what a soil needs to produce any given crop. The middle road is the best 

 one. 



Following the above discussion President T. C Abbot gave an address on 

 " Schools of Agriculture " (See lectures and addresses at the close of this record 

 of institutes.) 



THUKSDAY FOKENOON SESSION". 

 J. N. Smith, of Bath, read the following paper on 



"GALLOWAY CATLLE." 



Of one thing I feel quite certain, viz. : of being able to describe the Galloway 

 so that he may bo known or identified wlien met. He will be found hornless or 

 polled, color black with slight tinge of brown or tan, long bodied, straight and 

 broad on the back, deep broad shoulders, short legs with large feet, a thick 

 shaggy coat of hair of remarkable length in the cold season, and a thick mellow 

 hide under this rather harsh appearing exterior. 



The origin of the Galloway is obscure, or rather runs back of any existing 

 history of cattle. I quote the conclusions of the lamented Sauford Howard, 



