484 STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



15AULKY. 



There were 48,539 acres of barley liarvested in Micliii^aii in 1877, aiul there could 

 not have been far from 50,000 acres last season. At 35 busliels to the acre, and 50 

 cents a bushel, this would give 1,750,000 bushels as the amount, and §875,000 as the 

 market value of the Michigan barlej' crop for 1878. The increase in the production 

 of this cereal has not kept pace with that of wheat and corn, and 1 think one trouble 

 is that farmers depend too much upon the market brewers make for it, and too little 

 upon its value as a stock fattener at home. Mr. David Woodman, of Paw Paw, gives 

 it as his opinion that one bushel of barley is worth about two bushels of oats for 

 feeding purposes. As the cost of production is not materially greater than that of 

 oats, bushel per bushel, the profits of the crop as stock feed must be much greater 

 than is generally supposed. 



OTIIEU CROPS— POTATOES. 



As to the yield of the other crops for 1878, the figures are too meagre to warrant 

 an estimate. 



The ])otato crop which had only increased from about 3,000,000 bushels, in 1853, to 

 5,500,000 in 1873, has probably not yet much exceeded 0,000,000, though the adapta- 

 tion of late varieties to the light sandy soils and their comparative exemption from 

 the ravages of the Colorado beetle in the northern counties of the State, point to a 

 rapid increase of the crop in the immediate future. 



UYE 



also in the same region, where it is being grown for pasture and plowed under as a 

 fertilizer. I saw last July on the sandy plains near lliggins Lake, springing from 

 soil where it is said clover could not take root, a luxuriant growth of rye, the stalks 

 standing full five feet high and well headed. It promises to supply the vegetable 

 mould in which the soil is deficient, and if so, the question of reducing that vast belt 

 of pine jilains to profitable husbandry is at last solved. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



Buckwheat, though not a leading staple in the State, forms a very considerable 

 item among the farm products. In 1849 the crop had reached nearly half a million 

 bushels, and in the statistical reports since then, where it is given in the aggregate 

 of oats, rye, barley and buckwheat, it is ranked next to oats in amount, and must 

 now reach four or five million bushels annually. It supplies a nutritious and palatable 

 article for the table, but its value as a food for animals, particularly for horses, 

 sheep and poultry is, I am satisfied, not fully appreciated by our farmers. It thrives 

 on poor soil, where other crops cannot be grown profitably, while on richer soil it 

 grows so luxuriantly as to smother all weeds and leave the soil clear and in good 

 condition for other crops. It matures rapidly, gives quick returns, and as a field 

 crop for orchards and a honey pasture for the apiaiy it has special advantages. 



TIMOTHY AND CLOVER SEED. 



The raising of timothy seed and clover seed has also been a profitable branch of 

 husbandry in Michigan, and must increase in extent and profitableness as the laud is 

 brought under better tillage and the mechanical appliances for the work are made 

 more efi'ective. The Michigan hay crop of 1873 amounted to 1,134,077 tons, and in 

 localities commanding a ready market it brought most remunerative prices. 



Many a good and partly improved farm in the central and northern sections of the 

 State, near the lumber regions, has paid for itself by a single crop of hay. The art 

 of baling and other facilities for transportation have somewhat equalized prices, 

 Btill hay, whether for sale or home consumption, remains one of the best paying of 

 farm crops. 



CLOVER. 



As a mannrial agetit clover surpasses all other crops known or cultivated. It 

 pumps up nitrogen with its roots, absorbs ammonia with its leaves, and stores them 

 in the surface of the soil for the nourishment of other crops. In this way it coun- 

 teracts the heavy drain made upon the soil by the constant croppir.g with wheat. 

 "Without a judicious and liberal use of such restoratives, the fertile wiieat farms of 

 Michigan must in time become as worn-out and sterile as the exhausted tobacco 

 jilantations of Virginia. 



FIELD PEAS. 



Within the last few years a new rival of corn and oats as a field crop has made its 

 appearance in the State, and the next census will undoubtedly surprise many farmers 



