252 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



especial object iu view, but in ninety-nine cases of a liundred this object is lost 

 sight of, and the crop is used for some other purpose, and nine-tenths of its 

 cash value is entirely lost. We might as well expect to fertilize a field by draw- 

 ing a load of manure a few times around it, and then return the load to the 

 barnyard, as to expect to fertilize a field by raising a crop of clover upon it and 

 taking it all off. If we would succeed in fertilizing our nearly exhausted lands, 

 by using clover for that purpose, we should use as much care, and expend as 

 much necessary time and labor to get a heavy crop, as we do to obtain a good 

 crop of wheat or corn. It should neither be pastured nor cut for hay or seed, 

 and everything should be done that is possible to do to get a heavy growth, 

 letting every particle of it remain upon the ground until used for succeeding 

 crops. It will make a heavy mulch upon the ground, protecting it from the 

 burning rays of the sun in summer, and the cold, freezing winds in winter, 

 and prevent a loss by "evaporation" of the manurial elements collected from 

 the atmosphere. 



I will relate an incident to illustrate the lasting benefits of an application of 

 dry clover leaves to the soil : About twelve years ago we put a large stack of 

 clover upon a knoll in a field. A large amount of leaves was left upon the 

 ground around the stack. This refuse was scattered about and plowed under 

 and mixed with the soil. That poor knoll has ever since brought the best 

 crop of any portion of the field, not excepting the wheat crop last year, which 

 proves to me the lasting benefits to be derived from clover leaves as manure. 



I will now give my mode of preparing a field of clover for wheat : First I 

 plow it not more than five or six inches deep, any time in August, but wait 

 until most of the seeds are ripe enough to grow, if possible, using a jointer 

 upon the plow, following closely after with a light harrow, while the ground is 

 mellow, so as to fill up the spaces between the furrows and level the ground, 

 allowing no stock of any kind upon it. Let it remain in this condition until 

 time to sow, unless it should be necessary to cultivate to keep it perfectly 

 clean. Just before sowing I pulverize and level the surface with harrow and 

 slab-drag which makes it ready for the drill. 



I have now perhaps exhausted your patience, and used too much of your 

 valuable time, although I have by no means exhausted the subject, and I 

 will close by saying that I consider clover of the most value to the farmer 

 when handled as a fertilizer; secondly, as a fertilizer and hay crop; and 

 thirdly, as pasturage. 



CORN RAISING. 



BY E. P. FLANDERS, GALESBURG, MICH. 

 [Read 'before the Kalamazoo Uouuty Farmers' Institute.] 



To the western continent the world is indebted for the greatest blessing it 

 enjoys in the way of a cereal. Maize, or Indian corn, is undoubtedly the 

 most important cereal crop produced on the face of the globe, and its cultiva- 

 tion from being, previous to the discovery of America, confined to the 

 Aboriginal tribes has, as its value became recognized, spread with such rapidity 

 that it is now, and has been for years, an important crop in every civilized 



