450 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



are leaking out of your manure pile every time it rains, but you take no note 

 of it. 



TJiird, Fatten as many full grown animals as your means will allow; pur- 

 chase extra grain to feed if necessary, whenever the extra price of the fattened 

 animal will pay the price of it ; scatter a little gypsum on the stable floor every 

 day; grow as much corn as your animals will consume before the 1st of Febru- 

 ary each year; sow alsike and mammoth clover wherever you sow wheat; cover 

 the land with a thin coat of gypsum when the seed is sown to insure a good 

 catch. 



While on the subject of gypsum, I will make the suggestion that a great 

 amount of ammonia is brought to the earth's surface with the snows of winter, 

 would it not be well to sow gypsum, a small amount, to fix the ammonia until 

 the time when the growing plants will take it? The price of plaster is high 

 here compared with many places; consc'((aently it will be economy to sow less 

 and often, say fifty pounds per acre, and very evenly over the laud. Gypsum 

 is, perhaps, the only commercial manure we can at present afford to purchase. 

 I believe every fifty pounds of gypsum sown on an acre of clover in early spriag 

 will increase the product of hay 500 pounds, and often much more. When we 

 cease to let our hens and turkeys roost on the fence, stop the rain from oar 

 barn roof drenching our manure pile, supply our piggery with tight floors and 

 roofs, and learn that all decomposition is a waste to the farm unless some 

 plant or absorbent is on the spot to drink up the gases, then it may be time to 

 talk of guanos and superphosphates. Somebody has said, manure your soil 

 with brains. I will simply add, keep a correct book account of the result. 



Mr. Tracy. — Experiments made by Dr. Kedzie at the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege go to show clearly that a great amount of ammonia — the most diSiGult 

 element of plant food to procure — is brought down by rain ; and that the 

 quantity of this alkali thus furnished us varies greatly in the different storms, 

 some being richly imbued with nitrogen, while others contain scarcely any. 

 Snow brings down more than rain, and the lighter the snow the greater 

 amount of ammonia it contains. Hence the origin of the adage, " Snow is the 

 poor man's manure." It may be that the remarkable fertility of our farms is 

 due in a great measure to the unusually large quantity of snow which falls in 

 the Grand Traverse region. 



Mr. Drew. — There is no good farming unless we can leave the soil in as good 

 condition after harvesting the crops as it was when they were sown. We must 

 give and take with the soil. If our crops extract nourishment from the soil, 

 we must replenish it with the nutritious elements extracted from it, otherwise 

 future crops will suffer for want of food, and consequently diminish, — ulti- 

 mately entirely fail. Old agriculturists fall back on barn-yard manure for 

 this purpose. It is a question in my mind if beans are not preferable to clover 

 for ploughing under. They are deep feeders and their root surface is very 

 great, more in bulk than their tops. 



Mr. B. Montague — This is a very important subject, and one which should 

 not be lightly passed over. The soil here is different from that which I have 

 been used to; it contains sufficient lime and other substances which go to 

 make up the mineral part of soil, but is destitute of vegetable matter. Chiefly, 

 I think, owing to the fact that in clearing the land, the aim seems to be to 

 obtain what is termed a "good burn," that is to burn up everything com- 

 bustible on the land, thereby consuming all vegetable matter and leaving 

 nothing but sand and other incombustible substances. What we need to do 



