THE PENINSULA FARMERS' CLUB. 471 



Mr. Tracy. — AYe ought to raise the manure on our farms. 



Mr. Brinkman. — Then if we do we shall have no trouble about our crops. 



Mr. McCallum. — Manure costs too much here. 



Mr. Brinkman. — There is plenty of it at Traverse City. 



Mr. McCallum, — But we can't aflford to draw it from there. 



Mr. Drew. — Manured ground here will bring scabby potatoes. 



Mr. Brinkman. — That may be, but I manured ground heavily with coarse 

 manure on sandy land and had no scabby potatoes. 



Mr. Drew. — The advantage of Early Rose is, you can get them off in time 

 for a fall crop. 



Mr. Montague. — It is a good policy to raise a crop of several kinds. Peach- 

 blows must remain in the ground as long as safe to insure ripening, and if you 

 have a large crop it may be impossible to dig them all. A good plan is to sell 

 part of any crop in the fall and the balance in the spring, — wheat or any crop. 



Mr. Drew. — An average for ten years gives us fifty cents per bushel for our 

 potatoes. 



WHAT CROPS ARE BEST FOR STOCK. 



MAPLETOisr, Jan. 25, 1875. 



The club met according to adjournment on the evening of this day, Presi- 

 dent Montague in the chair. 



Mr. Brinkman read an essay on the following subject, viz. : "How can we 

 best keep up the fertility of our soil," and the club proceeded to discuss the 

 question of the evening, What crops are best for our stock. 



Mr. Geo. Lardie, Sr. — I have raised ruta-bagas and turnips for years. They 

 are good for stock, but I think I have found out something better. Ruta-bagas 

 are very good feed in the spring, but in very cold weather they are of little 

 value. For one year now I have tried the squash and find one bushel of them 

 worth three of ruta-bagas. This is true I believe of any kind of squash, though 

 the Marblehead is not so hard and keeps better than most other varieties. It 

 possesses the advantage over turnips for milch cows, the butter does not taste 

 of the food. It is cheaper than the ruta-baga, but must be handled very care- 

 fully. This will save them, especially if you have a root cellar. Mine are in 

 a barn cellar and keep well. I have raised on nine square rods of ground one 

 and one-half tons of pumpkin, but the squash has more substance. My pump- 

 kins weighed some of them fifty pounds, and were three feet long. Whether 

 they will keep as long as the squash I can't say, as this is my first year with 

 them, but I have one of them sound yet. For horses and cattle both, and 

 especially for horses, I rank carrots very high. Horses fed moderately on them 

 come out in good condition, and are ready for work in the spring. 



Mr. McCallum. — Squashes are good for horses also. Mine ran down on ordi- 

 nary feed, and I brought them up by this feed. I used the Boston Marrow. 



Mr. Marshall. — No doubt the squash is very valuable, but I am in favor of 

 roots also. In fact a variety of crops is perhaps the best, so that whatever may 

 be the season he shall have a crop of something. Corn is a good crop. I am 

 wintering sixteen head of cattle on straw and fodder; have fed no hay yet. I 



