THE SOUTH HAVEN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 4S7 



The qiu'stion for the evening, the president said, was abroad one, and he 

 thought it advisable to first say something more concerning manures. 



W. H. Ilnrlbut said any warm land would be benefited by the use of hard- 

 wood sawdust, which we could get for the hauling. He would use it as a 

 mulch around trees. He found on examination this spring, that the old bark 

 of apple trees under the sawdust was replaced by a new one, and new roots 

 were frequently found, showing it had some fertilizing eSect. 



A. T. Linderman thought the softening of the bark at the base of the tree 

 might be an injury. 



Geo. L. Seaver said he used sawdust around currant bushes with a marked 

 benefit. 



J). 0. Loveday had used old hard-wood sawdust around Osage, and could see 

 a great improvement over those where it was omitted. Another benefit was, 

 the plants did not heave where it was used. He designed using it for straw- 

 berries; thought it was best to put it on in the fall, 



A. Fitch said grass or hay was very beneficial. 



A. T. Linderman said we should be cautious about the use of sawdust. He 

 would put it on the soil and not in it; if put in the soil it would fire flange 

 and develop fungus, and he had traced club-foot and woolly aphis to its use on 

 apple trees in the nursery where it was plowed under. 



D. C. Loveday said his neighbor killed his currant brush by putting on too 

 much sawdust. 



A. T. Linderman thought clay beneficial spread on sand. It answered as a 

 mulch, and was one of the best manures when worked into the soil. 



W. H. Hurlbut knew of a clay subsoil benefiting a clay loam. 



A. Fitch had seen rank growth along the sides of ditches where the subsoil 

 was thrown out. 



Harvey Linderman thought the drainage was more beneficial than the sub- 

 soil. He would not discourage the use of subsoil; sometimes it contains 

 elements needed by the soil. He thought it should be used first on a small 

 scale as an experiment, and, if successful, it might then be increased; if not re- 

 quired by the soil it would not pay. 



G. W. Byers related a case where in draining a piece of land Llie subsequent 

 crop showed where the drain lay. 



W. H. Hurlbut said that with trees as well as grain crops the soil needed 

 deep drainage. 



G. L. Seaver wished to say more about shade trees. He thought we ought 

 to set more elms, as they were longer-lived and more handsome and beneficial 

 fifty years hence when the short-lived maples would be dead. In reply to the 

 proper distance to set shade trees, Mr. S. said they should be set further apart, 

 twenty to thirty feet instead of ten to twenty. 



W. H. Hurlbut said the elm stood the most hard usage of any tree; would 

 recommend the white elm. 



A. T. Penniman thought elms might be interspersed with maples. 



