THE EXPERIMENT STATION. 165 



lege. To my surprise and gratification none of it died last winter in Trav- 

 erse county. Perhaps the growth was so small it was not fit to die, and 

 nature dealt gently with it. The other grasses and clovers all lived. I 

 could not find a single plant that had suffered. The sweet clover is not 

 thought to be of any use for pasture or hay, but it has been mentioned as a 

 promising plant for plowing under to enrich the land. 



" The side buds are already pushing just at the suf ace of the ground. Every 

 one is watching the alfalfa with much interest. It is now beginning to 

 grow, but it is yet too soon to predict success for it on the sands of Michi- 

 gan. Lucerne is the French name for the same plant. The young plants 

 are rather slow to get well established ; it is not suitable for pasture any- 

 where, but is a favorite in some regions for mowing. For good hay it should 

 be cut before it blossoms or very soon after, and cured as we cure red clover. 



" On studying the ground over again this spring I think we are learning 

 something. I have patched some plats by another seeding. I am trying a 

 little rotted barn-yard manure on a small part of many of the plants, also 

 gypsum, or plaster, on the clover and on spurry, but not on the grasses. I 

 shall use a very little homestead superphosphate, sown two or three times on 

 a small part of each plat. In this way, with many questions from all 

 sources, and open eyes, and new grasses and clover from other sources, I 

 still hope to be able in due time to arrive at conclusions which shall be inter- 

 esting and valuable to all citizens of Michigan, and whichever way the 

 question is decided in the end, the experiments will be worth a thousand- 

 fold what they will cost." 



Among other things, on June 28 the following notes were made: Season 

 very early and dry till near the end of May ; June usually wet and cool. 

 The piece only harrowed (not plowed) and sown with seven sorts has made 

 some progress, and begins to look as though it would finally make some 

 headway. The sorts sowed on land neither harrowed nor plowed have made 

 no start. 



Manure and superphosphate, the latter sown once, improve orchard grass 

 and mammoth clover, in same plat together, to about the same extent. 



I cannot see that superphosphate improves orchard grass and tall oat grass 

 sown together ; manure has helped both species. 



Superphosphate on orchard grass alone doesn't seem to have helped it, 

 while barn-yard manure has produced a marked effect. 



The tall oat grass is thin, not as good as I had expected it would be. 



Sweet clover is also very scattering and spindling ; nearly all had been 

 eaten to the ground by cut-worms, but was sprouting just below the surface 

 of the ground. 



Eed clover does not seem so promising as mammoth clover. On a patch 

 of mammoth clover the superphosphate seems to have done more good than 

 the top dressing of barn-yard manure, but it must be remembered that the 

 piece is small, that there may be some difference in the land, that I am unable 

 to know for certain just how much manure was used or how much super- 

 phosphate. The notes in regard to this rough experiment are given as 

 indicating the nature of further and more extended experiments more care- 

 fully made. 



Much of the spurry sprouted last fall and died. Some seed remained over 

 winter, and patches of the plants are seen here and there. 



Timothy is very thin, some of it two feet high. 



