108 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



our common mother those products -which feed and clothe the millions. We 

 must pay back every cent we borrow as we do, from the air or from the earth ; 

 we must do our share toward replenishing these great reservoirs of plant food. 

 IIow are we to do it? How can this great debt that is being constantly in- 

 creased be paid, ])rincipal and interest? 



For fertilizers we are pointed to the new improved and valuable commercial 

 superphosphates and compounds now in the market. We are pointed to the 

 millions of domestic animals, to the herds of cattle, sheep and swine, upon 

 which we so justly rely to sustain and restore the powers of an exhausted soil. 

 But if we were dependent alone upon these great and valuable agencies we 

 should fail in our system. Gradually we should dwindle ; our products would 

 dry uj") and we should become a non-exporting State, for the reason that in 

 order to stand in competition wo must have cheap fertilization. This is neces- 

 sary for the wheat farmer as well as for the fruit culturist. Ilence we point 

 out again and again the advantages of feeding the soil with its own green crops. 

 The practice is not uncommon aud is growing more and more in favor. It is 

 likely that the plowing under of green crops is essential to the orchard system 

 of the so-called Michigan fruit belt as well as to the interior orchards of the 

 State. The i)roblem is more productive power. Without it the agriculture of 

 the State, and its horticulture and pomology will go backward. 



This question of soil power is the great one of the hour. A\'e may study 

 varieties, methods, experiments, times and seasons, foes and friends, until the 

 crack of doomsday, it will be all in vain, if we have not power in the soil to sus- 

 tain plant growth. Here in the early career of the State it is a fearful and 

 solemn question to ask — Are wo on the turning point of our productive power? 

 Are we on the downward road? Is the fountain exhausted? We may talk of 

 our social, intellectual, and moral improvement, but it will be in vain if the soil 

 under our feet is degenerating. The people who decline in the productive 

 power of their orchards and farms are on the highway to ruin and bankruptcy. 

 Hence this question is constantly staring us in the face. We cannot cry it 

 down. We should say, feed when you crop — give as well as take. Seeing the 

 necessity of a cheap, easy, ready fertilizing agent — one immediately at hand, 

 one directly in line of the business — we point to this system of green manuring. 

 This in connection Avitli all other agents, with rotation of crops, with stable aud 

 barnyard manures, with plaster, ashes, and maid. Green manuring consists in 

 plowing under clover, buckwheat, rye, or other crops when in blossom. The 

 iirst crop is sacrificed, so to speak, for the sake of the succeeding ones. As 

 these plants, or some of them, will grow on poor soils, it is possible by their 

 help to reclaim the lightest sands and bring them up to a fair degree of pro- 

 ductiveness in the course of a few years. This system of fertilization is appli- 

 cable to farm and orchard, to a general system of mixed horticulture and 

 agriculture. It appears to be well approved and accepted in this State. 



Following this paper the ensuing discussion took place, covering several 

 topics : 



Prof. Beal. — The more I sec of our orchards through the State the more 

 decided I am in the opinion that what they want first, is thorough underdrain- 

 ing, and second, feeding. I do not mean that all orchards are not set in 

 land that requires iinder-draining, but a majority of them go with wet feet, and 

 consequently stunted growth. I am not particular as to the method of feeding, 



