140 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Russian thistles, what would we have put into the holes? The only way 

 of keeping the thistle out is to put something in the place of it. No weed 

 can keep pace with a lively, resourceful farmer. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Baldwin : When the land becomes somewhat exhausted, I should 

 draw the conclusion that you think it would be better to abandon the 

 farm for awhile and let nature take its course? 



Prof. Bailey: Your question is this: That instead of so much muscle, 

 we sometimes let nature have her way a little. Yes, to a limited extent. 

 Mr. Willard will tell you that, after the land has been "treed" once, they 

 like to put the land out to clover. The nurserymen have caused the 

 land to become settled down and hard, and then they dig their trees in 

 the fall, and that means one or two fall plowings; and you know that fall 

 plowing often causes the land to run together. I often hear our pro- 

 fessor of agriculture (at Cornell University) say that he can make more 

 money by going out and sitting on a fence and whistling than many men 

 can by tilling their land. That is to say, by practicing careful rotation, 

 he can slip in some sort of crop that can be turned under, in order to 

 put fibre into the land. 



Mr. Beal: I remember hearing our friend, Prof. Tracy, say the other 

 day that he was always glad when some new insect came along, because 

 then he had a new enemy to conquer, and he was sure to come out ahead 

 in the long run. I said a year ago that the Russian thistle would be 

 worth hundreds and thousands of dollars by way of a state scare-crow. 



Mr. Morrill : I have yet to know of a successful effort to raise crimson 

 clover in Michigan; I am sorry my friend, Mr. Starr, has been obliged to 

 leave, because I would like to have him tell of his experience along that 

 line. He is one of the most successful cultivators in the vicinity of 

 Detroit. He raises every year, five acres of squashes. He has been 

 accustomed to watch as jealously as any man could through June and 

 July, as he finishes up his cultivation, for the rainy day, and just before 

 that rain comes, he is accustomed to sow the ordinary common red clover 

 in the squash patch, and this fall there was clover that would actually 

 conceal the fruit. Early next spring he will plow that under. He has 

 followed the same practice with corn, and I think Mr Starr watches the 

 sky as anxiously through June and July, for a shower, for the oppor- 

 tunity to put in his clover, as he does for any other purpose. I throw out 

 this suggestion, for I think there is much in it. 



Mr. Baldwin: As Prof. Bailey was speaking of utilizing the water 

 that the Almighty gives, before trying to get more, he also speaks very 

 interestingly on the subject of tiling. I am, perhaps, something of a 

 crank on tiling, and I have experimented somewhat. I thoroughly 

 believe that if one is not much in debt he can afford to borrow money 

 and bury it in his own bank, and that bank will repay him the capital 

 with the interest he pays, inside of two years, either wet or dry season. 

 Last spring (I speak of this as many of you perhaps have not tried it) I 

 put in a hundred rods of tile. It was an excessively dry season, but I say 

 to you that every row of corn that was anywhere near the vicinity of this 



