PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 283 



times. We commenced with tlie clover first on a small area, about the 

 15th of July, and seeded at intervals, sowing the first of August another 

 tract of about two acres with Crimson clover and oats, and still another 

 about the middle of August; and the oats made a growth of nearly two 

 feet, averaging perhaps very close to two feet, and of course are now 

 somewhat killed back, the tops have dropped down, and I think they will 

 now stand a foot high over the ground, probably more than that, and 

 tlioy will certainly hold the snow evenly and protect the Crimson clover. 

 Of course, there would have been danger in sowing a larger amount of 

 seed of the oats, hence w^e cut it down to a little less than a bushel, and 

 we found that occasional broadcasting of the seed left it a little 

 uneven, and it might be too thick in certain spots, although it w^as really 

 very even, and there we had a thick growth of the clover; and over 

 nine tenths of the area, where we used more than three pecks of oats, we 

 had a very good stand of clover, and I think it will remain. 



Tlie President: How much clover did you use? 



Professor Taft: We used eight pounds to the acre. I cut it down, 

 also, and I have a tract of three acres sown with seed of the fourth gen- 

 eration grown on our own ground, the fourth crop that we have saved 

 ourselves continuously, from the original purchase, and from the past 

 years I think I can see a gain in its hardiness. This year we have been 

 cleaning it up and I just took the chaff with the seed in it, after we had 

 cleaned out what we could, and got a very thick stand from that. 



Mr. Hamilton: The professors do not appear to help us out a great 

 deal. With us we can not sow as early as July and August. We have 

 to be in our orchards and do our picking after that time. We want some- 

 thing that we can sow the last days of October or some time in October. 



Prof. Craig: You will have to get an extension of the season then, 

 won't you? 



Mr. Hamilton : That is what we find in actual experience. We have 

 io be in our orchards from the 1st of August until the last days of 

 October, and in a way that I think we could get very little growth of 

 anything, especially on our heavier soils. It would be tramped out. 

 J think it would be impracticable for us to sow early and get a growth. 

 We must have something that we can sow in October, to help us, and on 

 our younger orchards we can sow Mammoth clover, and I think to good 

 advantage. I seeded, last fall, after the first rain. Mammoth clover in 

 n.y corn in a young orchard, and I have a covering now thick and nearly 

 a foot high, and that I calculate to turn over next vear. We can not do 

 that with our bearing orchards. We have to cultivate early, and up to 

 the time the professors talk about sowing, and then we have to pick. 



Mr. Stearns: I seeded the greater part of my orchard this year, about 

 the middle of September, with Crimson clover and oats, using about a 

 half bushel of oats to the acre, and I have a good stand of Crimson clover 

 and oats all over the orchard, and it is an orchard where I have been har- 

 vCvSting pears and peaches right along since the clover and oats were 

 sown, and with no great detriment to either. 



Hr. Hale: Eight along this particular line it has been my custom, in 

 my orchards and in fruiting orchards, to seed with Crimson clover 

 the middle of Julv, or at the last cultivation of the orchard. It is in a 



