394 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



put up several gallon, of Damson plums in stone pots with but little 

 sugar, the jars being onl}^ covered with cotton batting. The plums 

 kept perfectly, until opened one uud two years afterward. Mrs. 

 Chase told the result to the editor of the Advocate, and we have for 

 three years put up berries in the same way, and never had a jar fail 

 to keep. Last year we opened in the presence of several people, a 

 jar of blueberries that had been put up just two years, and found 

 them in nice order. To Professor Tyndall belongs the honor of the 

 discovery, and to Mrs. Chase the honor of being the first to make a 

 practical use of it. We desire to make so useful a matter known to 

 the general public, and we only claim to have been the first to pub- 

 lish the directions." 



MANURE FOR THE ORCHARD. 



[ I believe that the cheapest and best way to manure is by sow- 

 ing clover and let it rot on the ground. I have' tested it to my 

 satisfaction and find that after two years of such manuring the 

 ground is nearly like new ground, and wonderfully improved — 

 Secretary.] 



Prof. Shelton, of the Kansas Agricultural College, says red 

 clover (trifolium pratense) deserves a prominent place in the list of 

 forage plants suited to Eastern and Central Kansas. In 1874 and 

 1875, two exceptionally dry seasons, it failed almost entirely at 

 Manhattan, giving neither pasture nor hay. But. during the fav- 

 orable seasons which have since preyailed, it has flourished abund- 

 antly, and has yielded more — both of hay ' and pasture — than is 

 generally obtained in the East. He has in one season cut two ex- 

 cellent crops of hay and a crop of seed from the same ground. 



Red clover in that state has one interesting peculiarity worth 

 mentioning. When land is once seeded it never "runs out," but 

 thickens and spreads continually by self-seeding. A piece of 

 ground seeded with red clover in ISI'Z gave a large yield of 

 clover hay last year. He believes that nowhere are there such large 

 crops of clover seed grown as in Kansas. Eed clover is worth 

 a trial anywhere in the state. Already it has taken a high 

 place in the agriculture of the eastern aud central portions of 

 the state, where its cultivation is rapidly extending. In very dry 

 seasons, however, it lacks the "staying" qualities so remark- 

 able in alfalfa. But while drouth generally reduces the yield 

 of clover, as of all other crops, it will rarely upon clay soil perma- 

 nently injure the plants. Regarding the relative merits of clover 

 and alfalfa — a question often raised — he says that while the former 



