WEST MICHIGAN FRUIT GROWERS' SOCIETY. 75 



poso that if the soil is hood or cultivated, so as to keep down the weeds, that 

 all is accomplished that a sandy soil requires. This is a great mistake. Ex- 

 perience has shown that if the surface of a sandy soil is changed very often, 

 say every week, while vegetation is growing, the result shows that the labor 

 is not lost, both in the crop and the soil itself. There are many minerals in 

 every soil which remain in their normal or natural state unless exposed to 

 the air, and when they become oxidized, act as fertilizers and are valuable. 

 The frequent hoeing and cultivating of the soil produce these changes, with 

 the beneBcial result, as suggested, which is shown in the case of what is 

 commonly known as summer-fallowing. 



The nur8eryman understands that budding can only be done when the 

 bark of the tree will peel, and finds that many times he can work in the 

 morning, but when the sun is hot in the middled the day the bark becomes 

 set and he can work no longer. He then starts his horse and cultivator be- 

 tween the rows of trees, and before he has passed many times he can again 

 commence work, as the bark is found to be all right. He pursues this course 

 as often as the bark becomes set. A tree can only grow when its bark will 

 peel. Consequently, it may grow in the forenoon and remain dormant in 

 the afternoon, which fact is undoubtedly true in regard to plants and vegeta- 

 bles. 



I will say, then, in conclusion, that the cultivation of sandy soils can be 

 made pr-'fitable if sufficient attention is paid to the manure that is used and 

 the amount of labor that is bestowed upon the land. 



FURTHER ON THE SAME SUBJECT. 



The Eev. Chas. Scott, President of Hope College, gave this additional 

 testimony to the great agricultural possibilities of sandy soils : 



We may toil and sweat upon these Michigan sands, but labor and care and 

 skill will bring forth from them far more than a harvest of thorns and briers. 



When I was h boy, in the east. Judge Buell was editing the well known 

 All)aiiy Cultivator. He was an earnest a<lvocate of turning down green crops 

 upon light soils, in order to produce fertility. He took a barren, sandy tract, 

 back of Albany, and said he could thus turn it into a fruitful garden. If I 

 K member rightlv, he thoroughly succeeded in his experiment. Near my 

 home were the "Armenia plains" of Duchess county. Barn-yard manure 

 had been used upon these sandy fields for years, but you could have bought 

 them for from 85 to 110 per acre, and I think in some cases could have had 

 them as a gift. The occupants adopted Judge Buell's idea — began to "turn 

 in" rye and buckwheat and clover as the basis of their home-made fertilizers; 

 and what was the result? You must pay for that same land, today, at least 

 $100 per acre. I mny add that at about the same time, along the Hudson, 

 began the general use of gypsum or plaster in order to stimulate the growth 

 of the crops thus needed by the farmer. 



When I went to a college in New Jersey, the Innds along the ocean iu 

 Monmouth county were not highly valued. I think those Jersey farmers 

 well knew the utility of the barn-yard and practiced their knowledge as best 

 they could ; but the thirsty soil set at naught their skill and lost reputation 

 and sale. Then came the era of marl or green sand and its liberal and alm'Sfc 

 univ3rs tl use by all the cultivators of common sense, and lo! the waste be- 

 came as a pleasant vineyard. Marvelous was the work of this Jersey marl. 



