48 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



weather becomes suitable for sowing wheat, as it usually does about 

 September 10th, I would sow it, and, if the soil be fertile and in good 

 condition, the wheat will be much more likely to survive the ravages 

 of "fly-' than as though it were sown so late that it made but little 

 root in the fall, and consequently cofild offer but little resistance to 

 hardships of any kind. 



In (conclusion, I want to reiterate what I have said before by caution- 

 ing you against being over-nice in the preparation of your ground for 

 a wheat crop; you cjin easily overdo the matter and make your labor a 

 positive damage. Rather spend your surplus ambition in improving 

 the fertility of your soil; rather direct your attention and energies to 

 raising more clover or other legumes or drawing more manure, more 

 especially the former. 



The logic of the deacon in that familiar poem of ''The One-Horse 

 Shay" is wonderfully applicable, "make the weakest spot as strong 

 as the rest." It is easily within the range of possibilities to increase 

 the average yield of wheat in Michigan 50 ])er cent, but it can only be 

 accomplished by more intensive farming, such as has been applied to 

 other branches of agriculture. 



DISCUSSION. 



Q. How do yovi get humus into the ground? 



A. M. Brown: By plowing under all surplixs herbage. Humus is vegetable or animal 

 matter undergoing slow decay. Rather than burn the straw therefore, if there is not 

 sufficient stock to use it up as bedding, I advocate spi-eading it on the ground at thresh- 

 ing time and plowing under. We grow legumes to furnish nitrogen and aid in fur- 

 nishing humus. 



Q. What time do you sov>' clover seed? 



A. M. Brown: In August, just before the fall rains, or in the spring. If the latter, 

 Ave sow alone without a nurse crop, and cover with the weeder, which covers the seed 

 but lightly. Our best results are with spring sowing. 



Q. How will the rotation of clover sod, beans and wheat do? ^Yill the soil improve? 



J. D. Towar: We do not raise beans in that rotation, but I think the results would 

 be good. 



Q. Does JNIr. Brown leave tlic straw on the ground until spring and then plow under? 



A. M. Brown: Yes; I plow under the straw at that time and put into corn. 



