28 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



DISCUSSIOX. 



Q. Is rape a good plant for green manure? 



Prof. Towar: If for any reason you can use no legumes you would do well to use 

 buckwheat or rape. I would recommend, however, either the clovers or some of the 

 newer legumes, particularly the vetches. 



Q. What is the difference between summer and winter vetch? 



Prof. Towar: The winter vetch may be treated as a summer or winter crop. To 

 get the best results, sow in August, using approximately a bushel of seed to the acre. 



Q. Is crimson clover a good crop for green manure ? 



Prof. Towar: Yes, only for fall growth, as it winter kills badly in this latitude. 



Q. Where a field is badly set with sorrel, will the vetch succeed? 



Prof. Towar: I think that the vetch would crowd out the sorrel. 



Q. How do you sow? 



Prof. Towar: Either in drills and cultivate, or broadcast. If the land is free from 

 weeds I should surely recommend the latter. 



Q. Is there any danger of its becoming a weed? 



Prof. Towar: Not under ordinary circumstances, although there are cases reported 

 in the northern part of the State where it comes in voluntarily. 



Q. To the owner of the orchard the great question is one of moisture, would not 

 growing these green manure crops lessen the crops of fruit by exhausting the moisture? 



Prof. Towar: You will naturally cultivate your ground up to the last of July or 

 possibly into August, and then sow crimson clover to prevent loss of fertility during 

 the fall rains, and possibly to aid in ripening the trees, especially the peach, where late 

 growth is liable to be killed the next winter. 



Q. Is vetch good for hay? 



Prof. Towar: Animals liave to learn to like it. It is not reported to be a good 

 pasture plant, and our experiments with it as hay have not been sufficient to assure us 

 that it makes a hay of which stock are particularly fond. 



Q. When should you plow under cow peas, in the fall or spring? 



Prof. Towar: This is a hard question. In some respects it might be better to leave 

 on the surface of the ground as a mulch, and plow under in the spring. I believe that 

 this would be the better practice. 



Q. We want light on the clover question. What do our soils lack that clover will 

 no longer catch? 



Prof. Towar: Our experiments at the College lead us to believe that one reason 

 why clover does not catch as well as formerly is because the humus is becoming ex- 

 hausted. Clover was sown under three different conditions at the College ; first, on 

 land that had been cultivated forty years, and the clover sown with wheat ; this clover 

 Avas a failure. Second, on land also under cultivation for forty years, but the clover 

 sown without a nurse crop : here we had a good stand and a good crop of clover. Third, 

 a large field, forty acres, on new ground, was sown in the spring on wheat ; here the 

 crop was good. 



Q. Can we not sow clover in the fall? 



Prof. Towar: That depends on the winter. If you are sure of a continuous body of 

 snow, I think that clover will do well sown in the fall. 



E. L. Lockwood, Petersburg. ]\Iichigan, recommended beardless barley for a nurse 

 crop because i.t shades the ground but little. 



