FARMERS' INSTITUTES. ^♦^ 



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Q. Do you drill corn in rows to cultivate one way, or plant in liills? 



Wm. Ball: I drill part of my corn aud plant the remainder in drills. If the 

 field is reasonably free from weeds it is all right to drill. If the field is weedy, plant 

 in hills. 



Q. Would you cultivate corn as soon as a crust forms after a rain? 



C. D. Smith: Certainly; the crust allows the water in the soil to escape; there- 

 fore break it up as soon after the rain as possible. 



Mr. Morse: What is the remedy against selling oleomargarine and process but- 

 ter for dairy and creamery goods? 



C. D. Smith: The best remedy is to furnish a good supply of first class butter 

 and then enforce the laws against fraud. 



Q. What is the best variety of medium early potatoes for southern Michigan? 



M. L. Dean: Early Michigan, although the Early Andes is also good. 



Q. Why is it that the men that are so bitter against the silo are the very men 

 that never owned a silo or put up a pound of silage? 



Mr. Ball: I, for one, am not opposed to the silo. I believe it to be a good thing 

 for the dairymen, but not quite so necessary for a steer feeder. 



Q. Will not the gTOwing of so many acres of sugar beets tend to flood our state 

 with an undesirable class of foreign labor? 



C. D. Smith: I hardly think so. More help Avill come out from the cities, it is 

 true, but this in itself will be an advantage to both city and country. It will get 

 the people in the crowded parts of the cities to look to the country for this and 

 other jobs, which will be a good thing. 



Q. What is the best way to get a sand hill seeded to clover? It is now rye 

 stubble. 



Mr. York: I would harrow before sowing, but not i)low. I would leave the 

 stubble on the ground to hold snow and help protect the young clover. 



I. N. Cowdrey: I would sow in August. Would disc up the ground; then follow 

 the sowing with smoothing harrow. 



H. G. Kies: What benefit to the farmer is it to do away with township drain 

 commissioner? 



F. W. Dunhaiu: In Bay county we have a county commissioner and it does not 

 work well. It depends altogether on whom you get for commissioner. 



Q. How about a silo for a farm of 80-100 acres— size, height, planting corn, get- 

 ting to silo, etc? 



C. C. Lillie: Fifteen feet in diameter and not less than twenty feet deep, better 

 thirty feet. Plant corn as for regular grain crop, but somewhat thicker. Use a 

 modern corn harvester, so that men can handle the crop more economically, (xet 

 a large cutter to keep the gang of men going. 



Q. What is meant by whip grafting? 



Prof. Taft: The apple seedling is cut off at the collar and the root cut iu 

 lengths of thi'ee inches, making two or three out of each seedling. A slanting cut 

 is made about three-quarters of an iuch long through the top of the root cutting. 

 A knife is inserted at about the center of this obliqiie cut and pushed down to make 

 a tongue. The scions are cut in lengths of 3 to 4 inches. The ciit on the scion is 

 made by inserting- the knife in one side about tliree-fQurths of an inch from th^ 

 end and thence by a clean cut toward the end, taking off a slice from the side to 

 provide a fiat surface for union with the stock. A tongue is cut on the scion sim- 

 ilar to the one on the stock, except that the cut for the tongue is made about a 

 quarter of an inch from the end. The scion and stock are joined, being careful to 

 see that the cambium layer or inner portion of the bark on one side at least be in 

 apposition. It is then wrapped with waxed twine to keep in place. 

 . Q. Give habits of apple tree borers and remedies for same. 



Prof. Taft: There are two species, round and flat-headed, both larvae of beetles. 

 The eggs are laid in summer after June first on the bark, especially where in- 

 jured either by frost or by the cultivator. They hatch after a few days and the 

 young Avorm bores iuto the sap wood. It takes three years for the borer to mature, 

 during which he is boring in the M'ood of the apple tree and doing serious injury, 

 often causing the loss of the tree. 



The remedies are keeping the tree healthy and free from injury, digging out tlie 

 young larvae, and finally whitewashing the trunks of the trees near the ground 

 with a whitewash made of hydraulic cement and milk. 



Q. What kind of plows and harrow should be used in cultivating an orchard? 



Ans. A gang plow is excellent. An Acme harrow for light soil and disc harrow 

 for heavier. 



