FARMERS' INSTITUTES. -"J.") 



if there is not a live plant left of it. We should not allow it to grow in the spring 

 In our orchai'ds or among our fruits, for it will begin to take out more rapidly the 

 moisture, which is the very thing we don't want it to do. When this plant covers 

 the soil well we can get upon the same soil at least ten days earlier in the spring 

 for the very reason that on the first approach of the warm days it begins to take 

 out the moisture, and hence has put the soil in better condition to cultivate much 

 earlier than the soil which is uncovered, and for that very reason we want to plow 

 it in at the very first opportunity that the soil is in proper condition to work. So 

 you need to keep distinctly in mind the object for wlaich we use this clover, which 

 is purely to improve our soil. 



Mr. York, Tuscola County: May we not use red clover instead of crimson clover? 



E. A. Croman: Yes, for ordinary purposes. 



Mr. Campbell: I began my experience with crimson clover by sowing it wrong. 

 I now sow in July. I have 22 bushels of seed, the product of two acres. I have 

 sowed crimson clover both in orchards and standing corn with good success. It 

 stands the winters all right with me when it is properly sowed. 



A. M. Welch, Ionia County: How often do you cultivate corn? 



Geo. T. Powell: As often as possible, certainly once a w^eek up to July 10. We 

 cut our corn and feed to hogs, follow with oats and seed to crimson clover. If I 

 kept a dairy herd I would put the corn in silos. 



Q. Do you plow deep or shallow? 



Geo. T. Pow^ell: Depends on conditions, depth of subsoil, and previous treatment. 



Mr. 1 prefer alsike to any other kind of clover I have used, especially 



for low land. 



Geo. T. Powell: While I like alsike for feeding much better, of course, than 

 crimson clover, still the latter fits so perfectly into the wants of the orchardist. 

 sown in July or August, growing rapidly through the fall, covering the ground 

 dui"ing the winter and furnishing abundant green manure the following spring, 

 that I regard it as one of the best and most useful adjuncts of the orchard. 



J. Y. Clark: I would like to know the relative efficiency of the two clovers as 

 nitrogen traps. Could not red clover be used in place of crimson clover and stand 

 the winter better? 



Geo. T. Powell: Both are nitrogen gatherers and of approximately equal merit 

 in this respect, but I want to get all the growth I can in the fall, and this the 

 crimson clover, being an annual, gives me. The root system of the crimson clover 

 is unlike that of the coimmon red clover— it has no tap root. Nine-tenths of the 

 recorded failures with crimson clover are due to low quality of the seed. The 

 variety with white blossoms is comparatively worthless. Imported seed is liable 

 to bring in canker, which is dangerous. Old seed loses vitality, hence use alone 

 the seed of the year you sow it. 



Mr. Sailor, Grand Traverse County: Do you recommend subsoiling for corn? 



Geo. T. Powell: I doubt whether we can afford it. 



Q. What are wood ashes worth? 



Geo. T. Powell: It is hard to answer definitely. The trouble is we cannot de- 

 pend on the content of potash. Sometimes we get as high as five per cent and 

 sometimes not more than half that amount. 



C. E. Mills, Antrim County: Would you advocate crimson clover as far as 250 

 miles north of here? 



Geo. T. Powell: Yes, on sandy loam, but not on stiff clay. 



Q. How could Mr. Cowdrey get four tons of clover on an acre to plow vmder? 



I. N. Cowdrey: I drew out sevei-al tons of clover hay that was spoiled by rain, 

 then there was growing in the fall fully one and one-half tons per acre which fell 

 down, then in tlie spring there was certainly enough young clover growing to pro- 

 duce a ton per acre of cured hay. This body of green and dead clover was plowed 

 under for corn. 



F. W. Dunham, Bay Co.: How do you get good crimson clover seed? 



Geo. T. Powell: I always buy seed in Delaware of parties who make a business 

 of producing it. With good seed there is no trouble about growing the crops. 



Q. What is the value of summer fallowing? 



Geo. T. Powell: It is of some value, but I cannot afford to follow the practice. 

 Tillage renders the plant food in the soil available, it is true, but a farmer should 

 be growing a cultivated crop and so tilling it as to secure all the benefits of a sum- 

 mer fallow. 



