PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 229 



Mr. William S. Carpenter — I do not know that bone tlust is 

 equally beneficial to all soils. With me it is best in clayey land. 

 I once used coarse bone upon Indian corn without any benefit. 

 The laud was then seeded to grass, and then continued to improve 

 for seven years. 



Fence Posts. 



Mr. H. P. Smith. — I wish to introduce what I conceive to be a 

 very practical question for discussion by this or any other Farm- 

 ers' Club. What can we do to improve fence-posts? Most of the 

 wooden ones dcca}' so rapidly they are hardly worth setting. I 

 have examined all the iron ones in market, and find none with 

 which I am satisfied. There is a great need of something better. 

 What shall it be? 



Mr. William S. Carpenter. — The best plan that I can conceive 

 is to plant locust trees in all the waste places about the farm and 

 grow our own posts. I have some that were set by my father, 

 probably fifty years ago, still sound. 



Messrs. Bergen, Robinson, Crowell and others, expressed them- 

 selves pretty decidedly in favor of teaching farmers how to do 

 without fence, as preferable to teaching how to preserve it. 



Cut Gbass Early. 

 Mr. Solon Eobinson. — A correspondent asks: "Are the Club 

 aware of the importance of urging the farmers to cut their hay 

 early, since it exhausts the land far more to ripen the seed than to 

 groAv the grass up to the blossom ? My observations of fields 

 that were commonly mown early or late, confirm this opinion. It 

 is particularly noticeable where patches have been left for seed." 

 We think the Club is not as well aware of the importance of such 

 a recommendation as the gentleman himself. It may be important 

 to the land to cut grass early ; it is not quite so well settled that 

 it is important to the stock. A good many of the outside mem- 

 bers of this Club have certified their opinions in favor of letting 

 grass come to a reasonable degree of maturity before it is made 

 into ha}^ 



Spontaneous Growth of Trees. 

 Mr. Solon Robinson. — This subject is attracting considerable 

 attention. Among a large mass of letters I find a great difference 

 of opinion. 



