PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 351 



Solon Robinson. — The worms can be successful!}^ fed upon the 

 leaves of the common naulberry, such as grows wild in our forests, 

 but the quality of*the silk will not be as good. 



The regular subject of the da}^, " Can the Hay crop be more 

 profitably fed on the farm or sold," was then called up. 



Prof. Mapes said that it was a question that must be decided 

 by the circumstances of each locality. In some parts of New 

 England, stable manure is valued at five dollars a cord, while 

 hay is not salable at more than ten dollars a ton. There, it 

 would be most profitable to feed the hay on the farm. In New 

 Jersey, where I live, manure can be bought for one dollar a cord, 

 and hay sold at fifteen dollars or eighteen dollars a ton, and 

 there it is more profitable to sell the hay and keep up the fertility 

 of the land by purchasing fertilizers. 



I can grow three tons of timothy per acre, and I can make it 

 profitable to sell the hay and apply something else to the land. 

 I believe wherever hay is worth ten dollars a ton, it is better for 

 the farmer to sell it than it is to feed it. 



It seems to be a question with many farmers how little manure 

 they can manage to get along with, instead of " how much can I 

 use with a profit ?" 



Some fiirmers use but ten loads where they could make fifty 

 more profitable. I know market-gardeners who use 150 loads of 

 manure to the acre, and it is a common tbing for men to pay a 

 rent of fifty dollars an acre per annum for garden land. Such 

 men could not afford to feed hay on the farm to make manure ; 

 but they can afford to raise it, and most farmers could afford to 

 use it more freely. 



If you look at the market-gardeners near this city, every load 

 of truck they bring to market, they take back a load of manure. 



Mr. Hawkhurst thinks that no one can afford to feed hay when 

 he can sell it for ten dollars a ton. 



Prof. Mapes. — The farmers at the west cannot sell their hay 

 for five dollars a ton, or their corn for twenty-five cents a bushel. 

 It is better to feed cattle and send them to market. 



John G, Bergen and Adrian Bergen, of Long Island, coincided 

 with Prof, Mapes, and said that many farmers on the Island aver- 

 age $15 a ton for hay sold in the city, and, at that price they can 

 not afford to feed it at home ; but they can afford to buy manure, 

 and do so to keep up the fertility of their farms. 



