102 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



deposits a poisonous substance upon otber vegetables, injuring them very 

 much for food." 



Another letter states that a person has planted the big end of potatoes 

 without an eye, and raised good crops. Has anybody else ever tried this 

 experiment, and also what portion of all the eyes planted produce vines ? 

 Do all ? and is a multitude any better than one sprout ? 



HOW TO MAKE COWS GIVE DOWN. 



A letter writer wants to know if there is any way to make a cow give 

 down her milk ? To which Mr. Solon Robinson replied : I have often 

 heard that one man could lead a horse to water, but two could not make 

 him drink. The great mistake of most people in the management of 

 horses, cows, and in fact men, is trying to make them do things by force, 

 instead of milder means. Now the best way to make a cow give down 

 that I have ever tried, is to coax her. Patience and perseverance will 

 generally overcome the difficulty and effect a cure. I have seen cows that 

 had been trained to being fed when milked, until they would only give 

 down when bribed to do so. Strapping up the fore leg of a cow with a 

 strap slipped over the bent knee so that she cannot walk, until milked, 

 will sometimes cause her refractory disposition to dry up. 



Prof. Nash. — If a cow will give down by gentleness, it is no use to try 

 to make her do it. 



Mr. Grreeley called up Prof. Mapes. 



RENOVATING OLD LAND. 



Prof. Mapes. — I believe all lands that ever have been fertile, are capable of 

 being made productive again. They are only exhausted of some one of the 

 constituents of plants. Wa^er always contains carbonic acid, and this is a 

 solvent of inorganic substances. The green sand particles of the green 

 sand marl, have a very strong decomposing power, and that is one of the 

 reasons why it is beneficial — it dissolves other substances that plants feed 

 upon. If you abstract all the parts of a soil that produce plants, it could 

 not be restored, but that can hardly be the case, while the earth down to 

 the center is a store-house of the primaries of all plants and animals. 

 Now what is necessary to fit these constituents for the use of plants, for 

 that is what is wanted to restore what is called worn-out soil to fertility 

 again. When a plant decays and goes back into the soil, that soil is pre- 

 pared to produce a new order of plants, and so they go on toward perfec- 

 tion. Originally the land produced only mosses and lichens. The best 

 means to render worn-out land fertile, is by underdraining, not alone to 

 drain but to aerate the soil, and allow just water enough to decompose the 

 constituents for the use of growing plants. In England there is not a 

 field that has been under-drained that has not been doubled in value, and 

 so it can be here. So that no one can say he cannot afford to under-drain. 

 A soil to be renovated must be mechanically prepared before anything 

 added can be fully beneficial. Land will improve more while growing a 



