130 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Questions for next meeting — by Mr. Robinson: "Mud, fresh or salt, 

 and Muck and Peat for manure ;" " Fruits on farms." 



Solon Robinson. — I have several letters from correspondents, asking 

 and giving information. Here is one that tells 



HOW TO CULTIVATE PEAS WITHOUT THE WEEVIL. 



Plant them five inches deep or more, as early in the spring as the ground 

 will allow. They will not blight nor mildew, nor weevil. I plant the 

 June pea, strawberry pea and marrowfat, and have green peas from the 

 middle of June till green corn, here in Michigan. I plant in rows five or 

 six feet apart, mark the ground about two inches deep, sow a row cf beets 

 between each row of peas, cultivate same as potatoes. Beets will stand 

 frost as well as peas. When the pea straw is out of the way, plow all the 

 ground toward the beets. This is the way to raise premium beets and clear 

 the ground from weeds. 



E. B. COCHRAN, Sandstone, Jackson county. 



And here is another writer who wants to know the opinion of the club 

 about plowing in clover. He asks : 



" In cases where clover grows heavy, so as to effectually shade the land, 

 how much, if anything, is lost by not plowing under while green. I have 

 always supposed that the shade, together with the mold of the clover on 

 top of the ground, would improve the land as much as plowing under. 

 The inference I draw from reading the debates of the Farmei-s' Club, as 

 published in The Tribune, is, that unless clover is plowed under while 

 green the benefits are pretty much lost." 



The Chairman thought this an important question, and that although 

 the shade and decay on the ground would be valuable, it would be enough 

 more so under the soil to pay for plowing under. 



Thos. W. Field. — In regard to the question about clover — it appropri- 

 ates a great deal from the atmosphere, and a greater benefit will be ob- 

 tained by plowing in the crop. 



Solon Robinson. — As one, I want to know if there is a man engaged in 

 the business that can tell me the true value of an acre of clover, and whe- 

 ther it is worth more to plow in than it is to rot upon the ground, or cut 

 and cure and pass through animals before it is given back to the earth as 

 manure. And I want to know if there is any man that can tell the value 

 of a ton of manure, that is, as a smelter of ore can tell the vakie of a ton of 

 it, which he puts into the furnace. Does not the farmer put the manure into 

 the earth for a similar purpose ? One draws out refined metal, and if that 

 is worth more than the ore and fuel and labor, then he makes a profit. 



The other has for an object to change the mass of dirt into corn, wheat 

 and fine flour, which, after all, is nothing but refined dirt, and upon the 

 process depends the profit, and I think one should be just as well able to 

 tell the value of the crude article as the other. But is he ? 



TURNIP SEED. 



Here is another correspondent that wants to know if turnip seed, har- 



