THE GENESEE FARMEPw. 



309 



ice as rich as that made from timothy hay. Peas 

 ord manure twice as ricli as coru. Oil cake is even 

 11 better than peas and beans. 

 Solon Robinson said tliere were parties in New York 

 10 bought up all the chandlers' greaves and shipped 

 3m to Europe. They paid $25 per tun for them, 

 .ese greaves are rich in ammonia, and the British 

 mers seem to appreciate their value, 

 rhe Hon. T. C. Petees, of Genesee county, would 

 I Mr. Harris how we are to get ammonia where 

 ver is not grown. There is only 19 per cent, of 

 .d in the State where we grow wheat. In Duchess 

 mty where fifty bushels of wheat per acre was once 

 'wn, the average now is only five bushels per acrel 

 3 farmers there are now growing rye. In the dairy 

 tricts, where farming is quite as profitable as in 

 ^ other section of the State, but where clover is 

 grown, how are we to get ammonia ? 

 Hr. Harris did not wish to be understood as say- 

 that clover was the only crop that would furnish 

 monia. He thouglit on soils where clover flour- 

 js as well as it does in Western New York, clover 

 i the best crop that could be grown to enrich the 

 1. But of course grass would also enrich the land 

 m fed to cattle, and the manure carefully hus- 

 ded and returned to the soil ; but he thought grass 

 i not as good for this purpose as clover. He thought 

 uite probable that in the dairy districts, bone dust, 

 American guano, or superphosphate, might be used 

 , manure for grass land. But the great need was 

 a-vard manure of better quality. Farmers should 

 I more grain. He thought, too, that in the dairy 

 ricts irrigation might be practiced with advantage, 

 had seen many little streams running down the 

 sides, that might with a little engineering skill be 

 led on a portion of the grass land. This would 

 I a heavy crop of grass — and this would enable the 

 ler to keep more stock and make more manure, 

 ch could be used to enrich other portions of the 

 1. 



en. Miller, of Delaware county, said there was 

 1 in his neighborhood that would not grow clover, 

 much that could not be plowed. Ashes are used 

 1 great benefit on grass lands. He believed in 

 1-yard manures ; but he also thought mineral ma- 

 3S were valuable. Ammonia acts as a stimulant, 

 ntific men tell us that there is a certain definite 

 Qtity of mineral plant-food in the soil, and if we 

 3 taking it from the land, the time will come when 

 ;an no longer grow crops. We should return to 

 soil all the elements that we take from it. In no 

 ir way can we keep up itS fertility. 

 )SEPH Harris said there was one thing of which 

 night be certain— so long as we could grow clover 

 e was sufficient mineral matter in the soil to grow 

 at. The first symptom of exhaustion would be 



manifested in the clover crop. There may be soils 

 where clover will not grow, and it might be necessary 

 to apply mineral manures to the soil ; but even in 

 this case it was a question whether we had not better 

 use manures which furnish ammonia as well as mine- 

 ral matter. 



Luther H. Tpoker, of the Counti-y Gentleman, gaid 

 that though it was true that there is a definite amount 

 of mineral matter in the soil, yet tables had been pre- 

 pared by eminent chemists, showing that there was 

 enough in most soils to last for thousands of years. 



S. Walrath, of St. Lawrence county, believed in 

 deep and thorough cultivation of the soil. He does 

 not use mineral manures — does not think we need 

 them. Underdraining and subsoiling had doubled the 

 crops on his farm. He grows clover and roots. For- 

 merly his land was infested with thistles, but in a few 

 years after subsoiling, and good, clean culture between 

 the rows of his root crops, they had disappeared. He 

 makes all the manure he can — never sells any gi-ain. 

 Would rather buy a hundred bushels of grain than 

 sell it. 



The Rev. Mr. LooMis, of Cayuga, alluded to the fact 

 that many grave yards exhibit every symptom of pov- 

 erty, while just outside the wall, where the land is 

 under cultivation, the crops are good. He did not 

 think we could stimulate the soil. Had no fears that 

 our lands could be exhausted. 



Mr. Walrath diflTered with many in regard to deep 

 plowing. On his land very deep plowing was injuri- 

 ous, but subsoiling (that is, merely breaking up the 

 hard pan and loosening the soil without bringing it to 

 the surface) was very beneficial. 



Luther H. Tucker asked if we do not get in barn 

 yard manure juSt that mixture of ammonia and mine- 

 ral matter that our crops needed ? He had spent some 

 time recently in a dairy district of this State, and he 

 observed thai those farmers succeeded best who paid 

 most attention to top-dressing. One farmer in Che- 

 nango county had rented out half of his farm, and by 

 the aid of top-dressing was enabled to raise more hay 

 from the other half than he formerly raised fi'om the 

 whole. Many farmers let their barn yard manure lie 

 exposed to winds and rains till it was almost worth- 

 less ; but others are paying more attention not only to 

 making more and richer manure, but to its careful 

 preservation. In some experiments made in Massa- 

 chusetts on grass, where various kinds of manure 

 were used, such as ashes, superphosphate, guano, &c., 

 tbe land dressed with cow dung was the best ; at least 

 if not so the first year, it was so in the end. In 

 some experiments made by Mr. Harris near Rochester, 

 where various mineral and ammoniacal manures were 

 used alone and combined, it was found that the mix- 

 ture of the two together gave a greater increase of hay 

 than the total increase obtained from the various plota 



