310 



Tiii-: (;knesi:i-: faumer. 



where the ingredients were used separately. In other 

 words, the plot dressed with manures that most nearly 

 resembled the richest kind of barn yard dung, gave 

 the best results. If you feed high, you get better ma- 

 nure, and if you buy grain, so much the better. The 

 President of the Society, who had a farm in West- 

 chester county, where he was carrying out many use- 

 ful experiments, used bone dust to bring up his land 

 to a productive stand point — to produce grass, and 

 thus make manures ; and the question is, whether 

 such mineral manures can be used on land too poor 

 to produce good crops of clover or grass, more eco- 

 nomically than resorting to the slower process of sub- 

 soiling, &c. 



Gen. Miller, of Delaware county — Suppose we 

 make all the manure that we can, shall we not still 

 have to use bone dust, &c., to "keep the machinery 

 running ? " 



Solon Robinson — The question is not whether barn 

 yard manure is good ; we acknowledge that — but how 

 to get euough of it. He had for several years been 

 trying to ascertain which is the best manure to pur- 

 chase, but had not yet discovered. Does not know 

 which is the best. Salt he knows is good. Five 

 fcushels has given him a tun of hay increase per acre. 

 But it might not be useful on all soils — farmers should 

 experiment with it for themselves. He uses ten bush- 

 els per acre on old meadows and on clover, and it has 

 a good effect. He has also raised excellent turnips on 

 salted land. It is a question whether any man can 

 afford to draw manure two miles — or whether he had 

 not better buy concentrated manures. 



Hon. T. C. Peters would make a suggestion in re- 

 regard to this question. In all the " soft water re- 

 gions " of this State ashes were beneficial, and in ihe 

 wheat regions plaster is beneficial. That set- 

 tles two points. Taking the State through, he thinks 

 that at present tliese two manures — ashes and plas- 

 ter — are all that the generality of farmers can afford 

 to use. 



WEDNESDAY EVENING. 



Subject. — The best rotation of crops suited to the ril- 

 matic conditions of the middle tier of counties m the Slate, 

 (m farms having at least eighty acres of good ariible land. 



Hon. T. C. Peters said the climate in the central 

 counties of the State varied considerably, Pompey 

 Hill, in Onondaga county, was from one thousand to 

 twilve hundred feet above tide water, wliile the gen- 

 eral level of the middle councies was not more than 

 four hundred feet. Now, as three hundred and fifty 

 feet altitude are equal to 1" north, the temperature of 

 Pompey Hill would be as cold as that of Montreal, 

 Portions of the central counties were well adapted to 

 wheat growing, while others constituted the best but- 

 ter and cheese districts of the State. The system of 

 rotation adapted to a wheat farm, would not suit a 



dairy farm. On a dairy farm the great object was 

 get grass ; and he thought that dairy farmers, 1 

 best of them, were paying more attention to maki 

 manure and applying it judiciously, than the wh 

 growing farmers. Wheat growers, from the quant 

 of straw they have, can make more manure than 1 

 dairy farmers — but he would not say that they coi 

 do it more profitably. The dairy farmers in this St 

 have less competition than the grain growers. Neitl 

 New England nor the West, can successfully comp 

 with them. The best butter on the continent is ma 

 in the dairy districts of this State. In some sectic 

 of the dairy districts cheese is generally made, wh 

 in others farmers confine themselves to butter. D< 

 not know the reason. Perhaps it was because the t 

 mate of the butter districts was not adapted to gri 

 growing, while that of the cheese districts enabl 

 the farmers to grow more grain to feed to their coi 

 He could not say, but perhaps it required more gn 

 to make cheese than to make butter. Would like 

 hear from Col. Pkatt on the subject. 



Col. Platt could not answer the question. He ( 

 not make cheese. Keeps fifty cows and makes nol 

 ing but butter. He supposed the reason was becai 

 he understood butter making,. but did not understa< 

 the cheese business. The business a man understar 

 he should stick to. He has seen no better corn t! 

 year than his own. He makes five or six hundi 

 cords of manure every year. He puts it into a hei 

 and pours tlie liquid from his pig pens over it. A 

 plies it in the spring, and plows or harrows it in. 

 left on the surface and allowed to dry up, it is of lit 

 use. Horse dung dropped on the road and allow 

 to dry is of no value. Thinks highly of white cIoa 

 for cows, also for bees. 



Mr. , of Vienna, did not know why farmt 



were so reluctant to speak on this subject. Agrici 

 ture was an honorable pursuit, and it ought to 1" 

 pleasure to talk about it. He formerly lived in L 

 county. Tiie only object of breaking up land tiit 

 was to reseed it and get better grass. Grass was wl 

 they wanted. When they break up a piece of lai 

 they plant corn, then sow rye, and seed it dow 

 Some seed down, where he now lives, with green coi 

 But he thought that if they would seed down wit 

 out any other crop, they would have better graj 

 Farmers should grow more kinds of grass — some eai 

 lier and some later. Thought, too, we might soil O' 

 cows to advantage, 



L. H. Tucker — How much seed per acre, and wh 

 kinds do you sow? 



Mr. , red top, oi^e-third, and two-thirds tin 



othy and red clover. Sandy soil better for clovei 

 moist land better for red top. If grass seed is sow 

 without any other crop, the grass gets well rooted l> 

 fore winter, and is not liable to be winter-killed ; at 



