S98 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



of tho most experienced farmers in the State are 

 present at these annual gatherings, and we trust 

 such meetings for discussions will always be held in 

 future, — and we are glad to know that such is the 

 intention of the Society. 



Orow more Root Crops. — "The Hon. A. B. 

 CoNOEB, President of the Society, made an earnest 

 address to the farmers present to abandon the ex- 

 haustive process and adopt the root cultivation. 

 He believed in the English dogma, that without 

 roots for food, there must be few cattle ; that with 

 few cattle there must be little manure; and that 

 with little manure there must be light crops. 



Solon Robixson^ observed, in regard to feeding 

 root crops, that tho bad taste imparted to the butter 

 by feeding turnips, could be removed by patting a 

 piece of charcoal into the milk before churning, 

 which would disinfect it thoroughly." 



Hushing Corn. — "Solon Robinson observed 

 that -he most economical process of husking corn 

 is practiced at the south, where the corn is simi)ly 

 plucked and piled in covered stacks, leaving the 

 husking for the less hurried portion of the year, 

 the fall and winter months." 



Cultivation of Barley. — T. C. Petees, of Gen- 

 esee county, inquired whether barley was deterio- 

 rating and likely to run out, as wheat had done in 

 Bome portions of the State. 



" Mr. Geo. Clarke, of Otsego county, said that 

 barley is an exhausting crop ; the first and second 

 years are generally good, but after that it fails. 



"Mr. Danfoeth, of Cayuga, said he had raised 

 sixty bushels to the acre, but last year his crop was 

 ^ot over ten bushels. The crop in his town was 

 an entire failure. 



" The Hon. Geo. Gkddes, of Fairmount, said he 

 had had considerable experience inraising barley. 

 It \3 a sensitive crop. It wants heavy soil, with a 

 cold spring. This year has been the most success- 

 ful for the farmers of this county he had ever 

 known. The crops are all good. Barley is a very 

 uncertain crop. He did not know that barley was 

 an exhausting crop; had not experimented on the 

 matter. 



"r>r. Wells, of Seneca county, said that large 

 crops had been raised in his county this year. The 

 northern part of the county is heavy clay soil. 



"Judge Enos, of Madisoh county, said that the 

 barley crop in that county had been very poor for 

 the last two or three years. He had raised fifty-six 

 bushels of Hess barley to the acre, but now he got 

 not over ten to fifteen bushels. It seems to have 

 run out — does not even grow where the soil is good. 

 Corn is a good crop to precede barley. 



" Mr. Hess, after whom the Hess barley is named, 

 said his crop was poor this year, and he should give 

 up raising it. 



"Mr. Brown, of Wayne, thought that barley 

 should not succeed barley. His soil is gravelly loam. 



"Squire M. Brown, of Elbridge, said he had 

 good succees in raising barley until within the last 

 two years. The last year his crop was poor. He 

 always sowed barley after corn. This year his 

 barley wei<rhs forty-six ; it has weighed fifty-three. 

 He sows piaster and salt on hia corn, and cuta his 



barley rather green. Sal; \-i good to use in manure. 

 There was no weevil in his barley. 



" W. A. Mills, of Livingston county, said that 

 barley had always been a crop with him. Three 

 years ago he raised sixty bushels to the acre. Last 

 year his crop was a failure — he only had eighteen 

 bushels to the acre. The summer was, he thought, 

 too hot for barley. He sows two bushels to the 

 acre. His barley was raised on bottom land. 



"Mr. C. WiNEGAE, of Cayuga, sowed twenty 

 acres last year, and got only fifteen bushels per 

 acre. With him, in ordinary seasons, the crop 

 never fails a good yield if the ground is in good 

 order. His soil is loam. Prefers the four-rowed 

 sort. Has raised good crops on corn ground. Seeds 

 wheat land to a small sort of clover, and mows 

 clover two years, then corn, wheat, and barley. 



"Hon. Geokge Geddes — Our common rotation 

 is two years grass and two years grain. 



"Mr. Dunning, of Cayuga, prefers two-rowed 

 barley. It yields ten bushels more per acre than 

 four-rowed. Our rotation is to manure sod and 

 turn it under, and plant corn, which averages fifty 

 bushels per acre of the eight to twelve-rowed va- 

 riety. We depend much on the barley crop. It 

 failed last year, on account of the wet season. In 

 former years the crop averaged forty bushels; the 

 last crop only twenty bushels, and we found mag- 

 gots in the straw, and therefore do not use it for 

 feed. We sow the spring variety of barley. 



" George Clarke, of Otsego, has always found 

 barley straw good feed. 



"Mr. Danforth, of Cayuga — We can't grow 

 good barley upon clay soil. 



"Hon. Geo. Geddes, of Onondaga — Yet with us 

 we use light soil for oats, and the most clayey land 

 for barley. 



"Mr. Bailey, Kent county, Michigan — I grow 

 barley on new land, and my crops have been eight, 

 fifteen, and thirty bushels per acre. The two- 

 rowed is best, and best soil good corn land. 



"Lewis Marshall, of Orleans county — I have 

 sown winter barley in the spring, with good re- 

 sults. I sowed in March, upon land prepared in 

 the fall, and got over fifty bushels per acre. 



" ilr. IsT. GowDT, of Lewis county — Barley does 

 well with us if Ave turn a sod and sow peas and 

 oats, and, after that, barley. It don't do well on 

 sod. We sow in May, or first of June. 



" Dr. Van Sltok, of Wayne coimty, said : Our 

 barley crops were good until last year, w'hich was 

 very wet. I think barley more exhausting than 

 wheat to the soil. Barley requires a strong soil, in 

 as good order as for corn. He used to turn a 

 clover sod, and plant corn, and follow with wheat 

 and barley. Now we prefer to let the field lay in 

 clover, and plow that under in the fall, then light- 

 ly spring plow, and sow barley, and get twenty or 

 thirty bushels per acre. Turn under barley stubble 

 and sow wheat, and get twenty bushels average per 

 acre. Barley has fewer enemies than wheat. Seed 

 clover with the wlieat. If we sow barley aft-er 

 corn, we seed clover with it. Winter barley is the 

 most popular, and yields thirty to fifty bushels per 

 acre, and brings 12 cents a bushel more than s])riiig 

 barley. Clay soil is best with us for barley, and 

 very good wheat land is good for barley. It should 

 be sown Sept. 1, in drills. 



"Mr. DowNi:<G — We sow wheat after barley and 



