126 TALKS ON MANURES. 



certaiu. the land woukl produce good crops of ciovcr; and when 

 this clover was plowed under lor manure, we got better crops of 

 wheat afterwards. This was the rule. Later, wc coniuieuced to 

 use gypsum as a top-dressing on clover. The effect was often 

 wonderful. Farmers will tell you that they sowed 200 lbs. of 

 plaster per acre, on their young clover, in the spring, and it 

 diiubh'd the crop. Tills statement expresses an agricultural, and not 

 an arithmetical fact. We do not know that the crop on the plas- 

 tered portion was twice as heavy as on the unplastered. We know 

 tiiat it was larger, and more luxuriant. There was a greater, and 

 more vigorous growth. And this extra growth was caused by the 

 small top-dressing of powdered gypsum rock. It was a great fact 

 m agriculture. I will call it fact, No. 1. 



Then, wlien the clover was turned under, we usually got good 

 wheat. This is fact, No, 2. On these two facts, hang many of 

 our agricultural theories. We may state these facts in many ways. 

 Still, it all conies to this : Clover is good for wheat ; plaster is good 

 for clover. 



There is another fact, which is a matter of general observation 

 and remark. You rarely find a good farmer who does not pay 

 special attention to his clover-crop. When I was riding with Mr. 

 Geddes, among the farmers of Onondag-a County, on passing a 

 farm where everything looked thrifty — good fences, good build- 

 ings, good garden, good stock, and the land clean and in good con- 

 dition — I would ask who lived there, or some other question. No 

 matter what. The answer was always the same. "Oh ! he is 

 another of our clover men." We will call this fact, No. 3. 



And when, a year afterwards, Mr. Geddes returned my visit, 

 and I drove him around among the farmers of Monroe County, he 

 found precisely the same state of facts. All our good farmers 

 were clover men. Among the good wheat-growers in Michigan, 

 you will find the same state of things. 



These are the facts. Let us not quarrel over them. 



