Proceedings OF THE Faemers' Club. 283 



those who have. The best seed comes from a crop mowed late, 

 after the cattle have eaten it down in June. A farmer can save his 

 own seed by having a tight floor under the clover mow, and sow 

 the chaff; but he will be likely to have some seeds of weeds, 

 though perhaps no more than in the seed he buys. 



Mr. G. Smith, Ionia, Michigan. — You say six or eight bushels 

 of plaster is as good as one hundred. Now, I have found that 

 half a bushel is sufficient on clover, if applied every spring. Two 

 bushels of clover seed to fourteen acres is not heavy seeding, but 

 rather light. My rule is two bushels to ten acres, but many recom- 

 mend a peck to the acre. Clover seed is raised extensively in this 

 region. The general practice is to cut the first growth for hay, 

 about the first of July, and let it grow again for seed; it is then fit 

 to cut the forepart of October. We cut it with a reaper, leaving it 

 in large gavels. The yield is from one to six bushels per acre. I 

 would recommend Mr. Vineus to sow on the six acres, which he 

 proposes to manure highly for clover next spring, either barley or 

 wheat, for I thiuk if he sows the clover alone, the weeds will grow 

 up and choke the clover as much as a crop of grain. 1 would sow 

 the clover seed before the last draying, and then sow one bushel 

 of plaster per acre, about the time the grain was coming up. Let 

 him try this plan, and if his land is sandy, he will be surprised at 

 the result. The clover will grow up after the grain is cut, and 

 blossom, and if the season is moist it will fall down. The man 

 who should manure his laud for clover in this State would be 

 laughed at, we expect, unless by clover itself. We don't think 

 much of barnyard manure; clover and plaster are our great ferti- 

 lizers, if we use them properly our land grows better every year. 



Mr. S. T. Botsford, Huntington, Comi. — There seems much differ- 

 ence in the opinion of farmers regarding the use of plaster. We 

 need facts, such as actual experience give. It is well established 

 that plaster suits clover to a charm, and for one, I would be glad 

 to know whether it suits any other crop as well. Calling it ten 

 dollars per ton on the ground, will it pay to use it on such crops 

 as wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat and corn? I have as yet tried 

 plaster on only one crop, and that was clover, and I am perfectly 

 satisfied that in this case one dollar's worth of plaster was of more 

 value than the nine dollars worth of commercial manure used in 

 the same field. Some say it is better to plow or harrow it in than 

 to let it remain on the surface. And is plaster as beneficial on turf 

 ground as on land that has been plowed ? Will it bring in clover 



