, AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 2S1 



WEEDS AS A MANUEE. 



A gentleman present said he had a statement to make connected 

 with one that was discussed at the last meeting, about keeping 

 land in cultivation clean, and the folly of seeding the soil with 

 foul stuff in the" manure. He said he would relate an anecdote 

 of a Long Island farmer, upon the subject of weeds; the former 

 giving it as his experience that weeds are an advantage to the 

 growing crops, and if plowed in before they seed, serve as a good 

 coat of manure. One advantage that he contends for the weeds 

 is that they keep the land moist, as they gather and convey the 

 dew down to the roots of the crop plants, besides keeping the 

 ground shaded. And, as they will grow everywhere except in a 

 crop of buckwheat, why he don't mind them much, and as a crop 

 to turn in, tliinks the weeds an actual advantage. 



Solon Robinson preferred clover for that purpose. 



Mr. Bergen, a Long Island farmer, thought the weeds did not 

 injure any small grain crops, but they were troublesome in hoed 

 crops. He had plowed in weeds and found the practice advan- 

 tageous. He plows as deep as his horses can draw the plow — he 

 don't care how deep his land is plowed. He does not try to get 

 rid of weeds, because if he did he couldn't. 



Anothergentleman thought land that bears great crops of weeds 

 will bear anything else. • He had often heard it observed, where 

 the land bore a great crop of weeds it would bear any other crop. 



Dr. Waterbury thought that all weeds were a detriment, and in 

 their growth exhausted fertility that should go to promote the 

 growth o^useful plants. 



Mr. Bergen acknowledged that weeds were a damage when they 

 go to seed. 



Dr. Waterbury said old farmers used to crop orchards — now, 

 how different. The practice of seeding with crops is an oM prac- 

 tice; now a better plan is to sow grass after grain crops are har- 

 vested, or to prepare the land especially for a grass crop and noth- 

 ing else. Sowing an orchard is a miserable practice. 



4GRICULTURE IN RUSSIA. 

 The Secretary read a paper from the Farmers' Magazine upon 

 the subject of the agricultural value of Russia. One of the pro- 



