Proceedings of the Farmers^ Club. 225 



amount of sterile sub-soil exposed. Then, when a depth beyond 

 which it does, not pay to go has been reached, we invite farmers to 

 report to us, and describe the nature of the soil and sub-soil. 



Clovee as a Fertilizer. 



Mr. E. P. Myers, of Franklin, Indiana, reports favorably on the 

 use of clover as a manure. 



Mr. Horace Greele3\ — That fact may now be taken as pretty well 

 established. The practical difficulty with a great many soils is, they 

 are too poor to grow the first crop of clover, so nothing can be obtained 

 without considerable manure that is worth turning under. 



Mr. "W. S. Carj^enter. — Clover is an excellent manure for lands 

 remote from the barns, and places where little compost can be had. 

 So also for hill tops and inaccessible fields. They can be greatly 

 benefited by plowing under two crops of clover. There is no great 

 extent of land in this country too poor to. afford some clover. Get 

 even a small growth, turn it under, and sow again on the sod. 



Apple Tree Worms. 



Mr. A. E. Raymond, of Niagara County, X. Y., complains bitterly 

 of these pests. He describes the common canker worm, well known 

 in Isew England, and asks what can be done to rid farmers of this 

 pest, 



Mr. Horace Greeley. — I have long held that every enemy of fruit 

 trees that burrows in the ground may be successfully pursued and 

 frequently exterminated by the proper use of salt. Fall plowing is also 

 a good remedy, if the land is left in ridges. Freezing kills the eggs.. 



Dr. I, P, Trimble. — The canker worm has of late disappeared 

 from New England. Those who have made its habits a study say a 

 parasite comes and lays its eg^ in the egg or larva of the worm, and' 

 thus kills it. Birds are the best friends of the farmer in this respect, 

 especially the cedar bird. 



Mr. Allen. — Some years ago I had a fine shade tree beset with 

 canker-worms. I tied a rough rope or band of common swingling 

 tow around the trunk. When a brisk wind blew them to the 

 ground, they would make straight for the trunk of the tree, but 

 could not get over this rough band, 



Mr. Baldwin. — Iliad in my yard five choice peach trees that ceased 

 to bear, grew sickly, and had the yellows. I dug around the roots, 

 and poured into the loosened earth a quantity of fish biine.. In. a. 



[Inst.] 15 



