186 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



of tlie moon in August, when the sign was in the heart was the time. 

 Others thought there were pavticuLav days in every month, that answered 

 the same purpose. Has the subject ever been ventilated? 



How TO Restore Worn Out Meadows. 



I have some meadows that are ritn out that I wish to get back to their 

 original fertility. The reguhir way for doing this in this part of Connecti- 

 cut is to plow in about twenty or thirty loads of manure, plant corn, then 

 sow oats and grass seed. I dont have manure enough to get along in that 

 way fast enough. So I had thought of planting more land with corn, and 

 putting on the manure with the oats. 



I figure as follows, using the same manure in both cases: 



BY MANURING CORN. 



Yield. V.ilae. 



1st year — 1 acre corn with 30 loads manure 60 bushels $50 



2d year — 1 acre oats 30 bushels 15 



3d year — 1 aero grass l^tons 20 



Total value $85 



BY MANURING OATS. 



1st year — 3 acres corn, no manure 50 bushels $50 



2d year — 3 acres oats, 30 loads manure 90 bushels 45 



3d year — 3 acres grass 4| tons 60 



Total value $155 



85 



Difference in value, that ought to pay difference in labor $70 



I now have three acres improved instead of one. 



AvQ there any members of your Club that can tell me by experience 

 whether my theory is correct? 



Some tell me tliat the oats will lodge. If likely to do so, might I not 

 cut them green for hay with still more profit to the field? 



Some say the oats will draw all the manure from the land. Can they 

 draw more from raw manure than from that well mixed with the soil, as is 

 the case after corn that has been manured? 



Another consideration that I value is the saving in grass seed. Experi- 

 ence shows that when barnyard manure is spread on a rye lot no clover 

 need be sown, as there is plenty in the manure. 



Mr Solon llobinson. — I raised the largest crop of oats ever seen. in the 

 neighborhood by heavy manuring. They did not lodge. I attribute the 

 cause to the use of salt, at the rate of about eight bushels per acre. A 

 smaller crop grown last year upon the same place without manure and 

 without salt did lodge. The straw of the first crop would average five feet 

 long, and strong in proportion. I believe wiierever hay is worth $20 per 

 ton, that a crop t)f green (jats would be worth more than a crop i)f ripe 

 ones. They did not upon my land. Oats after corn will undoubtedly 

 exhaust the soil more than when grown upon the same soil previous to a 

 crop of corn using raw manure. With me this is a new idea. It will only 

 succeed where clover hay is largely used for fodder. 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



