PROCEEDINGS OF THE FAEMERS' CLUB. 207 



have appreciated wonderfully in value in the past two years. Oak lumber 

 has been lately sold in that part of New York State for oil barrels, at $8 

 per 1,000 feet board measure, 'on the stump,' where formerly, or say three 

 years since, $2 per 1,000 feet was the highest price thought of.'" 



In other places the draft upon oak timber, for shipwrights, has enhanced 

 its value more than as above stated. Every farmer who has a young oak 

 growing where it will not interfere with his crops, may consider that he 

 has a valuable deposit in bank, at interest for his children, in the growth 

 of the oak tree. 



Inquiries about Manure for Fruit Trees. 



Mr. Bird, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, asks the following questions : 



First : What chemical elements of the soil are exhausted in the cultiva- 

 tion of nursery trees and shrubbery ? 



Second : Will the application of barn-yard manure restore to the soil the 

 elements thus exhausted by the cultivation of nursery stock ? or 



Third: What additional application beside barnyard manure is neces- 

 sary to restore said exhaustion ? 



Mr. Wm, S. Carpenter remarked that he had had a good deal of experi- 

 ence in growing trees upon a worn-out soil, and he has found that it 

 requires more potash than is contained in barn-yard manure, and he has 

 therefore found an application of wood-ashes, at a price not exceeding 

 twent3'-five cents a bushel, the most economical fertilizer that he could 

 apply to a young orchard. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller replied, that, as a general rule, it may be said that the 

 cultivation of ground in trees will exhaust all the elements, though slowly. 

 I do not think any artificial manure is as good as the natural new virgin soil. 



Dr. Trimble says that result would follow only in poor soil. In rela- 

 tion to the question about manure, the general opinion is that barn-yard 

 manure does contain all the elements necessary to restore any soil to 

 fertility, but he has found, in cultivating nursery trees a good many years, 

 that such manure induces a large growth of wood and foliage, but it is not 

 as healthy a growth as when made by some other substance, such as a 

 compost of wood mold, leaves, &c. Some soils that are exhausted can 

 certainly be restored quickly by other fertilizers than by barn-yard manure. 

 As to the third question, no one can answer that, because two fields, only 

 divided by a fence or road, may require an entirely different treatment. 



Corn Stalks as Fodder. 



Mr. C. M. Bowen, who says he profits by reading the discussions of this 

 Club, thinks that corn-stalks should be kept, if possible, in a moist condi- 

 tion. If no better place can be found, make a long stack with the buts to 

 the weather on each side, when perhaps they will do to fodder till spring. 

 Corn-stalks contain so much valuable nutriment for cattle, especially milch 

 cows, that a proper method of curing, saving and feeding them would 

 be very acceptable. 



Cutting dry stalks in a machine for food is still worse than feeding them 

 whole, as more likely to induce cattle to eat' the indigestible stalks. He 

 had a cow which he thinks was materially injured by this kind of feed, the 

 stalks being very dry and hard when fed. 



