158 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



and wet," but the mixture will do it good. Ten bushels as a spring dress- 

 ing per acre, continued as long as beneficial, is my recommendation. 



Mr. Fuller — If thistles are cut so as never to show a green leaf for 

 three years, without regard to the moon, I think it will kill them ; but no 

 single cutting will do it. 



A BARREN GRAPE VINE. 



Philo Barnes, of Marion, he don't say what state, says he has a grape 

 vine that blossoms every year, but bears no fruit, and wants to know what 

 to do with it. 



I answer. Prune it and feed it with bones. Bury around its roots all 

 the bones now wasted about the house. The dissolved ones out of the 

 soap-kettle will be first-rate. 



Mr. Burgess. — I would recommend him to shake the branch of another 

 vine in flower over the barren one. 



A FRUITFUL VINE. 



Mr. Provost exhibited a vine ten feet long with one hundred fine bunches 

 of grapes. He said, I manure high every year, and then put a coat of 

 sand over that. I don't know of any remedy for the barren grape-vine 

 mentioned by Mr. Robinson. 



STIFF CLAY SOIL — HOW TO AMELIORATE IT. 



A letter from Charles M. Walker, of Lapeer, Mich., says : 

 " I have for a long time been a close and attentive reader of the debates 

 in your Farmer's Club, which excite far more interest throughout the 

 country, than you probably imagine ; and I write now to ask for informa- 

 tion, which may net only benefit me, but others. I have a piece of ground 

 which I vainly tried to raise crops on last year, consisting of pure yellow 

 clay. This spring I had it spaded over, the depth of the spade being twelve 

 inches. It cut out like lead or putty, turning up in pieces the size and shape 

 of the cut of the spade, and remaining just as they fell from it. There does 

 not seem to be the least particle of alluvial or vegetable deposit — as I 

 should call it — with the clay — nothing but pure clay. It has been dug up 

 a week, and is as hard and unpromising as ever. Now, I wish you to tell 

 me through the Farmer's Club, whether an application of lime would be 

 good for it, and if so, how much to, say a half acre, and whether marl or 

 stone lime is best. Also, whether tile draining would be good for it, and 

 if so, how far apart the drains should be laid, and how deep ?" 



Solon Robinson.— Now I will answer this inquiry in part. I have seen 

 800 bushels of lime per acre applied to land of just such a character as he 

 describes this, without materially improving its texture. I think the same 

 quantity of coarse sand or gravel, or coal ashes, would do more good. 

 Swamp muck, or any rich earth would be beneficial. It is difficult to drain 

 such land, but it can be done with tiles not less than three feet deep, and 

 not over thirty feet apart, and always open at both ends, so as to aerate 

 the earth as well as to take ofi" the water. In a stony country it would 



