PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 461 



Prof. Mapes. — In most districts there cannot be a doubt that 

 the practice of feeding the clover and substituting cheaper ma- 

 nures, is profitable. Any one whose farm borders upon the del- 

 tas of rivers, with deposits like the meadows opposite New York, 

 on the Long Island and Jersey shore, can get organic matter 

 cheaper than by taking that part of his clover crop which grows 

 above the ground, as manure. Let the clover leaves be used as 

 fodder, and while the roots are retained, let them prepare also 

 other organic matter, remembering that the value of organic 

 matter is not in any supposed nitrogenous compound present, 

 but in the advanced condition of the inorganic matter contained. 



MULCHING. 



It is most important that mulching should be clearly under- 

 stood. Place a board upon the surface of the ground late in the 

 fall and leave it until spring, and you will find that the grass 

 will grow there much taller during the following summer than 

 where the ground has not been so covered. This, in England, is 

 known as Gurneyism. Mr. Gurney, the discoverer of the pro- 

 cess, supposed that grasses so covered did not require manure, as 

 increased crops" could be obtained simply by this covering of the 

 soil. It is true that covering the surface of the soil for the time 

 with shavings, stable manure, planks, or anything else, prevents 

 the freezing of the immediate surface, which would cause the 

 soil to cease to be permeable so early in the winter. It permits 

 water to descend which would otherwise not do so. It prevents 

 the too severe action of the wind, coming at about the same 

 season, from drying the immediate surface, so that the plants are 

 sustained to a later date. Mulched grounds or soil, can be kept 

 open to a later date, and the gases arising from the decay of 

 vegetation, have longer opportunities to enter such a soil than a 

 soil not mulched. I have seen men spread long manure upon a 

 field and let it lie for weeks exposed before plowing it under ; 

 and they tell us that it has just as good an effect as if they had 

 plowed it under early, forgetting, that while they were losing a 

 portion of their manure, which should have been retained, they 

 were using the long matter connected with it as a mulch. I pre- 

 fer to plow my manure in, when I use any, and use the coarse 

 salt grasses as a mulch upon the surface, taking it off with a 

 horserake at the end of the season and using it for bedding 

 afterwards. In this way all the advantages of Gurneyism are 



