Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 457 



growing. I am perfectly willing that all should benefit by mj 

 experiments ; but it would facilitate matters wonderfully if a score 

 or more of the formers who are benefited by reading the reports of 

 the Farmers' Club would agree to make a series of experiments of 

 the same nature, and report to the Club, for two or three successive 

 seasons, thus showing the increase in product and durability of each 

 kind of fertilizer used. 



Rye Grass. 



Mrs. Thomas Kennedy, Opelika, Ala. — Can you or any member of 

 the Farmers' Club give me any information when and how to plant 

 "rye grass" seed? I received a package from the Agricultural 

 Department at Washington, but with no directions ; and as grass 

 culture has never had much attention in the south, until recently, 

 any light on the subject will be gratefully accepted. We live on the 

 thirty-second parallel of latitude ; soil very thin, with a substratum 

 of yellow clay. What kind of fertilizers should be used ? Would 

 not some other species of grass be better adapted to our soil and cli- 

 mate ? 



Prof. II. E. Colton — The grass spoken of is probably the Italian 

 rye grass. Clover will grow where that lady lives ; but they have 

 there two indigenous grasses called crowfoot and crabgrass, which can 

 be saved from any corn or cotton field, which are probably better for 

 that climate than any foreign grass. 



Mr. Hauser — The Italian rye grass grows only on a dry soil ; I do 

 not think it will do well on clay lands, as it shoots its roots deep 

 into the earth. It is a very nourishing grass, and I am glad to see 

 that the Agricultural Department is introducing it into this country. 

 There are several kinds of rye grass not so good as the Italian. 



Perverted Appetite in Cattle. 



Mr. M. L. Phelps, Colebrook, Conn. : I write for a little informa- 

 tion of the cause of cattle eating each other's ropes, gnawing the 

 mangers and floor plank, and a ravenous appetite for old carpets, 

 leather, pieces ot boards, bones, etc. ; also the cure, if any is known. 

 I will state that they have been well salted and fed ground bone, but 

 to no purpose. 



Col. M. C. Weld — The probability is that a little ground bone fed 

 to his cattle might correct the evil. 



Mr. S. E. Tocld — The best corrective is hay or straw and bran. 

 Plenty of good food will correct the evil. If fed well now, it is pro- 



