168 Wisconsin state agricultural society. 
learned theories of our own or others to set forth. We think we 
can better subserve their interest by giving a simple statement of 
experiments, extending over a period of years. By way of prem¬ 
ise, it may be as well to state the reasons that caused us to experi¬ 
ment with clover as a fertilizer. 
We are one of Wisconsin’s working farmers. One who believes 
that by a system of cultivation we succeed in taking a certain 
amount of money out of our farms to put in our pockets. If at the 
same time we decrease the productiveness of our farms, we not only 
fail to make money, but are actually the losers. On the other hand, 
we believe that if land pays $1 per acre over and above the cost of 
cultivation, it is worth $10 per acre, and no more. If it produces 
$5, it is worth $50. If $10, it is as well worth $100 per acre as the 
first was worth $10. 
And again, if you increase the productiveness of say a 200 acre 
farm, $1 per acre, at the same cost, you not only add $200 to your 
income, but add $2,000 to your capital, and, so on in like proportion. 
If the production of your land decreases, your income is falling off, 
and your capital melting away. 
Several years ago we became painfully conscious of a gradual 
decrease in the yield of our crops. To remedy matters, we com¬ 
menced feeding stock, cattle, sheep and hogs. We not only fed 
all the grain and coarse feed the farm produced, but we bought a 
great deal of corn from our neighbors. 
After pursuing this policy for a few years, we found it not alto¬ 
gether unsatisfactory. We could not always depend upon buying 
corn at prices that left a profit in feeding it, and what was worse, 
with all our feeding, we could not make manure enough to keep 
our land up to the productive standard that we wanted it. We 
next turned our attention to clover, and the result has more than 
equaled our most sanguine expectations. 
In the spring of 1869, we sowed 20 acres to clover, sowing it 
with oats, putting 10 pounds to the acre. After the grain was cut, 
the clover made a remarkable growth; it headed nicely, and much 
of the seed matured sufficiently to grow. On the 15th of October 
following, we commenced to turn the clover under; it took good 
teams and good plows to go through it. The next spring we planted 
to corn, and harvested 60 bushels per acre. The next spring, we- 
plowed the ground and sowed oats. This brought the seed plowed 
