Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
69 
Mr. Northrop. I rise to inquire about how muchweight there is 
in each barrel. 
Mr. Clark. There is about three hundred pounds. 
Mr. Bentoh, of Dodge County. I have experimented on this 
question considerably, and thought and read over it considerably. 
It has got one very important consideration that I think has so far 
been lost sight of, and that is conveyed in the term plaster-sick. I 
wish to know whether any of you gentlemen, have any knowledge 
of the out come of plaster using. If a man sows plaster from year 
to year and takes off the crop, is that land going to respond to plas¬ 
ter afterwards, or is it going to be like the human system, under 
stimulants, finally failing to respond, or does it stimulate his land at 
all ? Is it to add fertility ? It is a question with me what effect it is 
to have on the soil in the future. 
« 
I have arrived at the conclusion that we cannot always take out 
of a pocket and always have it stay just so full, and if these men 
increase the product of their land by plaster, are they more rapidly 
going to arrive at development by cropping with plaster? And 
what is the best method of plowing in, and whether it is improved 
under the compensation of plaster? Can we renovate with plaster 
alone ? 
I have done it absolutely alone without using anything else, and 
put my land in splendid condition, as well as increasing its fertility. 
I don't need so heavy tools, or so heavy teams to make it work, and 
that is one of the best uses of plaster—the condition the soil is re¬ 
duced to. The root-growth of clover acts almost like sub-soil in 
giving us compensation for extreme wet and dry land, and the ad¬ 
vantage of plaster is that it increases root-growth as well as top- 
growth, and it ameliorates our heavy soil. 
One gentleman raised the question of the amount sown to the 
acre, but that is not so material, as that you put on some plaster; 
and we all understand that some soil will not bear plaster. 
Another point. I see it stated a great deal in papers that the use 
of plaster may increase the growth of our cereals, and some find 
fault that the clover is stimulated by the plaster. It is not the 
plaster that makes the grain grow the next year, so much as the 
condition of the soil by the clover roots. For instance, I am sowing 
wheat; next spring I do not expect to see any difference by the 
plaster sown on it, but the next year after that I know I shall. 
