State Convention—Renovation of Soils. 315 
clover the year previous. It is a perfect demonstration of the in¬ 
fluence of plaster on that soil. 
Mr. Barland: The fact should not be overlooked in considering 
the question of keeping land in clover more than two years. As I 
understand the raising of clover, it is principally as a renovating 
plant. If we continue this crop longer than the second year, we 
are working right against the object we have in view. A little 
courage is necessary when a crop of clover has arrived at maturity, 
to turn under the sod for the renovotion of the soil. I would like 
to ask this gentleman if there is any benefit to be derived by let¬ 
ting the roots decay in the soil. Is not the whole benefit derived 
from allowing the plant to arrive at maturity, and then turn the 
sod under. 
Mr. Clark, of Rock: I never turned a crop of clover under. I 
think if I take the crop off and turn the sod over afterward, it is 
just as well as to turn the crop under. 
Mr. Barland: I didn’t say to turn the crop under, the principal 
growth, but to turn under the roots. 
Mr. Anderson: I have been raising clover for a number of years. 
I will state that either way will enrich the soil. I never plow 
down a crop of green clover, unless sometimes I plow a field that 
has been partially killed out. The decaying roots are enriching to 
the soil and also act as a filter or drain to carry the moisture down. 
That is not all. In the hot, dry seasons, they act as syphons to 
draw up the moisture from below. Clover is not an exhaustive 
crop, but a very beneficial one. The experience of those gentle¬ 
men, Mr. Allen and Mr. Benton, on that white clay-soil of theirs, 
is different from mine on the prairie-soil. My farm is prairie-soil, 
black soil. The benefits of plaster on that white soil are greater 
than on my soil. I have stated that I have tried plaster on corn; 
have marked the rows, and I could’nt find any perceptible differ¬ 
ence. 
Qufstion: State in what month you applied the plaster to the 
ground. 
Mr. Anderson: As the corn was coming up, dropped it right on 
the hill. 
Question: How do you explain the fact that the chinch-bugs 
worked more effectually on the land that was rolled, if packing the 
