N'- ... .

f_^'^*?e<*^'>«^-'«j!> y^-^ '

N. Y. PUB. LIB.
DUPLICATE.

•EXCHANGED,

FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

SECRETARY

OF THE

Connttiicd §0arir 0f l^giicultitre.

1871-72.

LIBRARY
NEW YORK
BOTANICAL

GARDEN

kmittj hv ax^tx of llje ^tgblatiirf.

HARTFORD:

CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRATNARD, PRINTERS.

1872.

STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, new'^yo^rk

1871-2.

BOTANICAL
GARDEN

His Excellency MARSHALL JEWELL, Ex-oflcio.

APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR AND SENATE.

Term Expires.

E. H. HYDE, Stafford, . - . - 1872.

ALBERT DAY, Brooklyn, - - - 1873.

H. L. STEWART, Middle Haddam, - - 1872.

J. T. ROCKWELL, Winsted, - - - 1873.

elected by the agricultural societies.

Hartford County, S. M. WELLS, Wethersfield, 1872.

W. H. POND, Milford, - 1873.

JOHN BREWSTER, Ledyard, 1873.
THOMAS A. MEAD, Greenwich, 1872.
GEORGE SANGER, Canterbury, 1872.
NATHAN HART, West Cornwall, 1872.
Dr. NOAH CRESSY, Middletown, 1873.
W. H. YEOMANS, Columbia, 1873

New Haven

New London

Fairfield

Windham

Litchfield

Middlesex

Tolland

elected by the board.
T. S. GOLD, West Cornwall, Secretary.

official list.

Gov. Marshall Jewell, Pres.

E. H. Hyde, Stafford, Vice Pres.

T. S. Gold, West Cornwall, Sec.

J. S. Allen, East Windsor, Treas.

Dr. Noah Cressy, Middletown, Vet. Surg.

Prof. S. I. Smith, New Haven, Entomologist.

Prof. W. H. Brewer, " Botanist.

Prof. S. W. Johnson, " Chemist.

E. H. Hyde, \ Commissioners

Dr. N. Cressy, \ on Diseases of

T. S. Gold, ) Domestic Animals.

An Act for tlie Incorporation of a State Board

of Agriculture.

General Assembly, May Session, A. D. 18T1.

Be it enacted bj the Senate and House of Representatives in Gen-
eral Assembly convened :

Sec. 1. The governor, one person appointed from each county
by the incorporated agricultural society in that county or when there
are several incorporated societies in one county, by mutual agreement
of those societies, or in rotation from each society as it may be ar-
ranged by them, and four persons appointed by the governor, with the
advice and consent of the Senate, shall constitute the State Board of
Agriculture.

Sec. 2. One half of the appointed members of the board shall
retire from oflBce on the second Wednesday of May, in each year, ac-
cording to their appointments. The vacancies thus occurring shall
be filled by the Governor and Senate, or by the agricultural societies,
as the offices were before filled, and the persons thus appointed shall
hold their offices for two years from the expiration of the former
terms. Other vacancies may be filled in the same manner for the re-
mainder of vacant terms. At the first meeting of the board, the in-
dividuals whose term of office expires in one year shall be determin-
ed by lot.

Sec. 3. The board shall meet at one of the state capitals, where
the general assembly shall meet at least once in each year, and as
much oftener as may be deemed expedient. The members of the
board of agriculture shall receive no compensation for their services
but each member shall receive his necessary traveling expenses while
engaged in the duties of his office, for a term of service not to exceed
fifteen days in each year unless delegated by the board to some special
duty requiring longer service.

Sec. 4. The board may appoint and prescribe the duties of a sec-
retary who shall be ex-officio a member of the same ; and who shall
receive for his services out of the appropriation for the use of the
board, such sum as the board shall direct.

6

ACT OP INCORPORATION.

Sec. 5. The board shall investigate such subjects relating to im-
provement in agriculture and horticulture in this state as they think
proper, and may take, hold in trust, and exercise control over dona-
tions or bequests made to them for promoting agricultural education,
or the general interests of husbandry.

Sec. 6. The board may prescribe forms for, and regulate the re-
turns required of the different agricultural societies, and furnish to
the secretary of each such blanks as they deem necessary to secure
uniform and reliable statistics, and any society neglecting in any year
to comply with the regulations of the board, shall not be entitled to
the allowance from the state, as by law now provided, the year next
succeeding.

Sec. 7. The board shall annually on, or before the fourth Wed-
nesday of May, by their chairman or secretary, submit to the Legis-
lature a detailed report of their doings, with such recommendations
and suggestions as the interests of agriculture may require.

Sec. 8. The secretary of the board, under the direction of the
comptroller, shall in each year cause to be made and printed as full
an abstract of the returns of agricultural societies as he deems use-
ful, together with the report to the Legislature ; provided that the whole
volume shall not exceed three hundred and fifty pages octavo, and the
whole number to be printed shall not exceed four thousand, one thou-
sand for the use of the General Assembly, and three thousand for dis-
tribution under direction of the board.

Sec. 9. The secretary shall visit different sections of the state for
the purpose of inquiring into the methods and wants of practical hus-
bandry ; ascertaining the adaptation of agricultural products to soil,
climate, and markets ; encouraging the establishment of farmers clubs,
agricultural libraries and reading rooms, and of disseminating useful
information in agriculture by means of lectures, or otherwise, and
shall annually make a detailed I'eport to the board.

Sec. 10. The secretary or members delegated by the board shall
as far as practicable, visit the different agricultural exhibitions in the
state and report to the board upon matters pertaining to the interests of
agriculture as indicated by these exhibitions.

Sec. 1L For the purpose of preventing the spread of contagious
diseases among neat cattle and other domestic animals, authority is con-
ferred upon the board of agriculture as follows : Whenever in the
judgment of the board public safety demands, said boai'd shall have the
power to prohibit the bringing, transportation, or introduction of any
cattle or other domestic anim.als into this state from any place whatever,

ACT OF INCORPORATION. 7

by any railroad or any incorporated company, or by any person.
And every such company or person who shall bring, transport, or in-
troduce any cattle or other domestic animals into this state after said
board shall have issued an order to such company or person, forbid-
ding the same, or after the board shall have published for five suc-
cessive days an order in such newspapers published in this state as the
board may direct, forbidding any person or company to do so, shall
pay a fine not exceeding three hundi-ed dollars for each and every of-
fense, and every officer or agent of any company or other persons
who shall violate such order shall be subject to the fine aforesaid. In
case of the introduction into this state of a number of cattle or
other domestic animals contrary to the orders of said board as afore-
said, the introduction of each animal shall be deemed a separate and
distinct offense.

Sec. 12. Whenever any contagious disease breaks out or is known
to exist in any section of this state, the board shall have the power at
their discretion to quarantine all infected animals, or those supposed
to have been exposed to contagion, and to prohibit the di'iving or trans-
porting of such animals or any others upon the public highways in
any town or district where such movement of animals is considered
by the board as dangerous to the public safety.

Sec. 13. The board are authorized to enter upon any premises
where there are any animals that are supposed to be affected with any
disease, to investigate the facts and to make all necessary regulations
for the prevention, treatment, care, and extirpation of such disease,
and whenever any person shall fail to comply with any regulation so
established by the said board, they shall be punished by a fine not ex-
ceeding three hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding
one year.

Sec. 14. The board may appoint suitable persons on or near the
several highways, railroads, and thoroughfares in the state, whose duty
it shall be strictly to inquire into all violations of this act, -and to re-
port the same tu the board for immediate prosecution.

Sec. 15. The board of agriculture may appoint three commis-
sioners on diseases of domestic animals and delegate to them the full
powers which by this act are conferred upon the board.

Sec. 16. All prosecutions for the violation of any of the provis-
ions of this act shall be commenced within thirty days from the com-
mission thereof.

Sec. 17. The sum of two thousand five hundred dollars is annu-
ally appropriated for the use of the board, and the comptroller shal]

8 ACT OP INCORPORATION.

on the first day of January in each year, draw his order upon the
treasurer of this state for this sum in favor of the board. The board
shall appoint a treasurer who shall receive and safely keep all money
appropriated for and belonging to the board, and he shall pay it out
only on bills approved by the board. The treasurer shall make a full
report to the board to be included in the report of the secretary to the
General Assembly.

Sec. 18. The first meeting of the board for organization shall be
held in Hartford on the first Wednesday of August, 1871. Subse-
quent meetings may be called by the president or secretary upon the
request of four members of the board.

Sec. 19. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are here-
by repealed.

Sec. 20. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.
Approved July 27th, 1871.

REPORT.

2l» the G-eneral Assembly of the State of Connecticut :

The Connecticut State Board of Agriculture met in Hart-
ford the first Wednesday in August, 1871, as provided in the
act of incorporation.

For temporary organization, on motion of Hon. E. H. Hyde,
His Excellency Marshall Jewell was chosen President, and
Nathan Hart, Secretary. After some desultory conversation
pertaining to the general interests of the Board, Governor
Marshall Jewell was chosen President.

On motion of E. H. Hyde, it was

Voted, That when the Board adjourns it be to August 16th
at 12 M., at the governor's room in Hartford.

A resolution was passed instructing the secretary to notify
the agricultural societies in the several counties of the action
of the meeting, that members might be appointed according
to the provisions of the act.

The Board then adjourned to the time and place before

voted.

NATHAN HART, Secretary pro «m.

The Board met, according to adjournment, August 16th, a-t
12 M., His Excellency Marshall Jewell, President, in the chair.

On motion of Mr. Hyde, Mr. Plumb, of Fairfield County,
was invited to participate in the doings of the meeting except
voting.

10 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Voted, That the Board appoint a vice-president, and Hon.
E. H. Hyde was chosen.

Voted, That the Board proceed to elect a secretary, pending
which, on motion of N. Hart, Messrs. Hyde, Plumb, and
Cressy, were appointed by the Chair to bring forward business
for the afternoon session. The Board adjourned to 2 P. M.

NATHAN HART, Secretary pro im.

The Board met at 2 P. M. An informal ballot was taken
for secretary, resulting in the unanimous choice of T. S. Gold,
of West Cornwall, who was declared elected, and entered on
the duties of. his office.

The official list was completed by the choice of J. S. Allen,
of East Windsor, Treasurer ; Dr. Noah Cressy, Middletown,
Veterinary Surgeon; Professor S. I. Smith, New Haven, En-
tomologist; Professor W. H. Brewer, New Haven, Botanist;
Professor S. W. Johnson, New Haven, Chemist.

A drawing took place according to section 2d of the act to
determine the term of office of the members. Hartford
County, one year; New Haven County, two years; New Lon-
don County, two years; Fairfield County, one year; Windliam
County, one year; Litchfield County, one year; Middlesex
County, two years ; Tolland County, two years.

MEMBERS APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR.

E. H. Hyde, one year; Albert Day, two years; John T.
Rockwell, two years; H. L. Stewart, one year.

Delegates were then chosen to attend the various agricultu-
ral Fairs in the state, as follows:

Hartford County (no fair) — E. H. Hyde.
Pequabuck, Bristol, October 4.

New Haven County (no fair) — H. L. Stewart.
Milford and Orange — Orange, September 28.
Oxford, September 28.
Union Agricultural Society, Wallingford, October 10, 11.

secretary's report. 11

New London County — S. M. Wells.
Norwich, September 26, 27, 28. •

Fairfield County — W. H. Yeomans and J. Brewster.
Norwalk, September 19, 20, 21, 22.
Daubury, October 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Ridgefield, September 26, 27, 28, 29.

Windham County — N. Hart, T. A. Mead.
Brooklyn, September 16, 17, 18.
Woodstock, September 19, 20.

Litchfield County — Messrs. Hyde and Day.
Litchfield, October 4, 5.
Watertown, September 6, 7.
Union, Falls Village, September 12, 13.
Housatonic, New Milford, September 26, 27.
Valley Park, Wolcottville, October 11, 12.
Woodbury,

Middlesex County — W. H. Pond.

Middletown, September 26, 27, 28, 29.

Tolland County — George Sanger, W. H. Yeomans.

Rockville, September 27, 28.
Tolland County East — Stafford Springs, October 12.

A resolution was passed for the appointment of three com
missioners on diseases of domestic animals. They were ap-
pointed as follows: Hon. E. H. Hyde, T. S. Gold, and Dr.
N. Cressy.

The secretary presented letters from the California Agricul-
tural Society and the Michigan Pomological Society, seeking
an exchange of fruits for exhibition. The secretary was di-
rected to furnish such exchanges as he could procure.

A committee of three was appointed, consisting of Messrs.
Day, Stewart, and Gold, to arrange for the time, place, and
subject for discussion at the winter meeting, with authority to
secure lecturers for the occasion. The secretary was requested
to solicit proposals from the different agricultural societies for
accommodations for the winter meeting.

12 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

A communication was presented by the secretary from the
signal-service officer of the War Department upon the subject
of weather reports. The secretary was directed to make fur-
ther inquiries of the department.

Tlie secretary was directed to prepare blanks for the returns
from agricultural societies.

Messrs. Stewart, Brewster, and Yeomans, were appointed
Auditors.

Resolved^ That the treasurer be required to give bonds in

the sum of three thousand dollars for the faithful performance

of his trust.

The Board adjourned sine die.

T. S. GOLD, Secretary.

The Connecticut Board of Agriculture met at the Attawau-
gan House, in Danielsonville, January 9th, 1872, at 1 P. M.,
Hon. E. H. Hyde, Vice-President, in the chair. Present,
Messrs. Mead, Stewart, Yeomans, Hyde, Day, Sanger, Hart,
and Gold. At later meetings Messrs. Rocicwell, Pond, and
Brewster, were in attendance.

The secretary reported the arrangements for the meetings
as announced in the j^rogramme, which were approved.

An adjourned meeting was held Wednesday, at 9 P. M.

The secretary presented a communication from the chief
signal-officer of the War Department, requesting the appoint-
ment of a permanent committee by the Board, to confer, from
time to time, with the chief signal-officer of the army, and to
take, in conjunction with him, such steps as may be deemed
desirable, that agriculture as well as commerce might partici-
pate in the benefits to be derived from tlie observations of that
department. Professor Brewer and Messrs. Gold and Yeo-
mans were appointed.

'A committee, consisting of Messrs. Hyde, Gold, and Pond,
were appointed to make preliminary arrangements for an ex-

secretaey's report. 13

change of fruits with all the states, for the purpose of holding
a pomological exhibition in the autumn of 1872, and report
to the Board at the annual meeting. At a subsequent meet-
ing Mr. Hyde was excused from serving on the committee,
and Mr. Stewart was appointed.

Adjourned to 8 A. M. Thursday, January 11th.

The Board met Thursday, at 8 A. M.

Resolved, That the annual meeting be held on the last
Wednesday in May.

The secretary presented a communication from the commis-
sioner of agriculture, asking for the appointment of a commit-
tee of two to meet at Washington with delegates from agri-
cultural colleges and societies, to confer upon the general in-
terests of agriculture.

Governor Marshall Jewell and Mr. J. S. Allen were ap-
pointed as the committee, with power to elect substitutes.

Adjourned to 9 P. M.

The Board met Thursday, January 11th, at 9 P. M. The
following resolution was passed:

Resolved, That the salary of the secretary be seven hundred
dollars per annum, with necessary traveling and other expenses.

The Board adjourned to Friday, at 8 A. M.

At this meeting on Friday the following resolutions were
passed:

Resolved, That the Board appropriate four hundred dollars
to Professor Johnson, to be used for chemical investigations.

Resolved, That the Board appropriate two hundred dollars
to Professor S. I. Smith, Entomologist, for investigations of
insects.

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer with the
state house building committee, to secure proper accommoda
tions for the Board.

Governor Marshall Jewell and Messrs. Allen and Gold we;:e
appointed as this committee.

The Board then adjourned.

14 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

WINTER MEETINGS. ,

The public winter meetings of the State Board of Agricul-
ture of Connecticut were held in Danielsonville, on tlie 9tli,
10th, 11th, and 12tli of January, in the spacious and comfort-
able hall of the new school-house at that place, and the attend-
ance at most of the meetings was gratifying and encouraging.

The sessions commenced on Tuesday, January 9th, at 2|-
o'clock, Vice-President, Hon. E. H. Hyde, in the chair.

Tlie president, on calling the meeting to order, said: "We
are very glad to be permitted to come together in this section
of the state. Although a little out of the centre, perhaps, iu
an agricultural point of view, we are certainly in the midst of
one of the most prosperous manufacturing sections of our
state."

Mr. George Sanger, of Canterbury. — Mr. President and
Gentlemen of the Board: I desire, as a representative of the
Windiiam County Agricultural Society, and also in behalf of
the Woodstock Agricultural Society, to extend to the mem-
bers of the Board a most hearty and earnest welcome to our
county. We are glad to have you with us, gentlemen, and
we most cordially welcome among us those gentlemen of sci-
ence who are here to speak to us upon the various subjects
which' may be brought to our attention.

It has been truly said in my hearing this morning, that the
farmers of Connecticut are not acquainted with each other as
they ought to be, and I sincerely hope that these meetings
during this week may do much in the direction of bringing
the farmers of the different sections of the state together in
friendly personal intercourse. It will afford us the highest
pleasure if we shall be able to contribute, in any measure, to
your comfort and happiness while you are with us, and to the
success of the meetings of the Board during this week.
Again, gentlemen, we bid you a hearty welcome.

Mr. Gold. It was because we had confidence in the assur-
ances of the gentlemen of Windham County that they desired
to meet us that we came here. They came to us with the
declaration that they would be glad to sec us, that they would

POTATOES.

15

be glad to become acquainted with the farmers in other sec-
tions of the state; and these assurances were as kindly re-
ceived as they were heartily given. We have met a cordial
reception so far, and we hope that when you are through with
us you will not be sorry that you have given us this invitation.

The president stated that the first subject upon the pro-
gramme for discussion was Potatoes, and called upon the sec-
retary to open the debate.

Mr. Gold. — In discussing the subject of potatoes at this
time, it would be desirable to speak of the varieties which we
have cultivated — the varieties that we favor as well as those
that we have discarded; also our modes of culture — those
which have proved successful as well as those which we have
discarded, or which have I)een seen to be unsuccessful with
others ; the manures adapted to this crop ; the yield which we
have obtained, and which is common to the different sections
of the state with which we are acquainted ; the yield of dif-
ferent varieties upon different soils, and treated in the differ-
ent methods which we may explain ; the best modes of storing
or preserving potatoes during the winter, for our own use or
for market, and the uses for which they are employed, either
for the table, for market, or for feeding animals; also the
markets where we may sell our potatoes, the extent of those
markets, and the prices obtained for the crop.

All these topics seem to come properly before the Board for
discussion at this time. Without proceeding to give my own
practice upon any of these points, or to make any suggestions,
I would leave the matter in the hands of the Board, and the
gentlemen assembled here. All present are invited to unite
with the Board in the discussion of these subjects, the object
being to gather as nuich information as possible from all
sources that will be useful to the farmers of the state, but es-
pecially from the farmers themselves.

Dr. Baldwin, of Canterbury. — A few days ago, in view of
this meeting, I wrote out my views upon the subject of raising
corn and potatoes as adapted to my situation. That is a low
stand-point, I confess, but a stand-point that many of the
farmers of Windham County occupy.

16 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

DocT. Elijah Baldwin, of Canterbuiy, presented a disser-
tation, wherein he gave an account of his mode of raising
corn and potatoes. By lining both ways he is able to culti-
vate them with but little manual labor. The gist of his dis-
course was how to raise the most corn and potatoes with the
least labor. He also gave a recipe to manufacture home-made
super-phosphate of lime, which he has found available.

Recipe for home-made super-phosphate of lime. Articles re-
quired : Cracked bone, sulphuric acid, a large kettle, a small
kettle, plaster of Paris, soil free from gravel, &c., &c. Put
four pails of water in a large kettle, add forty pounds of oil
of vitriol, (sulphuric acid,) add one hundred pounds cracked
bpne ; after this has stood twenty-four hours, put under the
kettle a moderate fire, and continue to simmer till the larger
pieces of bone will give a little under the finger. During all
this time the contents of the kettle should be stirred occa-
sionally. Make a bed somewhat like a mortar bed, (smaller,)
spread over it as much dirt as you choose to use — one barrel
or more — then upon this one hundred pounds of plaster of
Paris ; then add the mixture from the kettle — and for a supe-
rior article, spread upon this twenty-five pounds of Peruvian
guano. For buckwheat tlie guano is essential. Mix all care-
fully with the hoe. It is now a very sticky mass. Let it lie
till next day and it will become fria1)le and can be easily
handled. It should not be allowed to lie in large heaps and
heat. The solution of bone can be prepared beforehand and
put in flour barrels or any convenient barrels, and if they leak
set them on dirt — there will be no loss. To pour the acid,
turn the carboy over a sleeper so as to raise it above the
small kettle. This can be done by one or two men behind it.
A holder of paper or rags will prevent danger from spatter-
ings on the bail. Empty without haste into the large kettle.
After weighing a few times the measure will determine with
sufficient accuracy.

Question. What varieties of potatoes do you raise ?

Dr. Baldwin. I have raised the Davis Seedling, because
it is a great yielder, and always finds a ready market.

Question. How much is your yield to the acre ?

POTATOES. 17

Dr. Baldwin. I have no big crops to brag of. I planted
about five acres this year. I have about a hundred bushels in
my cellar, and gathered about three hundred bushels for
market. The potatoes sold for sixty-five cents a bushel, which,
deducting the expenses, left me forty-eight cents clear for the
potatoes, delivered at the station. The best potato for my
use is the Dover, but it is a small yielder. We have a new
potato with us, that has not been disseminated at all, which
has yielded this year better than any potato that I ever
raised. It originated in my neighborhood. It resembles very
much the Jersey Peach Blow. I should say that potato yielded
this year at the rate of 200 l)ushels to the acre, wliere other
varieties yielded perhaps 150 bushels. It was hoed but once,
but cultivated and plowed several times. It has no name but
the Tarbox. The Early Rose, in the same ground, I hardly
think yielded fifty bushels to the acre. The Monitor yielded
full as much as either of the others, but rotted to a consider-
able extent ; not so jjadly, however, I think, but that it left
100 bushels to the acre. That variety is not so saleable, and
I do not think it so desirable as the others, although last year
it was mealy and good.

Question. What is the character of the land ?

Dr. Baldwin. An old pine plain, that yielded a great
many more potatoes, at forty-eight cents a bushel, than would
pay for it in any market where it can be put up at auction.

Mil. Hutchins, of Danielsonville. What I have to say has
no immediate connection with either corn or potatoes, but is
intimately connected with both. The Yicar of Wakefield tells
us that his wife had a great notion of applying for letters
patent, and was exceedingly enthusiastic in her plan. He
inquired of her what it was that was so important that she
would like to get a patent for it. " Why," said she, with the
utmost vivacity, " I have learned that our daughter's hands
are never so soft as when they do not do any thing at all."
Now, what I have to say is little more likely to obtain a patent
than the discovery of the Vicar of Wakefield's wife, and yet it
is something which every farmer should have fully impressed
upon his mind ; and that is, that to the presence of iveeds in
2

18 BOARD OF AGRICULTU.vE.

our fields is to be attributed, in great part, the entire absence
of profit in the cultivation of many of our crops. Now, if I
can convince every one here present of the mischievous char-
acter of weeds, of every kind, so that they will carry the plan
I shall suggest into effect hereafter, they will not only be will-
ing to pay me handsomly for my information, but consider it
more valuable than all the benefits they ever have or ever will
reap from agricultural societies or agricultural books.

Now, Mr. President, if you disbelieve what I am al)Out to
say, just visit your neighbors' corn fields and potato fields about
the last of next August, just after they get through with their
haying, when every thing is pressing, and it is a question in
my mind whether you will not find weeds tliere sufficient to
destroy, in the long run, the net profits of all the farming
operations of the year. Let me say right here, for I know it
from experience, that you may bury the seeds of those weeds
and let the field lie uncultivated for ten or fifteen years, and
when you do cultivate it again, it will present a crop of weeds
more readily than anything you can place upon the soil ;
whereas, if you cultivate that ground thoroughly, and extermi-
nate every weed from it, you will not have them then or there-
after to mix with your hay or any other crop that may follow.
I have tried it. I had a large livery stable, and kept upon
the average about twenty horses, some ten or a dozen years.
I made one pledge when it came into my possession, that no
part of that manure should ever be appropriated to the raising
of weeds, and I can say that I have planted eight or ten acres
where I could carry under one arm every weed that grew upon
that land. I have been in the habit, also, of letting tene-
ments, and I have found my tenants exceedingly anxious to
get large gardens ; they will put an immense quantity of
manure upon them, and plant them with the nicest exactitude,
but if you go around by the side of those gardens in August,
you cannot tell what crop is upon any part of them, by reason
of the flourishing condition of the weeds.

Dr. Baldwin. I consider that the seeds of weeds in the
soil, provided it is well worked, are high sources of fertility.
Not that they should be allowed to grow, Ijut if a soil is quick

POTATOES. 19

with tliem, and kept well worked, they are a grand source of
fertility.

Mr. C. W. Low, of Danielsonville. I have cultivated large
tracts of land in New Jersey, in Iowa, and some in this state,
and I should be very glad to pay something for a large quan-
tity of weed seed in the soil. I don't want to have the weeds
grow with the crop, but I should be willing to have them get
up three or four inches. I have always found that the most
profitable land to cultivate which had the most weed seed in
it, and had the most germinate and come up.

Mr. H. L. Reade, of Jewett City. Dr. Baldwin brought in
several times, in the course of his admirable address, some-
thing about ashes. It is almost impossilile to get any amount
of ashes in this vicinity. How does he succeed in finding
them ?

Dr. Baldwin. That is one of the benefits of coming up
here and learning. "We shall buy what ashes can be had, and
there is where we shall get the advantage of our neighbors
who do not attend the meetings. Mr. Reade can get all he
wants in Norwich.

Mr. Reade. One word about the value of ashes upon corn.
Twenty-one years ago, my father carted from Greeneville up
to my farm in the neighborhood of Jewett City, perhaps two
hundred bushels of ashes. That field has been planted half a
dozen times since, and last summer we sowed it with corn for
the cattle, and on the ground where that pile of ashes lay,
covering perhaps two hundred square feet, some stalks grew
at least eight feet high, from which I gathered two sizeable
ears. Ten feet from there, the stalks were about four feet
high. That is what ashes do on the sandy loam on the Quin-
nebaug river. If we can buy them, as the doctor suggests,
for twenty-five, or even thirty-five cents a bushel, it is better
than to buy guano or phosphates at sixty dollars a ton.

One word with reference to tying corn with birch. It
seems to me that rye straw, if you have it, is better than
birch. It would take a great deal of time to go into the woods
and cut the birches.

The doctor's estimate of the Early Rose is difierent from

/

20 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

mine. It may be that on his soil it does not do well, but on
our soil it is the best variety that we use. On a piece of not
more than half an acre, the man who managed my farm raised
about 120 bushels. It seems to me that, for our sandy river
bottoms, there is nothing like the Early Rose.

Mr. Low. — I should not wish to say a word in favor of
the Early Rose if the gentleman would go with me to the
other side of the river, where I would show him some
specimens of the Early Rose that were raised in a different
way from his ; where the manure was applied in large quanti-
ties, and the yield was 300 bushels to the acre. I will show
him some of that description in the cellar of Mr. Lillibridge.
I have found that the Early Rose required high feeding. I
have also found that one acre of potatoes manured well, the
manure plowed in, with ashes and plaster, or phosphate, in
the hill, will produce about as large a crop as three acres,
planted as the doctor suggests. I believe it is more profitable
to use less land and less labor, and get larger crops. I have
found that twenty or thirty loads of manure to the acre secure
a much better proportionate result than ten loads.

Mr. a. G. Lyman, of Columbia. — I came to this meetino-
particularly to hear the discussion with regard to this matter.
I suppose that if there is any object in holding meetings of
this kind, it is to get at facts. Mere theories are not what we
want. Theory is good, but practice is better.

Last year, for my own gratification, not expecting that it
would ever come to the notice of anybody, I made a series of
experiments upon potatoes, with different kinds of manures
on the same soil. It was only a small piece of ground of fif-
teen rods that I tried the experiments upon. I tried five dif-
ferent kinds of manure upon that same piece, to see if there
was any difference. The soil was apparently the same, as far
as I could see — rather light, with a gravelly bottom. It was
not a piece of ground that everybody would naturally take to
produce a great crop — not one especially adapted to experi-
ments — but it was all I had, and therefore I used it.

The Garnet Chili was the variety I planted. And here let
me observe, before I give the result, that I believe you can

POTATOES. 21

raise double the quantity of the Garnet Chili on the same
manure that you can of the Early Rose. Although the Early
Rose, in my estimation, is far the best potato, it is not so con-
sidered in the market. Our foreign population do not like the
Rose ; it is not strong enough for them. I did not lay out my
piece of ground exactly according to prescribed rules, because
I simply took a chain and drew it along the ground, and
planted my potatoes right on this chain. I did not make a
furrow a foot deep, and I never should, because my experi-
ence proves that potatoes want air and light. All you need is
dirt enough over them to keep the sun from burning them. I
do not believe that potatoes grow as well deep down in the
furrow. I did not put a spoonful of manure on the piece.
Last year there was a load of coarse hog manure, made from
leaves and other bedding, put on the ground, and it was
planted to white beans; but that pest of the farmer every
where, the woodchuck, relieved me pretty much from the trou-
ble of harvesting the crop. I plowed late, and planted the
14th of June. That is late planting, gentlemen, for potatoes.
It wont do to try it always. I think May is far preferable, or
April, if you can get them in and get them up. But they
were the last I planted, and I got them in on the 14th of
June. The hills were about two and one-half feet apart, and
the rows three and one-half feet. In the first four rows I
put a double handful of unleached ashes in the hill — nothing
else. In the next two rows I put a good large handful of hen
manure in each hill — nothing more — keeping the potatoes a
little away from it.

Mr. Low. — Did you put the dry ashes in immediate contact
with the potatoes ?

Mr. Lyman. — I did, sir. I should not be at all afraid to
plant potatoes right in ashes. I dropped the potatoes, and
then dropped the ashes right on the potatoes in the hills. The
ashes were not wet but dry. The hen manure was strong and
good; it was not all dried up, so that there was no richness to
it. Then, having a compost heap of lime, salt, and muck, I
mixed ashes with it, and put a good double handful into the
hills in the next two rows. On the next four rows I used su-

22

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

perphosphate — Bradley's XL. In the remaining two I put
ashes in the hills, as in the first four rows.

When the potatoes came up I could not see any apparent
difference in them. There came a little rain soon after they
were planted, and they came up, and seemed to flourish finely.
I hoed them twice. They were kept quite free from weeds,
because the dry weather seemed to prevent their growing very
fast. When I came to harvest the potatoes I did not weigh
them, as I should, perhaps, if I had known that I was making
an exact experiment to be reported, but I measured them as
carefully as I could, and noted the difference between them.
I should have said that the seed was from quite large-sized
potatoes, cut into pieces with two eyes, and two pieces put
into a hill.

The first two rows yielded two bushels and one peck of very
nice potatoes. That was where the ashes were put. The
rows were about five rods long, and the piece about three rods
wide. Tlie next two rows yielded two and one-half bushels.
That made, say four and three-fourths bushels from the four
rows, or a little over a bushel to a row. The next two rows
(where I put the hen manure) only gave me about a Ixishel
and a half; whereas, on the two right before them, with no
perceptible difference in the hills, I had two and a half bushels.
The next two rows (where I used the compost) yielded a
bushel and three-quarters — a little more than where the hen
manure was.

Mb. Low. — About what proportion of salt in the mixture ?

Mr. Lyman. — About half a bushel of salt was put in when
the lime was slacked.

Mr. Low. — One-third of the mixture?

Mr. Lyman. — No, sir, not over a tenth or a fifteenth. I did
not make the mixture for the potatoes, but for other purposes.
T should never use it for such a purpose, because potatoes do
not need lime. I used it because I happened to have it, to see
what the effect would be.

From the four rows where I used the phosphate I got just
two bushels from each of the two rows, as near as I could de-
ermine without weighing, making four bushels — three pecks

POTATOES. 23

less than the yield of the first four rows where the ashes were
used.

There is another point to be considered in this, and that is
as regards the marketable potatoes and the small ones. We
all know that sometimes we can raise a greater quantity by
weight, even if they are small, than if they are large, and of
suitable size for market; therefore, that is a point to be con-
sidered. On the first two of the four rows, where I used
ashes, I had only a peck of small potatoes, leaving me two
bushels and a half of good sized potatoes fit for market.
Where I had the hen manure I had half a bushel of small po-
tatoes, or double the quantity that I had where I put ashes in
the hill. Where I used the salt and lime I had over three
pecks of potatoes that were not what I call sizable for market.
When I got to the phosphates I had only one peck again; and
when I got back to the ashes I had only half a peck.

These simple experiments, which I tried for my own satis-
faction merely, bring two things prominently to view in re-
spect to this piece of ground. The first is, that however prof-
itable hen manure may be for some things, it is ijot profitable
for potatoes; and the second is, that ashes and phosphates are
the two best articles, ashes being the best of all.

I consider, as the gentleman on my right said, that the
Early Rose can not be overfed. I think that variety needs a
strong soil and high nourishment. Some of my neighbors,
who last year planted the Davis Seedling, the Garnet Chili,
and the Early Rose, side by side, raised double the crop of
the Davis and the Chili that they did of the Rose, with the
same culture. The practical result would seem to be, that ii
we are going to sell our potatoes to the foreign population,
who like a stronger potato than the Early Rose, and if we have
a soil that with less manuring and less culture will produce
as much or more of some other variety than the Rose, we
should plant that other variety.

Mr. Low. I have experimented with ashes a great
many times, on different soils, and I find they are the very
best fertilizer for patatoes ; but I find that potatoes do not

24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

come up well with strong dry ashes. Are you quite sure that
your ashes were good, strong ashes?

Mr, Lyman. Oh yes, they were ashes from hickory, and
other hard wood.

Mr. Low. I have lost a crop, and my brother lost one this
year, by putting dry ashes upon the potatoes.

Mr. Lyman. Three years ago, I planted some in my gar
den. Immediately after, there came a very heavy rain, and
they did not come up. Whether the rain had anything to do
with it or not, I can't say. Perhaps it produced such a strong
lye from the ashes that the tubers were killed. I think very
likely that was the trouble.

Mr. Low. I have found that leached ashes in the hill
would answer the purpose for potatoes quite as well as dry ;
but I do not consider it safe to put dry ashes on potatoes. I
w^as quite satisfied with my experiment, and never tried it
again. It may be that rain following immediately after the
planting would make a great difference.

Mr. Gold. A gentleman of my acquaintance got a bushel
of the Early Rose last spring, cut them and rolled them in
ashes a week or two before planting ; then he planted them,
and that was the last he saw of his potatoes.

Question. There is a question in my mind in regard to
fertilizing with seed. We all know that when the Early Rose
first came around, when they were sold for a dollar a pound,
every person who happened to have one of those potatoes cut
it into the very smallest pieces possible. I have known it
carried to the extent of splitting an eye, leaving a piece of
the tuber not much larger than a pea ; and yet they obtained
a number of large sized potatoes. Now, if the size of the
seed has anything to do with the crop, why should it not be
affected by such an operation ? The result of my experience
is, that if you want to obtain the largest number of potatoes
from a small amount of seed, if you plant but one eye in a
piece, the result will be much more surprising than if you
planted a larger piece. How is it ? If you cut a large pota-
to into two or three pieces, you will do well if you get a peck
from it ; but I have divided a potato into single eyes, and

POTATOES.

25

have obtained two bushels from it. There is something about
this matter that needs explanation. I should like to have
some one who has had more experience than I have in the
matter explain how that is.

Mr. Low. I think I can explain that. Yesterday, I bought
potatoes for one cent a pound. We pay three cents a pound
for phosphates. I always plant large potatoes, marketable
potatoes, and would not plant any other, unless they were
very high, because I think that is the cheapest way to start
the germ, the life principle, of the potato. If they are only
thirty, forty, or fifty cents a bushel, I plant a whole potato ;
if they are seventy-five cents a bushel, I cut a good-sized pota-
to in two, and put one half in a hill. When potatoes are a
cent a pound and phosphates cost three cents a pound, I think
it is more economical to start the little germ with the potato,
for it gives up its life to its successor, than to buy phosphates.

Question. Is it not a fact, that if you plant a whole po-
tato, you have a great many more potatoes in the hill than
if you plant one or two eyes, and, being crowded, they are nat-
urally smaller ? My experience leads me to think that is so.

Mr. Low. If you plant whole potatoes, you will have very
few more sprouts than if you plant pieces. If you plant a
whole potato, there will not be more than "five sprouts, and
they will be strong and vigorous ; whereas, if you cut it up,
the sprouts will be small and spindling. I have planted fifteen
bushels to the acre.

Mr. Stewart, of Middle Haddam. The best success that I
have ever had in raising potatoes, in respect both to yield and
size, has been where I have planted no potatoes at all, but
took the sprouts and cut them up, as you would a verbena or
a grape vine, or anything that is propagated in that way.
Two years ago I tried the experiment of setting out sprouts,
and I also planted large potatoes and small. They were the
Early Rose, those raised from cuttings, and were fit to eat
some ten days earlier than the others, and produced the
heaviest crop. If a man is going to plant ten or fifteen acres,
it would be a great deal of trouble. I know of one man who
planted six acres from four Early Rose potatoes, by cutting

26

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the shoots in that way. He reported his yield to the acre
between three and four hundred bushels.

Mr. Low. I have heard of these wonderful experiments
again and again, in New Jersey, in Iowa, in Rhode Island,
and in Connecticut, and I affirm tluit they are big stories. If
you haTc only enough manure, you can raise potatoes if the
piece you plant is no larger than your thumb. But we have
not enough manure. I am speaking of something that is
practicable for the farmers of Connecticut: If your potatoes
are of fair size, cut them once, give them plenty of manure,
and you can raise three hundred bushels to the acre.

Mr. J. Stanton Gould, of New York. This is a contro-
versy which has exercised the minds of farmers for years and
years, not only in our own country, but in England, in Ger-
many, and in every other country where potatoes are raised.
I have a record of experiments innumerable, some of tliem
stated in the most admirable manner, others stated in the
most slovenly manner ; and they are exceedingly contradic-
tory. Some of them show that the largest yield has resulted
from the planting of small sets ; others show exactly the re-
verse. The misfortune with all the experiments I have seen —
and I am sure I have studied many thousands of them — is
that they have not been protracted. Farmers have satisfied
themselves with experiments lasting for a single year ; and
when a decisive experiment, as Mr. Lyman's appears to have
been, has been made, they have been entirely satisfied, and
have never experimented again. That is the crying sin
f our farmers that they do not seek to verify these experi-
ments.

Mr. Lyman. I mean to follow it up on that line.

Mr. Gould, It will be an excellent thing if that idea is
carried out. My object in rising was simply to call attention
to a most admirable series of experiments made in Germany
by one of the most philosophical observers, and most careful
experimenters on all subjects connected with agriculture.
This gentleman is Mr. J. N. Schwarts, of Germany. Looking
over, as we have all done, these various experiments, and no-
ticing the contradictory results which have been arrived at,

POTATOES. 27

lie determined that he would devote himself with care and
assiduity to the final settlement of this question, aud for years
aod years he followed up these experiments — weighing and
measuring, noting the kinds of potatoes which he planted,
and observing with the most scrupulous care all the circum-
stances which were incident to each experiment. I rose simply
for the purpose of giving you the results of the protracted
experiments which Mr. Schwarts has made. They are these :

1st. The amount of net produce, deduction being made for
the quantity of potatoes used for setting, bears a tolerably ex-
act proportion to the latter quantity ; that is to say, that one
who sets a larger quantity of tubers will usually obtain a more
abundant crop than one who sets a smaller quantity.

2d. Fine large tubers produce not only larger potatoes, but
also greater numbers of them.

3d. The degeneracy often observed in potatoes apparently
results from the use of unhealthy plants for setting.

And let me remark, by the way, that this is the circum-
stance which usually vitiates the experiments which are made
upon this subject. Farmers are not sufficiently careful to
make the necessary physiological observations upon tlie con-
dition of the potatoes which they plant, as they ought to do,
in order to -have their experiments clear and satisfactory.
I do not know of any mode, except microscopic observations,
which will enable a person who has never seen the potatoes
growing, to go to a heap and select those which are in the
most perfect physiological condition. This can be done by
those farmers who raise potatoes, for they have an opportu-
nity to notice the vigor of the vine and the growth and ma-
turity of the potato ; and they can always l^e sure, if they will
take pains, to verify these three statements of Mr. Schwarts
that I have read to you.

4th, Small tubers, and those which are destitute of buds,
cannot be recommended for setting.

5th. When potatoes of a medium quality are planted, it is
better to set them whole; but when the tubers are very large,
the halves will be found sufficient, provided, however, that
they are set rather closely in the rows.

28 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

6th. It is not advisable to cut a potato into more than two
pieces.

7th. It is better to set the tubers one by one, and not close
together, particularly when all the labor is performed with the
plow, and no cultivation is given with the hand hoe.

8th. It is not advisable to plant mere buds, they often fail.

These experiments of Mr. Schwarts were quoted by an emi-
nent agricultural writer of Germany, with whom, I have no
doubt, many of you are familiar — Count Von Thaer — who
verified them independently, and arrived at similar conclusions
with Mr. Schwarts ; so that we have the testimony of two in-
dependent observers, continued through a very considerable
number of years.

The Bath Agricultural Society of England — and those of
you who are familiar with the agricultural literature of Great
Britain know that the Transactions of the Bath Agricultural
Society are among the most valuable papers that are known
in Great Britain — I have no doubt Mr. Gold; the secretary of
this society, is perfectly familiar with them, and will bear me
out in the assertion — the Bath Agricultural Society, in order
to make this matter still more sure, had these experiments
verified by that eminent phydologist. Dr. Anderson, whose
experiments were made with the most careful precautions
against error, and he showed, as the result of a great number
of experiments protracted through many years, that the crop
was proportioned to the weight of the sets, and thus verified
this doctrine.

Colonel Mead, of Greenwich. — I am from a section of
Connecticut that, forty or fifty years ago, ruled the city of
New York in the article of potatoes. The town of Greenwich
used to send to New York from five to seven hundred thousand
bushels annually. When I first commenced, my crop was
from five to six thousand bushels a year. Mr. Schwarts' con-
clusions, as stated by Mr. Gould, so well agree with my own
experience, that I can not refrain from expressing my views
in regard to them. We found it advisable to take our seed
from high, dry ground, and plant in hills two feet apart, one
potato in a hill, from the size of a turkey's egg to a good sized

POTATOES. 29

potato. We generally preferred a sod. We commenced
plowing the latter part of March, with sharp shares, not very
deep, and when we wished to plant we plowed again thor-
oughly, and, very frequently a third time, until the ground
was in perfect order, and then we furrowed it a little over two
feet apart, put the potato the depth of the seed in the ground,
and covered it sufficiently so that the earth would not wash
away, and no more. As soon as we could see the rows the
plow was started. I have very frequently raised crops of po-
tatoes without taking a hoe into the field. Managed in this
way, my crop for twenty-five or twenty-six years was from 300
to 360 bushels to the acre.

Dr. Baldwin. — Plave you any opinion as to which end of
the potato is the best for seed ?

Mb. Gould. The seed end, undoubtedly.

Dr. Baldwin. — Why do you say "undoubtedly?" Is that
proved by experiment?

Mr. Gould. — Yes, sir, again and again.

Mr, Day, of Brooklyn. — Thirty or forty years ago we farm-
ers raised very much larger crops of potatoes than we can
now, upon ground that was not cultivated any better than our
lands are to day. In 1844 the potato rot first began to make
its ravages felt in Connecticut, when, in consequence of the
high price, the farmers were induced to cut their potatoes, to
make a smaller quantity of seed answer their purpose. I want
to ask if the falling off in the yield of our potatoes is to be
attributed to the fact that we have planted small pieces, or
whether some other cause has tended to produce these small
crops.

Mr. Low. — My father always planted large potatoes, but his
potatoes rotted notwithstanding; so I do not think that the
rot originated in cutting the seed.

Mr. Gould. — I did not think of saying any thing on this
matter. I want to make a remark or two upon the paper
which was read by the gentleman who first addressed us.
While I should go with him in most of his statements, I think
they were not sufficiently guarded ; that they require enlarge-
ment and amplification before they can be taken as sufficient

30

BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

guides for the practice of our farmers. In the first place he
tells us to plow deep. I agree with him there. He tells us
in the next place that we can not harrow too much. There
I am compelled to be at issue with him. Sir, what is the effect
of a harrow? Road-makers understand that. We have men
who devote themselves to the building of roads, and what do
they do, after they have plowed up a road, in order to settle
it in the most effective manner? Why, sir, they do not tram-
ple it, they do not roll it, they do not draw heavy sledges over
it, hut they harrotv it. That packs the earth down more solidly
than it can be done in any other possible way. While his
statement is correct for sandy land, the object of the culture
of which is to pack it rather than loosen it, his statement
would be exceedingly injurious — would "lead to bewilder and
dazzle to blind" — if it was applied to the stiflfer soils. I main-
tain, from the result of large experience and observation, that
there is no way of packing a stiff soil more completely than
by the use of a harrow upon it.

What I would do, if I desired to lighten the soil, would be
to employ one of the forms of the plow which are best adapted
for the pulverization of the soil. There are a number of plows
which are adapted to convert a stiff soil into an onion bed
without any harrowing whatever; as, for instance, the plow
invented by Governor Holbrook — the Michigan plow — which
is now, I believe, sold in Boston. I speak of this with a great
deal of confidence, because, under the auspices of the State
Agricultural Society of New York, I have spent many weeks
in the most careful and thorough trial of plows, with especial
reference to the pulverization of the soil. I think we tried
over forty, embracing almost every kind of plow known to the
farming community, and it was found that on land plowed by
one of Governor Holbrook's plows, a blunt stick could be
thrust into the ground (which is the best test) to a much
greater depth than where the land had been broken up by any
other plow. This stood decidedly at the head of them all.
It was absolutely unnecessary, for any other purpose than
covering the seed, to harrow the ground at all after the use of
that plow.

POTATOES. 31

I understand the gentleman also to recommend the manu-
facture of superphosphates by farmers. I know it is exceed-
ingly difficult to obtain pure superphosphates, and yet there
are manufacturers who can be relied upon, and whose article
produces the same result every time. But I want to caution
farmers, tliat in counting the cost of home-made superphos-
phate they must add to the cost of the sulphuric acid, the
bones and tlie labor, the price of a suit of clothes, a pair of
boots, and the pain and discomfort of burnt hands. I don't
object to the advice ; I only want farmers, if they go into that
manufacture, to do so with their eyes open. I think the gen-
tleman himself will find that he can buy superphosphates
much cheaper than he can manufacture them, if he is careful
to purchase only of men who are reliable.

Dr. Baldwin. — I wish to correct the gentleman in one re-
spect. I have made superphosphates enough, in the way I
spoke of, to use on thirteen acres, and not a man had his fin-
gers burnt, his boots spoiled, or a rag of his clothing injured.
I don't believe that I got from the bone one-fiftli of its value,
but I believe it is in the soil, and if it is reduced to such a
condition that it will bend between the thumb and finger, it
will eventually be a benefit to the soil. It was worth double
any superphosphate I ever bought for present use, and cost
just about half as much. I have had some experience in buy-
ing superphosphate. I bought of one man, in two years, $230
worth, and I had the satisfaction of knowing that the state
chemist decided that superphosphate to be worth six dollars
a ton. I paid forty dollars a ton. The way I handle the acid
is this. I take an old iron kettle and carefully pour the acid
from the carboy into it. Then I put four pails of water into
a kettle, and put the kettle containing the acid into the water.
Tliere is no flying or sputtering of the acid, and there is no
need of spoiling any of your clothes.

I put the question, whether the seed end or the butt end of
the potato was worth the most for seed, because I had tried
that experiment. I cut two bushels of potatoes across, and
planted the seed ends in two rows, and the butt ends in two
rows. Of course they were just equal as to the number of

32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

pieces and the number of hills. The result was, an equal
number of bushels of potatoes produced in each of the two
rows, but the rows where the seed ends were planted produced
the largest number of very big potatoes, and a great many
small ones ; the rows where the butt ends were planted pro-
duced potatoes of an even marketable size.

In reference to the question put by Mr. Day, I will say, that
I have no doubt the potato rot is a distinct and specific disease,
resulting from a vegetable fungus, the seed of which is in the
atmosphere, and is deposited upon the potato vine, or comes
in some other way as yet unexplained. You might as well
ask whether the yellow fever resulted from cutting potatoes
fine or cutting them coarse.

Then the next question is, why is it that certain potatoes —
as, for instance, the old-fashioned Silver Lake, whicli has gone
out of date — seems liable to absorb disease more largely than
any other potato ? Just about the time of blossoming some
of the vines will seem to have a kind of a blast upon them,
and there will be no more growth of the potatoes in those hills.
I have sometimes, when hoeing, dug up the hills that had that
disease, and I have always found that the vine that manifested
the disease came from the seed end of the potato. I have
sometimes planted whole fields with butt ends, sometimes
planting them whole, at other times cutting them into small
pieces. I am satisfied of one thing — that the farmers about
here use a great deal too much seed in planting potatoes; I
do not know how it may be in other places.

Mr. Low. Facts are stubborn things, and I will refer to
the practice of the farmers in Monmouth County, N. J., who
supply the New York market with potatoes. There are many
farmers there who raise 3,000 bushels a year. They use
marl, and they know nothing of the rot there.

Dr. Baldwin. Do they raise the Silver Lake ?

Mr. Low. I do not know about that. They raise what is
called the Peach Blow extensively.

Mr. Lyman. Just one word here. I think you may find
a solution of the problem in the fact that tlie farmers of this
State do not change their seed often enough. I have studied

POTATOES. 33

a little into the matter, and I incline to the opinion of Mr,
Gould. It seems to me that the potato is just as liable to be-
come diseased and to rot by planting the same seed year after
year, as the human race is to deteriorate by a constant inter-
mingling of the same blood. It seems to me that is the nat-
ural law of all grains and grasses. If any gentleman doubts
this, let him send to Mr. Breese, next spring, for a barrel of
his Early Rose potatoes, and plant them. I knew a gentle-
man who last year planted half a peck of the Early Rose,
that came direct from Vermont, side by side with his own,
and the potatoes from the Vermont seed were twice as good,
twice as large, and twice as smooth. It seems to me that
this shows that we have deteriorated our potatoes by neglect-
ing to change the seed. Is it unreasonable to suppose that
under these circumstances there will come, in the natural
course of things, a rot and deterioration of the tuber itself?
I doubt if our Secretary would find, in the whole State of
Connecticut, one of the old-fashioned potatoes that our fathers
planted. I have a neighbor close by me who used to plant
the Silver Lake, which has been referred to, and he found
they rotted badly. He got a few at Norwich last spring, and
he said to me, " I used to like the Silver Lake a little better
than any other potato, and I am going to plant these potatoes,
and see how they will do." He planted them side by side
with some Peerless potatoes that he had, and three-quarters
of them rotted, and there was not another potato in his gar-
den that rotted, so far as 1 know ; showing that the trouble
was in the potato and not in the soil. He had never planted
that variety in his garden before.

Mr. Baldwin. I should like to inquire of the practical
farmers here whether they are afraid of harrowing their land
too much. If there is any danger in that direction, it will
save me a good deal of labor.

Mr. Low. My father would never allow us to harrow. He
wanted to keep the grass out of sight.

Mr. Gold. With regard to the Silver Lake, or Mercer, I
would state that Gov. Hyde, two years ago, had some thirty
different varieties planted side by side, and among them all,
3

34 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

there was scarcely one that was more healthy, or produced
more abundantly, than this same old Silver Lake or Mercer.
Its growth was just as fine as I remember it twenty years ago.
And I understand that the produce this year continued to be
liealthy.

Mr. Reade. a year ago, I visited the farm of Dr. Hexa-
mer, in New Castle, N. Y., and examined very thoroughly his
mode of raising potatoes. I am quite sure that he plowed his
land thoroughly and harrowed it thoroughly, because it was as
mellow and as perfectly free from lumps as a beet bed, and I
saw tools about there that suggested the kind of work he did.
And certainly you who know Dr. Hexamer know that he is as
celebrated in that line as any gentleman in the United States.

Mr. Gould. Does he not make use of the Nishwitz har-
row ?

Mr. Reade. I don't know.

Mr. Gould. If so my objection does not apply to that.

Mr. Reade. Any way, he pulverizes the soil as much as
possible.

Mr. Gould. Precisely.

Mr. Reade. Well, we use the harrow in Eastern Connec-
ticut to pulverize the soil, not to pack it.

Mr. Gould. There I think you miss your mark, by using
the common harrow. It packs the soil underneath.

Mr. Low. It makes it look light on the surface.

Mr. Reade. I hardly think I shall give up harrowing yet. '
I have been practising it a great many years. I plow my po-
tato ground well, and harrow it over and over again ; and it
seems to me that the finer and more mellow you get the top
of your soil, the better. Have your harrow teeth sharpened
every spring, so that they will go down four or five inches
into the soil, and make it as fine as a beet bed.

Mr. Low. The experiment has been tried within half a
mile of this very valley, with corn and potatoes, and the man
did not get half a crop.

Mr. Reade. The soil might have been heavy, not light.
I know of an experiment of this kind. A gentleman living
near me had a field on which there was a large quantity of

POTATOES. 35

stone. He spent four or five days clearing off the stone, and
piled them up in the corner of the field. It was after he had
sown his oats, but his crop was nearly twice as large on the
land within three or four rods of this heap as elsewhere, and
three years after, the clover was luxuriant there, when it had
died out on the rest of the field. This shows me that some
of our soils need to be packed. I have practiced rolling for a
great many years with great success. I make the ground soft
in the first place, and then roll it with a stone roller.

Mr. Gould. I expressly stated that there were some soils
that required to be packed.

Mr. Reade, Then it is all right, for we are agreed.

Mr. Gold. Thomas' smoothing harrow has been recom-
mended for the culture of potatoes. We used it last spring
with excellent results. Just as the potatoes were coming up,
we harrowed the field all over, and it answered the purpose
perfectly — killed the weeds without injuring the potatoes.

Mr. Gould. Thomas' harrow is a capital one, if the ob-
ject is not to pulverize the soil, but simply to destroy the
weeds, when they first start to grow, and to make a smooth,
even surface. No implement of husbandry has ever been in-
vented which is equal to it for laying down and smoothing the
surface in preparation for meadow. But the Nishwitz harrow
is by far the best implement ever made for pulverizing the soil.
Let any man who has a stiff soil go across it diagonally with
this harrow, and then go over it in the opposite direction, cut-
ting it into diamonds, and he will acknowledge, I think, that
it is the most admirable implement ever used by the farmer.
I have never heard a single dissenting voice. I have used it
myself; I have heard the testimony of many others, and I
have never heard any other opinion expressed. With regard
to the old harrow, I would ask if every gei)tleman does not
know that it is the invariable practice of road-makers, in or-
der to settle their roads down, to harrow them ?

Mr. Reade. I never heard of it before this afternoon.

A Voice. I can corroborate the statement of Mr. Gould
m regard to the Nishwitz harrow. •

Mr. Low. So can I, too.

36 BOAED OP AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Gould. What we want is to do the whole business
with the plow. What is the object we have in view when we
put the plow into the ground ? It is to pulverize the soil.
How does the plow pulverize the soil ? That is the question
which we want to solve, in order to ascertain what is the true
plow to use, for everybody wishes to supersede the necessity
for so much harrowing. Now, the way in which the plow
cracks the soil and reduces it to powder is this. Every suc-
cessive sheet of the soil must be made to turn in a certain
curve, in such a way that one portion of the sheet shall travel
faster than the other. [The speaker illustrated by diagrams
on the blackboard the operation of the true plow, in cutting
the furrow and disintegrating the soil.] The action of the
true plow is to convert the whole furrow slice into powder.
You can hardly, by the action of the harrow, more thoroughly
disintegrate it.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency among plow-makers to
fall into this mistake. When a farmer goes to one of them,
lie is assured that his particular plow will go through the
ground and turn over the furrow with less, or no more labor,
than any other, and the farmer is very ready to take it. He
looks at nothing beyond the question whether the plow will
run easily through the furrow. Gentlemen, I believe that is
a great mistake, because the plows that run easiest are those
which have the least of these bending qualities, this relation
of curves, which I have explained, which is absolutely essen-
tial to the pulverization of the soil. The plows of this char-
acter turn the whole furrow over without bending it, and such
plows ouglit not to be encouraged. Why is it that our farm-
ers are satisfied with plows of this character ? It is because
we take our notions chiefly from England, and the heau ideal
of an English farmer is to throw his furrows over at an angle
of forty-five degrees, so that he can stand at one end of the
field and look across an unbroken line, and any man who
manufactures a plow in such a way as to break this even edge
cannot sell one of his implements in England. The English
farmer wants to make furrows which will lie up with sharp
lines, and then he wants with his harrow to break off those

POTATOES. 3T

angles and fill up the interstices between the two furrows.
But what we want is something that shall thoroughly break
up and disintegrate the whole furrow, from top to bottom,
so that, without any action of the harrow, we may have it
in such a perfect condition that the sun, the air, and the rain
can penetrate it, and act upon the different substances in the
soil in such a way that they can serve as food for plants.
That seems to me to be the true plan; and when- you can
have plows of this kind, I think you will be perfectly willing
to abandon the old-fashioned tooth-harrow.

Dr. Baldwin. Does a plow in green sward run easier with
a coulter on the beam or not?

Mr. Gould. Well, sir, you have asked me a very curious
question. I will tell you tbe result of an experiment, al-
though I hardly think you will believe me when I tell it. It
was, however, made in the presence of Gov. Holbrook, Gov.
Brown, Mr. Tucker, of the " Country Gentleman," Mr.Nourse,
and several other gentlemen, interested in the manufacture
of plows, who had assembled to see the experiments I was
making, and they were as much astonished as I was. We
plowed a furrow eight inches deep, having an exceedingly
accurate dynameter, made for the purpose, to ascertain pre-
cisely what was the amount of power required to carry the
plow through the land. We afterwards rigged tlie plow with
a coulter, which went eight inches below the surface, so that
the plow, running on top of the ground, drew that coulter to
a depth of eight inches, and we found that the draft required
to put the coulter through the soil did not vary a pound from
the draft required to turn over a furrow eight inches deep.
That experiment was witnessed by a large number of the best
plow-makers in the United States. I repeated it again and
again, with the same result. I can give you no philosophical
explanation of it. When the result of our experiments went
out to England, Philip Pusey, who has been president of the
Royal Agricultural Society, and is one of the most intelligent
and scientific agricultural investigators of England, repeated
those experiments, and they came out precisely as ours did.

38

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Question. Does the double Michigan plow throv?- the bot-
tom soil on top in pulverizing it ?

Mr. Gould. That depends very much upon how it is
rigged. Ordinarily, that is the case. Two inches (which is
the best arrangement of the Michigan plow) of the surface
sods, grass, weeds, and everything, is turned bottom upwards
into the bottow of the furrow. A thorough mass of powder
is thrown up on top of them, so that it is completely inverted ;
that is, if the earth is somewhat damp. When the soil is in
a dry state, these circimistances are changed, and part of the
earth falls back into the furrow.

Dr. Baljdwin. Is it considered desirable to turn the fur-
row flat ?

Mr. Gould. We in New York do not approve of flat fur-
rows at all. The reason why I object to the flat furrow is
this : that it leaves no channel for the conveyance of water
underneath, which is a point very important to observe in
plowing the soil. It not only allows the water to come in, but
the air also. In order to convert the mineral matter in the
soil into food for plants, it is absolutely necessary to form car-
bonic acid in the soil, and also another kind of vegetable acid,
which is known to chemists as humic acid. These two acids
can only be formed in consequence of the presence of the
atmosphere in the soil. If the atmosphere is excluded these
two substances cannot exist there. The humic and carbonic
acid are the two substances which dissolve the mineral mat-
ters in the soil and place them in such a condition that they
can be absorbed by plants. Now, when the furrows are turned
so as to lap over, upon one another, a channel is left on
the under side, which allows the water to drain off, and per-
mits the air to enter, which generates these two acids.

Dr. Baldwin. Where would you put the manure in those
furrows ?

Mr. Gould. I should let the manure go where it wanted
to. My impression is, if you are going to plant corn, for in-
stance, and put on green manure, the best way is to spread it
on top and plow it under. If the manure were thoroughly
rotted, I should want to put it nearer the top.

POTATOES. 39

Question. Has Gov. Holbrook any plow that will give you
your ideal of pulverization, at one operation, with a light pair
of horses or oxen.

Mr. Gould. Well, sir, the most perfect plow that Gov. Hol-
brook has is his Michigan plow, No. QQ, I think he calls it. That
is the most thorough pulverizer of any. He has another one,
which he calls his lap furrow plow, which does its work very
satisfactorily, and which can be run with one pair of horses.
I have seen his No. 66, where he goes twelve inches deep,
drawn by a pair of horses, but they were very powerful Con-
estoga horses. His lap-furrow plow, however, can be easily
drawn eight inches deep by a pair of horses, but its pulveriza-
tion is not so perfect as his No. 6Q. That was the result of
our experiments.

Gov. Hyde. What was the nature of the soil in which you
experimented ?

Mr. Gould. Our chief experiments were conducted at
Utica, on the farm of Mr. Butterfield. It was thought desir-
able to repeat the experiments on soil of a different character,
and we then went to the Connecticut river. The first series
of experiments was conducted on a stiff, heavy soil at Utica ;
the second, on a sandy loam, also at Utica ; and the third, on
the tenacious loams of the Connecticut river ; and they were
conducted with the utmost thoroughness and fairness, many
weeks being devoted to them. Going along before the plow
entered the furrow, we put two pegs down, one on each side
of the furrow. Then we made the horses walk very slowly,
and as the plow passed along, we watched for the point where
the transverse disruption took place, and found that it always
took place instantaneously at passing one given point. We
then measured off the slice, and tried to see how many inches
in advance the one was of the other, and we found that on the
most tenacious soil of Utica, this had to be reckoned eight
inches in advance ; whereas, in some more loamy soils, three
and a quarter inches was the average required ; and in some
dry clay soils, I think it was only two inches. But you see
that this would make an exact test of the degree of tension

40 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

required in order to produce the cracking of which I have
spoken here.

Question. Did I understand you to say, that the coulter
alone required the same draught that the plow did without
the coulter ?

Mr. Gould. Exactly.

Question. The beam, without any mould-board — -just the
simple coulter attached to it ?

Mr. Gould. Just the simple coulter attached. The mould-
board was taken off, and we had nothing but the sole of the
plow. That experiment was tried with the utmost care, ajid
was repeated by Mr. Philip Purly.

Mr. Reade. With reference to our soils here, can we dis-
pense with the harrow for pulverizing ?

Mr. Gould. You can pulverize perfectly, if you have your
plow made right. With regard to the Nishwitz harrow, there
are many cases where a meadow becomes hide-bound ; you
do not want to plow it ; you want to get the benefit of all the
sod you have got. Go over it with a Nishwitz harrow, and
you can pulverize the top of it without destroying the grass ;
sprinkle over that your seed, and some top-dressing, and you
will get a perfect renewal without plowing.

Mr. Reade. Now one word in regard to potatoes. Is not
this a good plan for us here in Connecticut : to pick out our
large potatoes in the fall for sale, then take the next size,
about as large as a hen's egg, and lay them aside for planting,
and boil the smaller ones for our hogs ? Is not that a good
system to act upon ?

Mr. Low. It is not. Here is Mr. Lillibridge, who has
planted large potatoes, and I stand as evidence of the fact
that he has raised remarkably fine crops.

Mr. Gould. I do not wish to speak authoritatively upon
the matter. I only give the results which have been arrived
at with very great care, to which I have referred.

Mr. Reade. Your advice would be to discard small pota-
toes, use large ones, and cut them in two ?

Mr. Gould. I dare not advise the farmers of Connecticut

POTATOES. 41

what to do. I only state what the results have been, and
leave them to draw their own inferences.

The President. I have j-eceived a report made by Mr.
Gould on the subject of plows, which I suppose is the most
complete report on the subject which has ever been made
eithcR here or abroad. I really wish that every gentleman
had it. I wish the state of Connecticut would publish it, and
give it to every farmer within her borders. But with the
present disposition to oppose appropriations for agricultural
purposes, I think we cannot hope for anything so favorable.

Mr. Day. I want to thank the gentleman, (Mr. Gould,)
from the bottom of my heart, for that grand illustration of
the turning of the furrow and pulverization of the soil, which
I have known all the days of my life must be done, but I have
never seen such a complete illustration of it as we have had
to-day, I have never listened to anything more interesting
and instructive than the gentleman's remarks upon plowing,
and the illustrations which accompanied them. If we were
to pass six days here, and have the whole of the time spent in
addresses as interesting as his remarks have been, I should
feel abundantly satisfied to sit here day and night.

Mr. Reade. I think the remarks of the gentleman from
New York have been most appropriate, and I think the farm-
ers of Connecticut may profit by them. I remember to have
read in an old book, that Caesar was asked " What is the
most important thing about agriculture?" "Plowing."
" What is the second most important thing ? " " Plowing."
" What is the third most important thing ? " " Plowing."

Adjourned to seven o'clock.

42 BOAED OF AGEICDLTURE.

Evening Session.

The meeting was called to order soon after seven o'clock,
Vice-President Hyde in the chair.

The Chairman stated that the subject for discussion was

CORN,

which would be opened by a paper from Mr. Albert Day, of
Brooklyn.

Indian Corn. Mode of Cultivation^ Uses and Value.

Indian corn is our great native cereal, and its cultivation is
adapted to a wider range of latitude and elevation than any
other kind of grain.

It is found in the British Provinces, the dry plains of Mex-
ico, the low and humid valley of the Amazon, and at the
Equator, and wherever the mean temperature of the summer
months is not below 68°.

From the extent of its cultivation, and the immense pro-
duction, it may be considered as the most valuable of all the
grains and the best adapted to the support of animal life. It
has been said that " what the potato is to Ireland, Indian corn
is to the world."

As an article of food, it enters into daily use in many New
England families, nor is the cheek suffused with the crimson
blush, when our hardy sons and daughters are told that " all
their bones are made of Indian corn." From such a wide
range of growth, it will be seen that it is not confined to any
particular variety of soil. But in New England, a red loam
that is not too dry is generally preferred as easier to work
and at less expense, although as large crops are often har-
vested from the dark and the more tenacious soils when
not overcharged with water, in which case they should be
thoroughly drained.

The preparation of the land should not be forgotten, when
we consider that at the time of its germination, the tender

CORN.

43

rootlets strike perpendicularly down into the soil in search
of food, and fix themselves there with little delay ; tliis done
the germ grows in the opposite direction and becomes de-
veloped into the stem and leaves of tlie plant.

The ground should be plowed when not too wet, and a plow
having a conical mould-board leaves the land in a light con-
dition, lets the air in, and is better than one which makes a
flat, or level furrow. I have never seen the " Shares Harrow"
excelled by any in use for fitting the seed bed and thoroughly
covering the manure to a depth of two or three inches. It
can be used lengthwise or across the furrows without turning
up the turf, does not clog, is easily drawn, and is more effec-
tive with half the service.

Many good farmers spread their manure on the land de-
signed for the next year's crop in the month of September.
When the field is nearly level and the manure is not likely to
wash off, it becomes incorporated with the soil, which induces
a rich vegetation by May, or before the time of putting in the
seed.

Others draw the manure to the field and place it in heaps to
be plowed under or spread on the furrows and harrowed in,
or to be put in the hill or drill. The long manure from the
barn cellar or heaps beside the barn, is plowed under.

It has been a question with many practical farmers, whether
more corn can be raised on a given space when planted in
hills, or in drills, by applying the manure to the hill or drills
or by spreading on the surface and plowing under.

The character of the soil, variety of corn, whether an early
or late kind, must be the farmer's guide to a considerable ex-
tent. On cold, late land, manuring in the hill or drill usually
produces the best crops, when upon the earlier and dryer
lands, surface manuring produces better, is less liable to be
affected by drought, with longer and better ears and less
stover.

The depth to which manure should be turned under for a
crop, and the influence upon succeeding crops, has been, and
is, a question that has been often discussed. A favorite the-
ory advanced some years ago was, to plow under the manure

u

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

to the depth of ten or twelve inches, and by some, more than
that depth, with the assurance that the roots of the plant
would reach it, &c.

Experience has taught some of the most practical farmers
in Connecticut that this is wrong, and I hear it confidently
asserted tliat surface manuring and harrowing under will
produce better crops of- corn, of oats, and grass, and continue
to grow larger grass for a term of years, than where plowed
under to a depth of six or eight inches.

The selection of good seed must not be forgotten. It
should be gathered at the time of cutting up or topping, or if
neglected at tliat time, at the time of husking. A stalk hav-
ing two well-developed ears, with rows running regularly on
the cob, and well filled to the end of the ear, is best.

At the time of planting, the land is marked in rows at right
angles one to the other, and at a distance of three and one-
half feet, or three feet and nine or ten inches. At this dis-
tance it can be worked each way with a horse and cultivator,
which loosens the soil and facilitates the work of hoeing.

Various mineral and special fertilizers are used to give the
germ an early and vigorous start.

Ashes and one tenth as much gypsum or plaster of paris
mixed together, a handful to eacli hill, or one or two hundred
pounds of superphosphate per acre, are of great benefit for
this purpose.

Here I may be allowed to digress for a moment from the
subject to speak of the worth of ashes upon land suited to
their use.

In conversation with a gentleman who had given this matter
much attention, I asked him what the cheapest fertilizer was.
His reply was, " Ashes, Ashes."

When sheep are kept upon the farm their manure should
be carefully saved without being drenched, and composted
with dry muck or gypsum. The droppings in the hen-house
should be prepared in the same way, forming an excellent
fertilizer to be used in the hill, but requiring the same caution
in its use as Peruvian guano.

As a forage crop, corn is of great value, and many acres

CORN. 45'

are grown every year. In hot dry summers tlie supply of feed
often falls short of the farmer's need. Corn sowed for fodder
will supply this want, and if not wanted for soiling or autum-
nal use, it is one of the choicest and most nutritious kinds of
food for cows, sheep, or other stock in the winter. Twenty-
five tons in its green state can be grown on an acre, and about
one-fifth of that amount when cured.

When grown for soiling or early fall feeding, it should be
put in at different times, to keep up a succession of green
feed.

White corn grown in the Southern States is used mostly
for sowing for fodder, and produces abundantly ; but large
kinds of sweet corn produce nearly as large crops, which are
much more nutritious, consequently inducing a greater flow
of milk and more flesh.

When fed in a green state, it should be cut when the dew
is ofl', and dried twenty-four hours before feeding. When
cured for housing, it should be dried about two days, then
bound in small bundles near the top of the stalk, and eight or
ten of these placed in stacks around a common fence stake
driven into the ground, and it will be cured to take to the
barn or shed in three or four weeks of good weather.

It is not likely to be injured by storms if closely packed
around the stake, and a sure protection is afforded if covered
during wet weather with hay-caps, an article no good farmer
can afford to be without.

The cost of cultivating an acre of corn varies with the
season, character of the soil, value of the land, &c.

I shall take for a basis of cost an acre of land worth seventy-
five dollars, and distant one or two miles from a city or large
village, and the amount of crop sixty bushels.

Dr. To plowing, harrowing, and marking, - 14.25

planting, one and one-half day, - - 2.25

hoeing, five days' labor, - - 7.50

• six cords manure, . . - 18.00

twenty bushels ashes, - - 5.00

one hundred pounds gypsum, - - .50

46 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

cutting up and husking, - - 6.00

interest on land, - - - 4.60

Cost of growing, - - - - |50.00

Cr. By 60 bushels corn, $1 per bushel, - $60.00

1^ tons stover, $1Q dollars per ton, - 24.00

half the manure and ashes charged to land, 11.75

$95.75

leaving a net profit of $45.75 per acre for crop and increased
value of the land for succeeding crops.

As the manure is produced on the farm, hence the low-
price charged for it.

That corn is a great exhauster of the land will be seen,
when we consider that the average in the United States is in-
creased from year to year, and the yield per acre continually
growing less. Few practical men but have noticed the light-
ness of succeeding crops after the removal of a good crop of
corn, and often a partial failure of grass seed to take root.

One reason for this is to be found in the fact, that mag-
nesia, potash, and phosphoric acid, valuable elements of the
soil enter largely into the composition of this grain.

By analysis it is shown that its nutritious qualities as food
for the human family are, when compared with wheat, as 77
to 95 ; that it is rich in oil which is easily converted into fat,
and in other elements which form the bone and muscle,
making it the best adapted for working oxen and horses ; and
for fattening cattle, swine, and slieep, it is unrivaled in value
by any other grain, besides furnishing a vast amount of mate-
rial for our internal trade and commerce.

I have not the statistics from the Department of Agriculture
at hand from which to show the number of bushels of corn
raised in the United States the year preceding the time of
taking the last census^ its value, &c., the amount exported to
different parts of the world, nor can I give an approximate
estimate of the vast tonnage furnished by this cereal, and the
uses to which it is converted.
That " cotton is king" may be reasonably doubted when we

CORN. 47

consider the vastness and value of the corn crop, the immense
amount of animal food yearly produced by its use, and the
measure of wealth and comfort furnished to mankind.

The Cultivation of Corn.

BY WILLIAM H. YEOMANS, COLUMBIA, CONN.

In order to succeed to a high degree in the cultivation of
any crop, certain conditions must be fulfilled. These are, the
preparation of the soil for the introduction of the seed, the
kinds of manure used, and the manner of applying the same,
the after care during the growth of the crop, the harvesting
of the same, &c. These vary in different crops, but as corn
only is to be considered in this article, it is unnecessary to
travel outside of the rules usually observed in its cultivation.

As to the preparation of the soil, it may be said that indi-
viduals vary, very much, since some prefer to plant upon the
sod broken during the fall previous to the spring of planting,
others upon the sod broken just before planting, and still
others, in a course of rotation upon land previously prepared,
by being sown to buckwheat one season, and followed the
next season by potatoes, the season following being allotted
to corn. But it is not unfrequently the case that a prepara-
tion of. the soil is necessary, previous to the plowing, since it
is abundantly proved that if any excess of moisture exists in
the soil, maximum results cannot be expected. Soil unen-
cumbered by an excess of moisture is naturally porous, ca-
pable of receiving the atmosphere which passes through it,
unless the same is compact clay or firm subsoil. When, then,
a soil is finely comminuted, and still retains the air spaces,
it is, other things being equal, in the best possible condition
to receive the small rootlets of the plant, which will then have
no difficultity in spreading themselves ; but the great difficulty
is, far too many fields are almost wholly destitute of these
favorable conditions, and must bo brought to this state by
artificial means. This applies to all heavy, compact, wet soils,
and those having such a subsoil as retains more or less surplus

48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

water which naturally, and very readily finds its way to the
surface. The manner of ameliorating such fields is by thorough
drainage, which takes all the surplus moisture, condvicting it
into the proper channels, where, instead of retarding the
growth of plants, it may be appropriated to a legitimate use,
and thus serve two good turns.

Premising that the primary condition of the soil is what it
should be, the next point to be observed is the time and man-
ner of plowing, and whether of greensward or not. If the
former, then should this be done in the fall or spring ? One
argument used for fall plowing, is, the destruction of grubs
and worms that naturally exist in the sod, and also the com-
minuting effect of the frosts of winter, and exposure upon
the broken surface. So far as this goes it is perhaps benefi-
cial ; but at the same time, it is generally admitted that but
little effect is produced upon the sod itself towards reduction,
and in fact it is not so susceptible to the influences of decompo-
sition, in consequence of which the greater liability of the grass
to spring forth increases to a considerable degree the future
care of the crop. Nor is it believed that the plea of attraction
of living worms to its roots, thus saving the corn, is a sufficient
recompense for the additional tronble. One fact is certain —
that spring plowing of such fields must be wholly omitted,
or the sod will only be again turned to the light ; then har-
rowing must be resorted to, which, as is often observed,
proves to be in a great measure inefficient, and hence in the
end a loss of labor is the result. On the other hand, if the
sward be turned in the spring, and that, not until the young
grass has considerably started, the effect is to induce fermen-
tation, and the early' decomposition of the sod is the result.
At this point a question very naturally arises regarding the
depth to which it is proper to plow, and which as applied
to breaking of sward land can be answered, that it should be
of sufficient depth to allow a good amount of loose soil to rest
upon the sod ; but passing to fields under culture, the answer
depends wholly upon the depth of soil ; and this is the rock
upon which the advocates of deep and shallow plowing split,
as they do not usually make proper distinctions in this direc-

CORN. 49

tion. Thus, if a soil is very deep the principle of commi-
nuting the soil whereby greater latitude is given to the roots
of plants, would at once point to a great depth of plowing if
properly done ; while on the contrary, if a soil is shallow,
nothing could be more injurious or perhaps destructive to the
succeeding crop than to plow to a great depth, burying the
available surface soil beneath a large body of soil that had not
yet been properly prepared for plant food. In such cases the
transformation should be gradual from year to year, until
finally the desired depth can be attained. There can be no
doubt that where all the conditions are favorable, deep plow-
ing should be approved and practiced, since the greater the
amount of soil the plant has to work upon, other things being-
equal, the more favorable the results. Now if the crop of
corn is to be planted upon what is termed old land, it might
be appropriate to consider somewhat the time and manner of
plowing this. Upon the principle that the atmosphere and
frosts of winter act as disintegrators, it would undoubtedly be
advisable, if other circumstances would allow, to plow such
fields late in the fall, just before the setting in of winter,
whereby it becomes more easily acted upon by the rays of the
sun, and hence more readily worked, and that too, consid-
erably earlier in the spring. If such course should be pur-
sued, plowing should invariably be done in the spring also,
which leaves the land oftentimes in far better condition than
where the fall plowing is omitted.

Passing now to manuring, important considerations present
themselves. In the first place, the best fertilizer that can be
used upon any farm-crop is the manure made upon the farm,
and this should at all times be liberally bestowed. If plowing
of greensward is done in the fall, then the manuring should
naturally be made in the spring. One general principle sliould
be observed in the application of manure, that it be so made
as to be most available for the plant ; then if the case is as
above, this can more naturally be done just before planting
in the spring, being thoroughly incorporated with whatever
fine dirt remains above the sod. If the sward be plowed in
the spring, then it would be advisable to spread thickly the
4

50 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

coarse and green manure before plowing, wliicli as dceompo
sition progressed and the gases were generated, these could
be taken up and thoroughly disseminated through the sod.
but manuring should not rest here. Before planting, the
more finely comminuted manure should be spread upon the
surface and thoroughly incorporated with the soil previous to
planting. Again, upon the supposition that the field has been
previously cultivated and is to be plowed in the fall, if manure
is at hand, it would be highly desirable that a quantity be
spread and plowed in, as thereby all its parts would be
thoroughly disseminated throughout the soil. But omitting
this and passing to spring plowing, this should be preceded
by a liberal supply of coarse manure evenly spread upon the
surface, and then before planting let the fine manure of the
yard be spread and thorouglily harrowed in, and if the appli-
cations have been sufficiently liberal, the field is ready for
planting. The surface should be marked perhaps both ways,
at least three feet apart, as it is believed that tlie size of the
corn more than compensates for the extra number of hills
gained by closer planting. Having the surface marked, then
comes the question of manuring in the hill. It was formerly
believed to be the best policy to spread on manure lightly and
then use a large quantity in the hill ; but later experience has
demonstrated the absurdity of such practice, for the reason
that as soon as the corn obtains a fair start in life it sends out
its roots in search of sustenance, but the manure in the hill
being contained in a limited compass is soon left, and so does
not become available for food for the corn ; therefore it is that
during later years the practice has been rather, to spread a
large proportion or the whole of the manure of the yard, and
in the hill use some powerful compost, or commercial ferti-
lizer, in small quantity, which, acting as a stimulant, occasions
such rapid growth early in the season, as to force the roots in
all directions, whereby they are enabled to drink in the ferti-
lizing elements that have by that time become better prepared
for their use. An application of ashes is frequently made, by
spreading the same upon the hill, which lias a very beneficial
effect upon the growth of the corn. Whenever the above

CORN. 51

mode is carefully and tlioughly practiced, other things being
equal, no fears ever need be had regarding the result.

The corn being planted, which should be carefully done,
being covered by about an inch of fine soil, and well started
in growth, the legitimate care of the same commences. This
consists in hoeing, keeping clear of all weeds or foul growtli,
and sufficient stirring of the soil. To keep perfectly clear
from weeds is one of the great essentials, for it is hardly con-
sidered to be good husbandry to thoroughly prepare a field for
a crop of foul growth. Of the stirring of the soil, it is hardly
possible to carry the same to excess, since it is a fact, that a
good proportion of the food of plants is derived from the
atmosphere in the form of gases, and it is also a fact that
fresh earth has a greater power for abstracting these from the
atmosphere ; therefore the greater the amount of fresh sur-
face of earth exposed, the greater the volume or quantity of
gases absorbed, and hence a larger amount of plant food
obtained.

It is always desirable that the seed should be of the best
quality, and this can be secured by a proper care in selection;
and it is now generally believed that not only corn but other
crops can be greatly improved in quality as well as quantity
by careful selection and cultivation.

Perhaps it ought to be stated, that the time of planting
should' be regulated in a great measure by the season.
At all events, it should be postponed until the ground is
thoroughly warmed, and all danger from frost is passed.
If planting is done before the ground is sufficiently warmed,
the seed is liable to decay ; but if planting is postponed later,
as the ground is then warm, the young corn grows rapidly
and is oftentimes more advanced tjian that considerably ear-
lier planted. Fields of corn are often planted the first of
June, and they have been known to have been planted as late
as the tenth of June, from which good results have followed.
Taking into consideration the average period of growth of
corn, perhaps no better rule can be adopted than to plant at
such time as will be sure to allow of ripening previous to the
first fall frost.

52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Upon the point of harvesting there is con sideraLle differ-
ence of opinion as well as practice. There are three general
methods in use, viz : topping off the stalks, or cutting the
same just above the ear ; cutting up at the roots ; and letting
the same stand upon the hill until thoroughly ripened before
cutting. In the first of tliese, the desire is to save the stover
in better condition, upon the supposition that the corn will
ripen equally well, but which leaves the bottom stalk nearly
worthless. The second is believed to save the bottom portion
of the stalk equally well with the top, assuming that the corn
ripens equally as well as though allowed to stand upon the hill.
In the third, both are left upon the hill, because it is believed
that although the stover is more or less injured thereby, the
weight of corn is considerably augmented in consequence of
such practice. Each of these courses has its advocates ; but
certain experiments, all of which in results tend in one direc-
tion, are in favor of cutting up by the roots just after the
kernels of corn are seared over. But notwithstanding the
pointedness of these results in one direction, probably one
half the corn planted in this state is topped. Of different
experiments tried, although somewhat varied, the results all
point to the same end. In one the result was only about four
per cent, in favor of cutting up over topping, and six per cent,
in favor of cutting over letting stand on the hill. In another
the result was more favorable, being seventeen per cent, in
the second case and thirteen in the first. In still another, the
percentage in favor of cutting up was about seventeen. In tliis
case, as it was claimed that the greenness of the corn made a
difference, all was allowed to remain until thorouglily dried,
and by weight the result was in favor of cutting up by about
twenty-one per cent., and in this last an attempt was made to
satisfy tlie question of the relative value of fodder in each case;
and the result was, that while it was evident that the portion
allowed to remain with the ear is mostly changed to woody
fibre, that those stalks cut up by the roots were equally as
good, as a whole, as the tops taken off above the ear. But
returning to the corn, one fact was noticable in all the experi-
ments, and that was, that while the corn topped was less

CORN. 53

valuable than where cut up by the roots, that allowed to stand
with the whole stock was still less valuable — that is, less valu-
able than where topped — which goes a long way to prove the
proposition of Baron Liebig, who has stated that " all plants
left in a natural state to mature their seeds, give back to the
earth, in the form of excrementitious matter, a portion of
their seed forming substance, thereby diminishing the weight
of the grain or seed." Thus it is seen, that where a portion
of the stalk is removed, there is less diminution in weight
than where the whole is allowed to remain. Thus the infer-
ence may readily be drawn, that where the stalk is cut up, the
connection with the earth being severed, the juices in the
same that would naturally pass back to the earth, are con-
veyed to the corn and thereby add to its weight. If this point
be satisfactorily proved, if all those persons who now top their
corn would cut the same upon the hill, quite a considerable
addition would be made to the aggregate amount of the crop
in a single state.

To pursue the investigation of this subject further, taking
into consideration the general exhaustion of the soil, as the
result of the growth of a full crop, and consequently the
amount of matter to be returned to the soil, or previously
applied, in order not only to maintain an average fertility but
also to increase the same, is treading upon uncertain ground,
especially to those who make no special pretentions to scien-
tific attainments ; and still, with the present advancement of
science, and especially of chemistry, in its connection with
agriculture, something like an approximation can be made of
what is necessary to be done in the raising of corn.

There have been formed approximate tables of the amount
in pounds of inorganic substances of manurial value, removed
from an acre of ground by average crops, supposing the whole
crops to be taken from the field, and by means of these tables,
the amount taken by a crop of corn is stated to be 247 pounds
of a combination of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, phosphoric
acid, sulphuric acid, silica, and salt, of which compound pot-
ash, phosphoric acid, and silica make up nearly 180 pounds,
or nearly three-fourths ; so that, if these estimates are correct,

54

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and making a double allowance for an extra crop instead of
an average one, about 500 pounds of mineral substances could
be removed, of which the three named would compose about
375 pounds, and therefore if a restoration was to be effected
by means of commercial fertilizers, it would be necessary to
employ one in which potash, phosphoric acid, and silica were
largely in excess ; but as the latter of the three is plentifully
supplied in most soils, it will be necessary to h.ave more re-
gard for the two former ; but as it is generally conceded that
barn-yard manure is the most natural fertilizer that can be
used upon any crop, it is necessary to consider the relative
constitution of that material. It is laid down, that in barn-
yard manure well rotted and dried, the principal ingredients
heretofore named exist in about the proportion of ten per
cent. ; so if an estimate of the amount of moisture contained
in barn-yard manure can be made, which is known to be ex-
ceedingly great, then an approximate basis for a calculation
of the relative qualities of the principal manurial substances
required will be had ; and having found these, the required
amount of manure is easily estimated and therefore applied.
But it is seldom that the ordinary farmer feels qualified for
the performance of any so difficult task, and hence simply
uses his best judgment in the application of his manure,
which answers the purpose equally well if his judgment only
leads him to make a thorough application. The difficulty in
such cases usually consists in a desire to make the most of
what is possessed, whereby the same is used upon so large a
surface, that notwithstanduig enough is absolutely furnished
to restore the waste effected by the growth of the crop, no
provision is made for a gradual improvement of the soil, which
should be a matter of high consideration and never lost sight
of. The corn crop is not as exhaustive to the soil as many
others, Avhich also take substances in different combinations ;
hence the benefits of a rotation of crops, which should always
be so arranged as to require substances that have been least
used by the preceding crop, so that while exhaustion is going on
in one direction, accumulation is likewise going on in another.
Passing to another point, the feeding value of corn and of

CORN. 55

the fodder, and a field of investigation is opened the extent
of which affords ample opportunity for difference of opinion.

In considering the stover or fodder, the general impression
ever has been that it possesses no inconsider^ible value for the
purposes of increasing the flow of milk among dairy cows, and
although Dr. Loring has expressed the opinion that corn fodder
possessed little value or was worthless, farmers still continue
not only to preserve that from which they take their corn, but
also to raise it in no small quantities for soiling and fodder
purposes. In fact, the impressions are so favorable towards
this product that its growth has been very much increased
within the past few years, in which, in consequence of the
somewhat severe drouth, it has exercised a very important
office, iii not only relieving the pasturage in which the herbage
was scanty, but also the limited mow of hay. It is a matter
of surprise that any person should venture the assertion that
corn fodder is worthless, since it is sufficiently establislied
that the corn plant, like all other vegetable structures, has
but one object or aim in its growth, which is the produc-
tion of seed. And the stalk, to effijct this end must contain
starch, gum, sugar, and woody fibre, the former of which are
nutrient principles. If, however, the stalk be cut before a
sufficient time has elapsed for the elaboration of any of the
nutrient principles, then its actual value is diminished in pro-
portion as these principles are wanting; but if allowed to con-
tinue its growth, whenever a sufficient amount is stored away,
and the grain formed, the end of its existence is accomplished,
and the plant dies, even though no frost has assailed it.

Of the grain itself it may be said, that it is the great feed-
ing crop of this nation. The great and increasing demand
for it is in itself an argument as to its value ; and though in
New England it is gradually giving way to other crops, it is
not because it is not highly esteemed, but because upon this
rugged soil other crops more profitable can be grown, with the
avails of which, the corn that is transported from the south
and west is more easily purchased than raised; so that, while
only a quarter of a century ago the established farmers had an
abundance of corn for their own use in the affairs of their

56

BOAED OF AGRICULTURE.

farms, and a quantity to sell in the market, now the rule more
generally is for the farmer to go to market with the cash that
he has received from his tobacco or some other crop, and
purchase his one or five hundred bushels of grain to be used
upon his farm. But it is unquestionably a fact that in earlier
times, much less of this grain was fed than at the present
time, especially to neat stock and horses, as the opinion then
prevailed that the stock must be wintered upon the hay and
coarse fodder that the farm afforded, leaving the swine to con-
sume the corn. Now, however, all stock alike share the con-
sumption of corn in some shape, and though it is usually
shelled from the cob and ground, leaving the cob to be
burned, from analysis it appears that there is about the
same amount of organic matter in the cob that there is in the
grain ; about one-tenth part as much of the albumenoids, two-
thirds as much of the carbohydrates, and one-fifth as much
fat ; so that it would appear that it may yet become a matter
of economy to grind corn and cob together for feeding pur-
poses, especially when fattening is not the principal desider-
atum.

As to the relative value of corn, taking good English hay
as a basis of comparison, assuming the hay to stand m
the scale at 100 and corn would stand at about 50 — that is,
fifty pounds of corn as ordinarily fed would be equivalent to
one hundred pounds of hay. In a lecture on cattle food, at
Cirencester Agricultural College, England, corn was placed
at 60 in comparison with hay at 100 ; but recent experiments
go to show that the value for feeding purposes of corn as well
as all other kinds of food is greatly enhanced by being cooked,
for reasons as stated in the results of experiments made by
MM. Raspail and Biot, of the French Academy of Sciences,
as follows :

" 1. That the globules constituting meal, flour, and starch,
whether contained in grain or roots, are incapable of affording
any nourishment as animal food until they are broken.

2. That no mechanical method of breaking or grinding is
more than partially efficient.

3. That the most efficient way of breaking the globules is

CORN.

57

by heat, by fermentation, or by a chemical agency of acids or
alkalies.

4. That the dextrine which is the kernel, as it were, of each
globule, is alone soluble, and therefore alone nutritive.

5. That the shells of the globules, when reduced to frag-
ments by mechanism or heat, are not nutritive.

6. That though the fragments of the shells are not nutri-
tive they are indispensable to digestion, either from their dis-
tending the stomach, or from other causes not understood ; it
having been found by experiment that concentrated nourish-
ment, such as sugar or essence of beef cannot long sustain
life without some mixture of coarser or less nutritive food.

7. Tiiat the economical preparation of all food, containing
globules or fecula, consists in perfectly breaking the shells and
rendering the dextrine contained in them soluble and diges-
tible, while the fragments of the shells are at the same time
rendered more bulky, so as the more readily to fill up the
stomach."

These principles were very happily illustrated by a series
of experiments very carefully conducted by a farmer of Iowa,
in the fattening of twenty hogs, being first fed twenty-eight
days on dry shelled corn, in which they consumed 83 bushels
and gained 837 pounds, selling the corn at .50r1j per bushel ;
they were next fed fourteen days on dry meal, in which they
consumed 47 bushels, gaining 553 pounds, selling the corn at
.58i% per bushel ; tliey were next fed fourteen days on meal
mixed with cold water, consuming 55^ bushels, and gaining
731 pounds, selling the corn at .65i% per bushel ; they were
next fed fourteen days on cooked meal, consuming 46^ bush-
els, and gaining 696 pounds, selling the corn at*.74xV per
bushel. Taking the two extremes, after deducting the toll
for grinding, leaves .21 per bushel in favor of cooking ; and
if the food for the hogs liad been all cooked it would have
made 663 pounds more, which would have been worth $33.00
more. Or while it would require 345.51 bushels of dry corn
to make 3,480 pounds of pork, it would require only 232
when cooked ; a difference of 113.51 bushels in favor of
cooked food. This is only one of a thousand experiments

58

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

of the kind that have probably been made throughout the
country, and which assist in proving the importance of cook-
ing food. It will be noticed by the first experiment that one
bushel of dry corn will produce ten pounds of pork, which
may be taken as a fair average for the purpose of establishing
the value of corn when dry for feeding purposes.

Mr. Gold exhibited some ears of corn, produced by Mr. B.
H. Andrews, of Waterbury, by crossing the Early Vermont,
Eai'ly Prolific, and Ohio dent corn. The ears were large and
well formed, and reported as very early.

Dr. Baldwin. I should like to inquire of Mr. Day, which
he would prefer to undertake to do, to raise sixty bushels of
corn on one acre, or thirty bushels an acre on two acres?

Mr. Day. I should decidedly prefer the sixty bushels.
I always go in for the largest crop. In the first place it does
not cost any more to plow an acre of ground to produce sixty
bushels than it does to plow an acre that will produce thirty
bushels, and it is so much more profitable to raise sixty bush-
els than it is thirty, that I have always adopted the maximum
crop, whenever I could get it.

Dr. Baldwin. The getting it had something to do with my
question. How often do you get the sixty bushels ?

Mr. Day, Well, sir, in the course of my cultivation, not
very often. Thirty, forty-five, and fifty bushels are my largest
crops. A few times in the course of my cultivation, I have
gone as high as seventy or eighty bushels. I consider, Mr.
Chairman, that the only way a man can cultivate a crop to
any profit is to cultivate for a maximum, and use every effort
to attain that end. I believe I have answered the doctor's
question.

Dr. Baldwin. Have you not got the estimate of the fod-
der, $16.00 a ton, too high ? Can you reasonably expect to
get $2-1.00 worth from an acre of corn ?

Mr. Day. My impression in regard to that is, that a ton
of stover well cured and well taken care of, is worth two-
thirds the price of English hay. I think it will produce as
much flesh, and as much or more milk, than that quantity of

CORN. oy

hay, and for that reason, I estimate it as worth $16.00 a ton
when hay is worth $24.00 a ton.

Dr. Baldwin. Have you not made an error in your esti-
mate of the comparative vahie of sweet corn and southern
white corn, or Maryland corn, for feed ? I understood you to
say that you thought the sweet corn was the most profitable.
Have you found that to be practically true ?

Mr. Day. In reply to that, I will say, that I have always
considered that what the human family like, the animal crea-
tion relish and like ; and I believe that 'a cow, an ox, or a
sheep relishes the stover from sweet corn as much more
highly than the stover of southern corn, as the human family
do sweet corn over and above the common or the southern
corn. I believe it is altogether more rich in nutritious matter.

Mr. Low. When I first went to New Jersey to teach school >
I was much surprised to find that the farmers did not feed
any hay to their cattle ; they wintered them entirely on corn
fodder. I am now milking seven cows, and I find that corn
fodder makes more butter than anything else that I feed.

Mr, Hart, of West Cornwall. Our soil is somewhat differ-
ent from the soil which Mr. Day and Mr. Yeomans work upon,
in respect to the cultivation of which they have given such
intelligent directions. Our practice is not to plow very deep.
In my own practice, I have secured the best results by plow-
ing in the spring ; breaking up the turf to the depth of about
five inches — putting my manure on previously to plowing —
and then, as the turf decays, it furnishes a large amount of
vegetable matter that is in just the condition to feed the corn
as it comes along and requires it in its various stages of
growth. I am not raising corn now at all, being engaged in
the production of milk, and supplementing my hay crop with
sowed corn corn-fodder ; but my crop, when I planted corn,
exceeded sixty bushels to the acre, and twice I have been
above a hundred bushels. I think I took the first premium
that was awarded by the State Society for a crop of corn,
which was one hundred and two bushels. I am decidedly of
the opinion that it is better to raise a good crop on one acre
than a poor crop on three acres. I think the present results

60 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

are better to raise seventy-five bushels on one acre than to
raise the same quantity on three acres, and the results in the
subsequent crops of vegetables, cereals, and grass are more
valuable than those following smaller crops.

The practice usually is to raise corn the first year after
turning over, following with oats. Formerly, our farmers used
to seed down with spring wheat, but that has been dropped.
Usually, in my own experience, the crop following, oats, has
averaged, until within a few years, about sixty-five bushels to
the acre.

On the question of sowed corn, I am decidedly iu favor
of sweet corn. I planted the past season a couple of acres of
sweet corn, and something more than that of southern corn,
and the result with the sweet corn has been very satisfactory.
I should not estimate the stover from ripened corn as valuable
as Mr. Day found it, but I think the quantity from a crop of
sixty bushels would exceed the quantity he gives.

Mr. Day. Allow me to make one correction. I supposed,
all the time, that that stover was to be well cured and well
taken care of. I do not mean that it should be cut and care-
lessly or slovenly stacked, and left out exposed to all the
changes of weather until the first of November, when I will
agree with anybody it must be comparatively worthless.

Mr. Hart. Our best farmers believe in doing what they
do well ; they think it pays the best. Grass is our specialty,
and the object of our best farmers is to raise the largest
quantity of grass of the best quality they can. They com-
mence by clearing the stones from their fields in most in-
stances, planting with corn, cultivating the year following
with some cereal that is best adapted to seeding lands, and
then following with grass. The result of this method with
us — the dairy business being our specialty — is, I think, better
than any other.

Question. About how thick would you plant corn for sixty
bushels to the acre ?

Mr. Hart. I planted three acres, the rows three feet apart
each way. The result was sixty bushels of shelled corn to
the acre.

CORN. 61

Question. About how many stalks remained in a hill ?

Mr. Hart. From three to five. In another part of the
same field, where I raised a crop of one hundred bushels, it
was planted two and a half feet apart in the row, and the rows
three and a half feet apart. It was on a southwest inclina-
tion, so that the rays of the sun would penetrate it, and the
growth was large. The corn was soaked in water saturated
with saltpeter, and favorable weather was selected in which
to plant it. It showed itself in four days, and in five it was
quite perceptible ; in six, you could stand at the end of a row
and see the young blades of corn the whole length ; and its
growth was in that proportion all the way through.

Question. How much manure did you use ?

Mr. Hart. Twenty cart loads to the acre. I think Mr.
Gold adopts a somewhat similar practice, as do many of our
farmers. We have a rugged soil, and when we clear off the
stone, it is a darkish friable loam, resting upon a hard-pan
sub-soil, but very productive, where thorough work is made
of it.

Question. I would like to inquire whether the gentlemen
present have found any difference in the yield of different
kinds of corn ? I think that is a matter of some importance.

Mr. Hart. I would say that the corn that I raised for a
great many years was the Button corn. The seed was pro-
cured of Judge Buell, who was formerly editor of the "Albany
Cultivator." I think my father was the first person who in-
troduced it into this state. The ears came eight inches long,
and with from twelve to twenty rows on an ear. My father
adopted the practice of selecting his seed corn when cutting it
up, from stalks that had two ears upon them, intending to de-
crease the size of the cob, and increase the length of the ear,
in which he succeeded to such an extent, that finally we often
came across ears of the Button corn fourteen inches long.
This variety was extensively disseminated through Litchfield
county, and even sent to other parts of the state.

Question. I will inquire of Mr. Hart if he invariably took
his seed corn from stalks that had two ears ?

Mr. Hart. I did, for years.

62 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

Question. Did it produce stalks with two ears ?

Mr. Hart. In a great many instances it did. From year
to year, the number of stalks that produced two ears to the
stalk increased.

Dr. Riggs. I live near Hartford, and I have not gone into
corn statistics as much, perhaps, as I ought to have done.
With tobacco bearing so high a price, we find it more profitable
on our soils to raise tobacco and buy our corn than to raise
corn for our home consumption. To subdue land, however,
I frequently plant to corn, and generally have a small piece
every year. This year, I had about four acres of land that I
suppose had not been plowed for twenty or thirty years. It
lies a little inclined, and the soil above it was a light sandy
loam, just right for tobacco, from six to eight inches deep,
these resting upon a sub-soil of red gravel, containing a good
deal of iron. This gravel runs down then, so that a well dug
upon the upland where the houses stand, enters the clay hard-
pan at the depth of thirty or thirty-two feet. This ground
from the well begins to slope to the east, at a very slight in-
cline — so small, that it is fine arable land, and raises the best
tobacco. Below this, this particular stratum of soil, resting
on the gravel, seemed to stop, and this red gravel began to
crop out a little, and from that came small rivulets of water,
springs bubbling up in the spring in several places along the
lot, and running down on to this almost level land. I
found it necessary, in order to make it cultivatable at all, to
underdrain ; and this last spring, I took hold of the job.
I broke that up with a double Michigan plow. The wild
grasses had extended their roots quite deep, and were just
like wires, I had three yoke of oxen part of the time, and
part of the time I used a pair of heavy horses and two pair
of cattle, breaking it up as near as I could to the depth of ten
or twelve inches. I am not afraid of deep plowing. I put
no manure upon the surface, because the sod was so thick
that, as soon as I got the water off, I knew that the fermen-
tation and heat of the sod would produce plant fooJ enough.
Before planting, I covered the surface with barn-yard manure,
made from hay, corn-fodder, cotton-seed meal, and some coriv

CORN. 63

I had a very rank and heavy crap, but I did not measure it.
I invariably cut my corn up at the root at the proper time, in
order to secure the stover in its best condition. I planted the
common corn, for I have found that you can hardly go amiss,
in the state of Connecticut, if you plant that kind of corn.
I have raised ears a foot long.

I think that, for raising corn, plowing in the spring is
preferable to plowing in the fall, because we get a fermenta-
tion of the sod, and it is a great help in our backward springs
towards starting the corn forward. I commonly use the Bil-
lings' corn-planter in putting in my seed. A man who under-
stands tlie business, can, with a good horse, plant five or six
acres in a day with that machine ; and besides, you can put
into the seed-planter your fertilizer — superphosphate^ ashes,
or whatever it may be, if it is fine — and start your crop for-
ward immediately. I soaked my corn this year in sulphate
of iron — that is, copperas — and the corn appeared above the
ground the fourth day, I think, and went ahead rapidly.
Thre was a very large growth and a very satisfactory crop. My
corn-crib is in a very satisfactory condition. On a portion of
the field, where I put no fertilizer on top, I sowed five or six
bushels of salt to the acre, and the corn upon tliat was not so
large nor so heavy as upon other portions of the field.

Mr. Hart. This question of deep and shallow plowing for
corn, is one of a great deal of interest. If any gentleman
speaking upon the subject has any facts in relation to the re-
sults from either mode of plowing, I wish they might be
called out here. For my own part, I think the nature of the
soil has a good deal to do with the result. With me, compara-
tively shallow plowing has had the best results. An instance
in illustration occurs to me now. On one occasion I gauged
a plow for my hired man, to cut a furrow about five inches
deep. One-third of the field was plowed just about as I had
left the gauge in the morning, but when I went to the field at
night, I found that he had been plowing half the day eight
inches deep, right round the field. I said, " What are you
about? You have been altering the gauge of the plow." The
man said, " Your brother came along, and said, 'you are not

64 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE.

plowing deep enough,' and gauged it deeper." I set it back
where it was, but during the whole process of cultivation and
harvesting, I could distinguish the rows which were plowed
while the deep draft was on the plow. The corn was far infe-
rior in its appearance while it was growing, and the results
in the basket were noticeable as being much less than where
it was plowed at the first depth.

Mr. Gould. I have one or two facts which I can vouch
for, upon the question of deep or shallow plowing for corn.

In 1865, I was appointed by the Agricultural Society of the
State of New York a Commissioner to visit the Western States
with reference to the study of sorghum. It then appeared
that it would be necessary for us in New York to raise our
own molasses, and it was with that point in view that I was
sent there. The year 1865 was signalized in the agricultural
history of Illinois by one of the most extensive and devas-
tating frosts in August that have ever occurred in that state.
A very large portion of the corn crop was cut off; never
ripened at all, and was no sort of use to the owners. In order
to examine the sorghum, I obtained from Mr. Ogden, the Presi-
dent of the Central Railroad of Illinois, a hand-car, and
some Irishmen, so tliat I could stop at any of those sorghum
fields that I desired, and acquire information in regard to
them. In that way, I was enabled to make such a careful
personal examination of the State of Illinois as very few per-
sons, in so sliort a time, were ever able to do. I noticed on
that occasion, that while an extensive tract of country all
around was devastated by these frosts, I would occasionally
find a field that was perfectly green and beautiful, and the
corn just as good as could possibly be desired. This would
sometimes be the case in a field surrounded on every side by
fields destroyed by the frost. Of course, in those circum-
stances, I made very diligent inquiry to ascertain the circum-
stances under which this corn was saved while the other was
destroyed, and I invariably found, that the land where the
corn had been saved had been plowed deep with a Michigan
plow. That was the uniform statement. The same frost
that cut off the corn also destroyed the sorghum, and I found

CORN. 65

the same fact in relation to that — that there were fields of
sorghum perfectly good, yielding a rich and genuine juice,
surrounded by fields utterly destroyed. The answer to the
inquiry was always the same — it had been plowed from seven
to eight inches deep. That is a fact that I can vouch for.

Well, sir, take the valley of the Scioto. Every one knows
the value of that valley for the purpose of raising corn. I sup-
pose there is hardly such another region upon the face of the
earth. The early settlers there never plowed their land. You
can hardly say that they tickled it with the plow. They ran
the plow along, and just lifted the ground a little. The result
was, that even with that imperfect and miserable cultivation,
they raised no less than seventy bushels to the acre. After a
while, it began to fall off, and the average crop now in that
valley is not more than forty bushels to the acre. Mr. John L.
Gill, of Columbus, Ohio, plowed one of those fields with a Michi-
gan plow, to the depth of eight or nine inches, and raised one
hundred and twenty-five bushels to the acre, while the farm-
ers all around were raising but forty bushels. I have seen
the same result again and again. I have no shadow of doubt,
that the true way is to plow, and the deeper the better, pro-
vided tlie soil is not in a poisonous condition.

Having laid down the general proposition, I will modify it
by the conditions which I think ought always to be annexed
to a statement of this character. If, for example, there are
four or five inches of soil, and then rock underneath it, I
would not recommend plowing three inches into the rock. If
there were four or five inches of good soil on top, and a layer
of iron pyrites underneath it, I would not exactly recommend
going down ten or twelve inches on that land. If it was a
heavy, solid, cloggy clay, I would not recommend putting the
plow in twelve inches all at once ; but I have never yet seen
(and my life has been devoted to the examination of these
facts, over a large area) — I have never yet seen a soil where
it was not safe to take up an inch of the sub-soil every year,
where there is this poisonous or injurious matter in it. It is
in this way that I have seen the greatest ameliorations of the
soil produced. I have invariably found that plowing in the
5

66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

fall was altogether the best practice, that the poisonous matter
that was thrown to the surface might have the ameliorating
influences of the winter frosts, in order to improve it. I have
invariably found that a decided amelioration of the soil has
taken place where the depth of sub-soil taken up was limited
to one inch. I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying, that
where this special circumstance does not occur, (and I believe
I am borne out by the fullest and most ample experiment,)
the deeper you plow, the better.

I can very well understand that there were in the sub-soil
to which the gentleman has referred, where he ran his plow
eight inches deep, injurious matters; but I venture to predict,
that if he continues that operation for a few years, until that
sub-soil has become thoroughly ameliorated by the action of
the atmosphere, he will find a marked difference between the
land plowed eight inches deep and the other. Of course, it
was ill-judged husbandry to go so deeply at first, but per-
severe.

Many years ago, one of the most able, I think I may say,
the most able and ingenious experimenter in husbandry,
Jethro Tull, made an experiment which illustrated this matter
very admirably. He selected a piece of land six yards wide
at one end, and gradually narrowing to a width of six inches
at the other. If I recollect right it was thirty feet long.
This was spaded to a uniform depth of eight inches. He
then planted along the center of the piece, lengthwise, a row
of turnips, eight inches apart. Beginning at the narrow end,
you see that every successive turnip had a wider space on
either side of it, through which its roots might be diffused,
than the one preceding it. When the crop was gathered, he
weighed each turnip in succession, beginning at the narrowest
end, until he came to the point where the space on each side
was two feet wide, and there the turnip was larger than any
that preceded it. And I may remark, that the weight of the
turnip precisely indicated the increasing amount on either
side of pulverized land. The proportion of space had a direct
relation to the weight of the turnip, until he came to two feet.
Beyond the two feet the turnips were of the same size, and did

coRx. 67

not vary at all. He tried the same experiment with a
variety of cultivated crops, and the conclusion which he drew
from the result was, that the normal extent of the root was
measured by the amount of pulverized soil which it required.
Of course, that amount varied very considerably in different
crops. He never tried tlie experiment with indian corn, but
I have myself measured the roots of indian corn, in places
where the capacity of the soil was such as to allow the fine
roots to permeate the soil to the extent of twelve feet, and I
have been informed by reliable experimenters, in whose word
I would place as much confidence as I should in my own ob-
servation, that they have traced the roots of corn to the length
of eighteen feet. I have myself traced an onion root down
fully two feet into the ground. I think people generally very
much misappxehend the length to which the roots of plants
are capable of penetrating, when the circumstances are favor-
able to their growth.

Now, if this is the habit of the plant, as I am very sure it
is the habit of the corn crop, it is very evident that the
amount of soluble food within reach is increased by every
inch of length you give to the corn roots. Therefore it fol-
lows, as a matter of course, that the more you pulverize the
soil, the more you enable tlie roots to spread out, the greater
is the amount of food which it is possible for the crop to take
up. Therefore, this is a confirmation of the general law
which I stated, that the growth of the plant is directly pro-
portional to the depth to which the soil is pulverized.

I was speaking to-day of some experiments with plowing
which were conducted at Utica. There was one piece of land,
wliicli was afterwards sown with oats, which was plowed to
the depth of twelve inches. I requested Mr. Butterfield, on
whose farm it was, to pay special attention to the growth of
tlic crops on the lands plowed at different depths, which he
faithfully did. The result was, that on the land where the
soil had been plowed to the depth of twelve inches — and that,
let me remark, was seven ijiches deeper than it had ever been
plowed since Christopher Columbus discovered America — he
found there was an addition of eight bushels to the crop, and

68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

an addition of seven pounds to the weight of each bushel, as
compared with the crop on the land which had been plowed
eight inches deep. This, I think — although the crop was not
indian corn — illustrates a principle which will guide us in our
judgments in regard to indian corn.

Now, sir, permit me to make a few remarks by way of com-
mentary on the very able papers upon corn which we have
heard this evening. I concur almost entirely with the state-
ments that have been made here, but there are certain things
which I tliink ought to be stated with more care than has
been given to them. I regretted especially to hear one gen-
tleman state that corn should be planted invariably a certain
distance apart. The fact is, that that depends entirely upon
the kind of corn that is planted. One of the speakers has
referred to Jesse Buell's Dutton corn. I think there are two
essentially different kinds of corn which are known among
farmers as Button corn ; one is small and the other large. I
was well acquainted with Jesse Buell's farm, but I never saw
there any corn with fifteen or sixteen rows. If this gentle-
man had not stated that he received his seed from him, I
should have said that his corn measured not over eight inches
in length, and never exceeded eight or ten rows. Jesse Buell
originally obtained that corn from Canada ; it is small Canada
corn ; but he pursued one regular rule, to the value of which
I can bear testimony. I have myself derived great benefit
from it, and I would cordially commend it to the attention
of the farmers of Connecticut. Judge Buell commenced by
planting only the center of each of the ears. He invariably
broke off a portion at the heel of the cob and a portion at the
point, leaving none but the very best part of the ear. He
was accustomed to go through his field, when the corn ap-
proached ripeness, and observe those ears which were earliest
in coming to maturity, and observe also those which bore two
ears upon a stalk, and around those he put a bit of red yarn.
Those ears were selected for seed corn. He broke off the
small kernels at the end and the irregularly formed kernels
at the butt, and planted none but the middle. The result
was, that Judge Buell's corn almost invariably bore two or

CORN. 69

three ears on the stalk, and some of it as many as four. The
largest crop of corn ever grown in the state of New York was
this Button corn, and it was planted two feet and a half either
way. Now, that would be utterly destructive to large corn,
the hills of which ought to be at least three feet apart. This
Dutton corn receives just as much air and sunlight, if planted
two and a half feet apart, as the larger kinds receive when
planted three feet apart. I have seen the Ohio dent corn
growing in Illinois nine and ten feet in height. There, it is
suicidal to plant corn less than four feet apart. The distance
that corn should be planted should always have a relation to
its height, and a relation to the supply of air and sunlight
to every portion of the field. I think if Mr. Day will care-
fully reflect upon his own experience, he will find that the rule
is to plant corn just as far apart as will bear a proper propor-
tion to the height. There is a Chinese tree corn, which grows
sometimes to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, and it can
never be planted less than six feet apart. The practical rule,
in order to obtain the greatest amount of corn from a given
amount of land, is to plant with reference to the height. As
the height of the stalks diminishes, so it is profitable to bring
them closer together ; as it increases, so is it profitable to
cause them to recede from each other. The rule is, so to
plant that every portion of the stalk shall be perfectly bathed
with air and sunlight.

Now, with regard to another thing. One gentleman has
spoken of soaking corn in copperas. I think there is a much
better article than that. I have seen corn that has been
soaked in copperas that has been subject to both rust and
brand. Copperas does not usually kill the spores of the
brand which are sometimes associated with our seed corn ; but
if it is soaked a little while in sulphate of copper, you may
be assured that every single particle of the spores of brand
will be destroyed upon it. You will not have any black corn,
if you will resort to this. I am sure you will find the sul-
phate of copper very much more useful and valuable than
copperas.

Allusion was made this afternoon to the protection of corn

70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

from crows. The most successful mode of doing this that 1
have ever met with is to put a quantity of tar into boiling*
water, stir it up well until the tar is dissolved, and then pour
it over the corn. Then let the liquor run through a sieve,
and cover the corn with plaster, which prevents the stickiness
of it, so that it will run freely through the hand. I do not
know that there is any special manurial value in the plaster
applied in this way ; the object is simply to prevent the corn
from sticking. I have seen occasionally some hills plucked
up, but I have never known any general devastation from
crows when this tar water was used. I think you will find
it. a valuable protection against these very destructive birds.

Allusion has been made to the difference between sweet
corn and southern corn, (Maryland corn, I think,) as food for
cattle. I may state that the farmers of Herkimer county have
settled that thing satisfactorily. By repeated experiments,
they have found that Stowell's sweet corn will cause their
cows to yield a much greater amount of milk and cheese — I
think it is nearly thirty per cent, more — than the southern
corn. I am not speaking of dried corn, after the ears have
been taken off, but of what is generally called sowed corn.
Herkimer county is the county where the greatest amount of
cheese is made, where there is the greatest number of intelli-
gent farmers, and where the utmost pains are taken to make
reliable experiments, and that is a, settled question there.

Another thing occurs to me. I have read Dr. Loring's
statements on this subject, and disagree with him altogether;
and yet I think that the doctor has been visited with an
amount of anathema from farmers in regard to his heresies,
which is rather undeserved. The fault is in his broad, sweep-
ing, and undiscriminating statements. There is no doubt
that, sow corn as you will, there is a great deal of nutriment
in it, as every dairyman who has tried the experiment must
admit. It is, therefore, perfectly useless for Dr. Loring to say
that it lias no value whatever. But it is notoriously true, that
where corn is sowed so very thickly that no air or sunlight
can get to it, where, in a word, the stalk is bleached white,

CORN. . 71

instead of being green, you lose a very large portion of nutri \
tious matter which you would otherwise obtain from it.

I will remark here, that we are becoming too careless
about growing corn. I have seen farmers who were careful in
the selection of their seed, who, every year of their lives, were
getting a little more from an acre. By paying strict attention
to this — and I know no better way than to do as Judge Buell
did — a farmer may increase his eight-rowed corn to ten, in a
few years. I have seen eight-rowed corn converted into six-
teen by this process. And selection is very important in
reference to size and quality. I do not know of any practical
limit. If a farmer begins when he is a young man and con-
tinues during the whole period of his life, I think he would
be astonished at the amount of improvement he had made.
Certainly, the improvement which I have seen careful farmers
produce in this direction is fully equal to the improvement in
cattle which has been made by careful and attentive selection
of animals from which to breed. Breed from the best, is the
principle which lies at the foundation of all successful farming.
If you are going to breed animals, breed from the best ; if
you are going to breed seeds, breed from the best, and it will
surely pay, in the most extraordinary manner.

The importance of the corn crop, gentlemen, cannot be
overrated. The amount of corn raised in the United States,
in 1869, was a thousand million of bushels. Just think of
that ! Conceive, if you can, what an enormous heap a million
of bushels will be, and then multiply that by a thousand.
There is hardly a man in the whole community who has the
imagination to conceive of the vast amount of this crop. It
is enormous. My impression is, that the average price
throughout the United Slates was ■ fifty-five cents a bushel.
That would be $550,000,000 as the value of your crop. We
talk a great deal about our national debt. Well, less than
four years of our corn crop would wipe it out. Now, suppose
that by any care of ours, by increasing our depth of plowing,
by paying more attention to the selection of seed, by adapting
our manures more closely to the wants of the corn crop, we
should raise two bushels of corn where we now raise one — ■

72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

and I do not believe there is a farmer in Connecticut who is
incapable of doubling his crop — and suppose the same thing
should be done all over the United States, what a mighty im-
petus would be given to the manufactures and mechanical
industries of New England ! If five hundred millions were
added to the income of the farmers of the country by the in-
crease of the corn crop, they would want more new stoves,
more new implements, more new coats, more new shirts, more
new stockings, more new everything. The whole community
would feel this wonderful increase. We should pay our cler-
gymen better, and we should get vastly better preaching. We
should pay our musicians better, and get vastly better music.
Every thing would respond in the most magic manner to this
increase of the corn crop. Now, if these vast moral and
physical results will follow from this increase of our crops, is
it not worth while for us to make a little effort? Is it not
worth while for us to try to stir up our sluggish brains to
higher aims and nobler aspirations ? If we shall do this,
if we shall only commence it to-night, the labor and expense
of these meetings will be most abundantly paid. (Applause.)

Dr. Baldwin. You said that in Mr. Tull's experiment,
the maximum size of the turnip was where there were two
feet of loose earth on each side, and the depth eight inches.
Are we to understand that if the soil had been loosened to
a depth of two feet, instead of eight inches, giving tiie same
area downwards that it had sideways, that he could have got
a turnip as large there as where it was two feet wide ?

Mr. Gould. That is an important question. Mr. TuU
found that the length of lateral range was diminished just in
proportion to the depth. He found that the root naturally,
spontaneously, if it got a chance, would always go downward;
tliat the deeper the earth was loosened, the less was the late-
ral spread.

Dr. Baldwin. We have a turnip called the rock turnip,
which grows down, and the rutabaga, which grows up. Would
the gentleman say that the rutabaga would naturally grow
down into the ground, if the soil was loose ?

Mb. Gould. Yes, sir. My impression is, (I am not sure,)

CORN.

T3

that the rutabaga was the one he tried, and he found that
when the soil was loosened below, the roots would tend down-
ward, and the lateral spread was diminished.

Dr. Baldwin. He made it grow very unnaturally, if that
was the case.

Mr. Gould. Did you ever examine the roots two or three
feet down in good soil ?

Dr. Baldwin. We find the rutabaga comes out of the
ground easily, whereas the rock turnip is hard to pull up.

Mr. Gould. Is not this the difference: tliat the rock turnip
is much larger and heavier than the rutabaga, and the fine
roots of the rutabaga are so much smaller that they cannot
descend deep into the earth, while the rock turnip has a long,
heavy root, which has the power of forcing itself downward.

Dr. Baldwin. There is a natural way in which they grow,
and there is a different natural love or disposition for the soil
in each. Are not light and air 'essential conditions for the
best vegetable gro wth ?

Mr. Gould. Unquestionably so, sir.

Dr. Baldwin. In pursuit of food, and also of these requi-
sites, air and light, would it not be reasonable to suppose
that the growth of the rootlets would be lateral rather than
downward?

Mr. Gould. I do not like to go into these long discussions,
but I cannot answer the question without a little circumlocu-
tion. The functions of the root and the functions of the
branch and leaf are essentially different. The roots are the
purveyors for the nutriment of the plant ; the leaves are the
stomachs of the plant, by virtue of which it is elaborated.
Take the case of a tree. The spongioles of the root suck up
the moisture in the soil, laden with all those manurial matters
which the soil holds in solution. It passes upward on the ex-
terior part of the tree, and goes on to the upper surface of the
leaf. There it combines with the sunlight, and there its qual-
ities are changed, by combination with the sunlight, so that
when it passes from the upper side of the leaf and goes on to
the under side, its qualities are entirely different. It then
passes downward, and deposits itself in the form of albumen,

74

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

or, as it is commonly called, sap-wood, on the outside of the
tree. Now, then, this light is made to reappear, when you
take a stick and put it upon the fire. If there is no light in
the room, that fire will throw out a light, and that light which
is thrown out by the burning stick is simply the sun's rays
which were absorbed by the upper surface of the leaf and con
fined in the sap. The simple elaboration of the sun's rays is
fire ligbt. There is, therefore, an essential difference be-
tween the function of the root and the function of the leaf.

Mr. Hart. I do not wish to have the impression go out
that I am not in favor of deep and thorough culture, for I
am ; but when the practical results have been as I have said,
the reason I have supposed to govern the result was some-
thing like this : that the manure and vegetable matter con-
tained in the earth were in such condition that the plant did
not require tbis length of root laterally or into the ground to
procure the nutriment which it needed to furnish the heavy
crops that I said I had raised. I am very glad, however, that
my statement has drawn out the exceedingly interesting and
instructive remarks from Mr. Gould to which we have listened.
I have been very much entertained and instructed, and I pre-
sume others have.

Mr. Lyman. While we are on the subject of corn, I will
"say that three years ago, I tried the experiment of selecting
the middle of the ear for seed. Up to that time, my crop had
not averaged more than from thirty to thirty-three bushels to
the acre. The result was, that I had that year, 1869 — which
we all know was a good corn year — forty- seven and a half
bushels to'the acre. The next year I pursued the same course,
and I had fifty-six and one half bushels to the acre. Thus you
see, gentlemen, that by following this course for two years,
with the same culture, I had gone up from thirty-three bush-
els as the maximum, to fifty-six and a half bushels ; and I am
satisfied, that if I keep on, I shall, witli a good season, carry
it up to sixty or seventy bushels. This was no fancy crop;
there were no extra pains taken with it ; it was simply the
natural increase, as it seemed to me, 'from year to year.

S. L. Goodale, of Saco, Maine. The more I reflect upon

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. (O

corn, the more profoundly I am impressed with the impor-
tance of the crop, and with the prominent place which it holds
in American agriculture. I do not know of any other crop
with which we could replace it, that would serve the purposes
which Indian corn does in our agriculture at the present time;
and looking at it as a crop, I believe it fully deserves the en
comium which old farmer Taylor of Virginia gave it, many
years ago, as being "Meal, Meadow, and Manure;" it fur-
nished bread-stuff for the man, fodder for the beast, and tlie
means of fertilization for his fields. Whatever relates to its
culture, to the best method of producing it, and the most
profitable method of consuming it, I consider to be worthy of
the most careful study of all American farmers.
Adjourned to Wednesday, at 10 o'clock.

SECOND DAY.

The meeting was called to order at 10 o'clock, by Vice
President Hyde, who stated that the first business was a lec-
ture by Prof. S. W. Johnson, on jSoil Exhaustion and nota-
tion of Cro^s.

• Lecture by Prof. S. W. Johnson.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen : Sometime since, I received
from Mr. Gold a letter asking me to address the Board of
Agriculture and the gentlemen assembled on this occasion, on
Exhaustion of Soils and Rotation of Crops. In that letter
Mr. Gold says :

" We want to go further than the common theory of rotation
leads us, and inquire why some crops may be grown for sev-
eral years in succession, as onions and buckwheat, why corn
does not succeed after turnips, why does land become clover-
sick.

" Why does the culture of certain crops tend to make the
farm richer, while other crops only make it poorer, and in

76

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Ijoth cases, the gross amount of minerals and ammonia con
tained in the crops may be the same, or even greater in the
enriching crops.

"Are there certain periods of plant growth which may be
called the enriching period, and others, as the fruit season,
the exhausting ?

" Is not wheat, the prince of cereals, the greatest exhauster
of the soil for the product taken from a given area?

" Tobacco should not be a very exhausting crop ; yet from
the fact, that for the particular purpose for which we cultivate
it, a very luxuriant growth is required, do we not need to fur-
nish more plant food than can be assimilated, much of which
is lost in the air, and washes away ?

" The physical condition of the soil as it is left by different
crops is worthy of notice.

" Wheat grows well after peas and clover, also after tobacco ;
but is not this last owing to the manure left over by the
tobacco and the good preparatory culture?

" Corn does not do well after buckwheat, but potatoes do
well.

" Perhaps my facts may not be facts, but they are believed
by a great many farmers, and we want the whole subject
overhauled and explained."

After getting here on the ground, and looking over the
material which ought to be considered in connection with
these questions, Mr. Gold has promised me that I shall have
another hour to-morrow, and I will occupy this morning with
a part of the subject.

I cannot promise, however, to answer all the questions
which Mr. Gold has proposed. Our knowledge is not suffi-
cient for that. Mr. Gold's admission that some of his " facts
may not be /aeis," shows that investigation is needed to es-
tablish fully what is, and to distinguish that from what appears
to he, before we can reasonably expect to give explanations.
But the very investigations which shall serve in any given case
to identify \X\Qfact will also assist in understanding the reason
of it, and in seeing clearly its bearings upon the other facts

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. 77

which we properly regard as settled. I shall endeavor then,
as far as the time admits, to put before you some of those con-
siderations whicli seem adapted to furnish guiding ideas in
respect to my subject.

By Exhaustion of Soil is properly understood, not a com-
plete depi'ivation of producing power, but simply a reduction
of this power below a profitable point. This is indeed a some-
what indefinite definition, because the point of profit is not
easy to decide upon, but it is sufficient for our purpose.

What does exhaustion consist in ? It consists either in the
removal of certain materials from the soil, materials which
serve to feed the crop and become a part of it, and which, by
continually taking off harvest after harvest, become diminished
in quantity, so that after a certain time there is not enough
left in the soil to produce a fair crop, or else it means that the
materials which may still exist in the soil no longer occur in
that condition in which the crop can make use of them. We
may have a soil containing potash in large quantities, many
hundred pounds, or tons even, in an acre, taken to the depth
of two or three feet ; but if this potash exist there exclusively
as an ingredient of some mineral which is acted upon so slowly
by the natural process of solutitDU that there is no available
potash, as we say, nothing which the crop can get hold of, such
a soil would be unproductive. Again, we may have a soil
which contains but a thousandth part as much potash, but
which is fertile from the simple fact that the alkali occurs
there in sucli a state as to become available as rapidly as the
crop requires it.

To cure exhaustion, we must either restore the nutritive
matters which have been removed from the soil, or we must
change the state of those which still exist there so that they
may become available.

Chemical science has established the fact that every crop
requires a variety of materials to support it. I have here a
number of printed sheets, containing a table of the average
quantities of the chief ingredients of our ordinary cultivated
crops, of which I would like every gentleman present to have
a copy.

78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Average Quantify of Water, yUrogen, total Ash and Ash-ele-
ments in 1000 Ihs. of fresh or Air-dry Vegetable Matter.

By Prof. Wolff, of the Agricultural Academ7, at Hoheuheiin.

Phos- Sul-
Wa- Nitro- Total Pot- Mag- phoric pliu-

ter. gen. Ash. ash. Soda, nesia. Lime, aeitl. lie

acid.

Wheat, gram, . . .1-13 20.8 17.1 5.5 0.6 2.2 0.6 8.2 0.4

" straw, ... 141 3.2 42.6 4.9 1.2 1.1 2.7 2.3 1.2

Rye, grain, . . .149 17.6 17.3 5.4 0.3 1.9 0.5 8.2 0.4

" straw, ... 154 2.4 40.7 7.6 1.8 1.3 3.1 1.9 0.8

Oats, grain, . . .140 19.2 26.4 4.2 1.0 1.8 1.0 5.5 0.4

" straw, . • • 141 4.0 44.0 9.7 2.3 1.8 3.6 1.8 1.5

Barley, grain, . . 145 15.2 21.8 4.8 0.6 1.8 0.5 7.2 0.5

" straw, ... 140 4.8 43.9 9.3 2.0 1.1 3.3 1.9 1.6

Indian corn, grain, . . 136 16.0 12.3 3.3 0.2 1.8 0.3 5-5 0.1

" " stalks and leaves, 140 4.8 41.9 8.9 1.2 2.6 3.8 3.8 2.5

lUickwheat, gi-ain, . . 141 14.4 9.2 2.1 0.6 1.2 0.3 4.4 0.2

" straw, . . 160 13.0 51.7 24.1 1.1 1.9 9.5 6.1 2.7

Meadow hay, ... 144 13.1 66.6 17.1 4.7 3.3 7.7 4.1 3.4

Red Clover "hav, . . .160 21.3 56.6 19.5 0.9 6.9 19.2 5.6 1.7

Thnothv grass, . . 700 5.4 21.0 6.1 0.6 0.8 2.0 2.3 0.8

ilaize fodder, jjreen, . . 862 3.2 8.2 2.9 0.1 1.1 1.2 0.7 0.3

Red Clover, s;reen, . . 800 5.3 13.4 4.6 0.2 1.6 4.6 1.3 0.4

Potatoes, tubers, . . 750 3.2 9.4 5.6 0.1 0.4 0.2 1.8 0.6

" tops, . . 770 4.9 11.8 0.7 0.1 2.7 5.5 0.6 0.6

Tuniips, roots, . . .909 1.8 7.5 3.0 0.8 0.3 0.8 1.0 1.1

" tops, . . 898 3.0 14.0 3.2 1.0 0.6 4.5 1.3 1.4

Carrots, roots, . . .860 2.1 8.8 3.2 1.9 0.5 0.9 1.1 0.6

" tops, ... 808 6.1 26.1 3.7 6.0 1.2 8.6 2.1 1.5

Hops, entire plant, . . 250 ' 74.0 19.4 2.8 4.3 11.8 9.0 3.8

Hops, the cones, . . 120 69.8 22.3 1.3 2.1 10.1 9.0 1.6

Tob.acco, . . . .180 46.0 197.5 54.1 7.3 20.7 73.1 7.1 7.7

Stable manure, . • 750 5.3 69.1 6.8 1.5 1.7 6.8 3.2 2.8

Dungheap 1 quor, . . 982 1.5 10.7 4.9 1.0 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.7

Fffices, fresh, . . 772 10.0 29.9 2.6 1.6 3.6 6.2 10.9 0.8

Urine, human, fresh, . . 953 6.0 13.5 2.0 4.6 0.2 0.2 1.7 0.1

Nis:htsoil,fiBces& urine, fresh, 935 7.0 14.0 2.1 3.8 0.6 0.9 2.6 0.4

I'.oue dust, ... 50 40 608 7 313 257

Nitrate soda, ... 20 150 980 336 11 11

Sulphate ammonia, . . 60 200 950 550

Fish guano, . . 76 78 219 76 72

Grounrl kelp, ... 98 12 211 22 44 12 11 3 68 .

To give an illustration with one of the substances which is
absolutely essential for vegetable growth, I will take sulphuric
acid, the proportions of which in 1000 lbs. of our ordinary
crops are given in the last column of this table. Sulphuric
acid, in the form of some sulphate, must be present in the
soil. If we should remove all the sulphates from a given soil,
it would be totally impossible to grow any crop or any plant
there unless the sulphates were replaced. That is one of the
first principles of agricultural science, which applies equally
to all of the ingredients stated in the table, with the possible

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. 79

exception of soda, as has been established bj^ such an amount
of experimental evidence, that there can remain no doubt of
it whatever. Sulphuric acid, or the sulphates, as thej are
found in nature, are very liable to be removed from the soil.
The sulphate of lime is the form in which sulphuric acid
chiefly occurs in land. This dissolves in about five hundred
times its weight of water ; and where the soil is so situated
that heavy rains fall upon it, leach through and go out of it
again, the sulphuric acid is rapidly washed away. Almost
everywhere, except in the poorest soil, you find the water a
little hard, when you use it with soap. This hardness is due
to the presence of lime, and in most cases you find the water
contains a little sulphate of lime, which is the same as plaster
of Paris. This continually dissolves from the soil and passes
into the springs and rivers. If the soil is not porous, but of
such a nature that it can hold the rain which falls upon it to
a large extent, the case is different, and the loss is not so
rapid as from soil where the water runs freely through ; but
we have in this way a constant loss of sulphuric acid from the
soil.

Unless there is an unfailing supply of sulphates in the soil
itself, furnished, for example, by the chemical alteration of
some other sulphur compound, as iron pyrites, there will in
time come to be a deficiency of sulphuric acid from this wash-
ing process alone, and although this element of crops is the
least prominent of them all in respect to quantity it is likely
to be soonest exhausted. The moment when the available
sulphates in the soil become less than is required for a full
crop, it will be impossible to realize such a crop without
making good the deficiency.

The soil in a given case may be unfertile, may become ex-
hausted, simply because this one ingredient is removed by the
processes of washing and cropping. Lime and soda are also
washed out from the land, slowly to be sure, but continually,
and in quantities whose aggregate is very large. There are
other elements, like phosphoric acid, which we do not lose by
washing to any appreciable amount. You do not commonly
find this substance in the water of wells or springs, except in

80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the minutest quantities. It is very rare to detect it in waters,
except those which have passed through a very heavily ma-
nured soil, or unless it is otherwise especially abundant. Pot-
ash, for another example, rarely wastes from the soil, unless
it is from light, coarse, sandy land, having but little fine ma-
terial in its tilth.

If the substances which feed the crop, one or all, have be-
come reduced in quantity or are not in proper condition as to
solubility, we may remedy the exhaustion either by applying
the materials in the form of some fertilizer which contains
them, or we may omit that, and rely upon those processes
by which the original rocks of the earth's surface have been
converted into nutritive soil ; the processes by which those
substances, once totally unavailable for crops, have been made
available. We can wait the operation of the natural agencies
which are involved in what we call " weathering;" the action
of water, and of the carbonic acid and oxygen in the air.
When we leave land in fallow — a thing which is practiced
much less now than formerly — these processes go on in the
soil, and prepare a quantity of plant-food for the crop of an-
other year. This " weathering" process is in constant pro-
gress and is of great importance in supplying the materials
which our crops demand. If that process should be sus-
pended, farming would become a very difficult business. That
certain fields will produce crops of the same kind for years
and years without any fertilizing adiition whatever, is due to
the fact, that as fast as the crop requires and removes the
materials given in our table they are supplied by the soil itself;
they exist in the soil, were originally stored up there, and
they are made soluble day by day, as the crop may need. The
rate at which this weathering process goes on determines,
other things being equal, the natural yield in a given case.
By active tillage, throwing up the soil, so that it is exposed
more fully to the air, and by drainage, if this be necessary to
ensure access of the atmosphere, this process can be hastened.
Most saline fertilizers, such as common salt, nitrate of soda,
superphosphate of lime, and plaster of Paris, also act in a
similar way to dissolve the elements of the soil, and thus pre-

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. 81

pare them for the crop ; so that, although these fertilizers may
in some cases do nothing towards feeding the crop directly,
they help to feed it by this indirect action in dissolving and
bringing into an active form the materials which the soil con-
tains in abundant quantity but in an inert state.

To go back and review, in a couple of statements : Ex-
haustion is tlie reduction of the producing capacity of the soil
below the point of profitable cultivation, and depends either
upon the absolute removal of certain materials, or their re-
moval to such a point that the supply is below the demand of
the crop, and such removal of materials must be compensated
either by suitable fertilizing applications or by making the
unavailable materials still present in the soil available by
fallow, tillage, «fec.

Mr. Lawes, of England, a gentleman who has devoted a
great deal of attention to agriculture, and spent a great deal
of money in its study, and who has arranged the most beauti-
ful and elaborate field experiments that have ever been made
in any country, has brought out in a recent publication the
distinction between the "natural strength" of the soil and
what he designates its " condition ;" and as this distinction is
an extremely important one, I will devote a few moments to
its consideration. The natural strength of a soil is its feeding
power and adaptedness to crops in all those respects which
belong to the soir by its original nature. This standard fer-
tility or productive power is something characteristic of the
soil, something you cannot separate from it, something be-
longing to its entire mass and dependent upon its original
composition, texture, and properties. It is a thing which lasts
a long time, and perhaps has scarcely any limit in the matter
of duration, whatever may be its limit in the quantity of crop
which the soil will produce. Every soil has its natural
strength, greater or less, the degrees covering a very wide
range. You have all heard of soils which are remarkable for
their productiveness, or for their want of productiveness. The
valley of the Nile, for instance, is a region which has been
cultivated for a period longer than history can define with any
accuracy, and produces large crops annually of the most ex-
6

82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

liausting kinds. "Wheat and similar grains are grown there
continuously, year after year, without any attention, except
digging in the seed, watering, and taking the crop off. We
find in Hungary and Southern Russia large tracts of country
where, every other year, or every third year, large wheat
crops are harvested. The land is cleared, the seed put in, and
after the crop is gathered the land is allowed to rest one or
two years, then another crop is put in, and so on. This pro-
cess has been going on for centuries. Black l::^a wheat is
famous all over the world. The export of wheat from those
southern districts is immense. Until our western country
came into bearing, that was the chief source of the wheat-
supply to continental Europe.

We have in our Genesee region, in central New York, a
country where the soil is of remarkable natural fertility, and,
after the first few years of cultivation, the farmers fell into a
routine which enables them to take off wheat crops every
third year, right along, with great uniformity. The uniformity
is great, at least so far as it depends upon the feeding power
of the soil. Accidents, like the rust, the midge, or something
of that sort may come in and destroy their crops occasionally,
but tlie feeding power of those soils remains, as a certain
quantity, and will probably so continue for a great length of
time.

The most interesting case which I can bring up in illustra-
tion of the natural strength of soil is furnished by the English
gentleman to whom I have referred, Mr. Lawes. In April,
1870, he wrote, in respect to a field on his estate, a paragraph
as follows :

" The same heavy loam, of no extraordinary fertility, has
yielded an average annual produce, without any manure at
all, of 16 bushels of wheat for twenty-six years ; 20 bushels
of barley for eighteen years, and nearly 24 hundred weight
(long hundred weight) of hay for fourteen years."

Mr. Lawes began, in 1844, to see what would be the effect
of putting a given plot of land into the same crop year after
year, with no manure whatever ; and the result is what I have
just stated. These averages which he gives are, with one or

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. 83

two exceptions, the regular yield, within two or three bushels,
of this piece of land. A field, for example, which had been,
this last summer, twenty-eight years in continuous cultivation
under wlieat, has averaged about 16 bushels ; on one occasion,
it went up to 23, and on one occasion it dropped down to five.
These variations were due to the season, but otherwise the
yield ranged between 12 to 17 bushels, so tliat this pro-
ductive power of IG busliels may be considered as the capa-
city of that soil in respect to the wheat crop. I do not see
any reason why he and his successors should not go on for a
hundred years and get the same amount of wheat, within
about the same limits. Perhaps it would fall off somewhat.
There is a little falling off in the last half of the period just
completed. The yield is perhaps a bushel less than during
the first half; but that may be accidental, and due to the
character of the seasons. Tiicre is no reason in my mind why,
for the next twenty-five years, the yield should not be a
bushel or two more ; but we have not lived those other twenty-
five years, and we cannot tell positively.

The worst soil we can point out has a certain natural capa-
city. Take our rocky hill ranges in this State : if we sliould
give a little care to them, we could harvest every twenty-five
or thirty years, a certain crop of wood from them ; and if we
should begin that culture now, and carry it on for a hundred
years, we should get the same crop the last thirty years that
we did the first thirty. If we carried it on for a thousand years,
the climate and circumstances generally, remaining as they
are, we could depend upon getting from them three uniform
wood crops every century. So in tlie poorest pasture, we have
a certain natural productiveness, which remains the same, so
long as the state of the soil is unaltered. The field may be-
come a swamp, or its natural water-supply may be dried up
by local changes, but independently of accidents like these, it
will manifest a certain nearly uniform natural strength from
generation to generation. All production of vegetable matter
in the soil, of any kind, is the result of change — the result
of chemical and physical change. Natural strength depends
upon changes in the soil which act in a nearly invariable

84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

manner for long periods of time. The "Tooth of Time," is
an expression belonging indeed to figurative literature, but one
also fully justified by fact. It is a tooth whose action never
ceases and wliose sharpness is never blunted. The grand
rock-ridges and peaks which make the mountains of the globe,
although they have held their crests aloft in flinty defiance
through all the periods of human history or tradition, are
slowly wasting under its incessant bite, and the explorer in
the high Alps hears from hour to hour the thunder-like noise
with which huge blocks of granite, loosened from the moutain-
tops, crash downwards. At the base of any high cliff you may
see a lalus of sharp-angled stones reaching half up the breast
of rock, unless some rapid stream of water or slow-pushing
glacier is there to carry them away. Our level fields are or
have been covered with lumps of rock, and our soil is full of
them, but these are not sharp edged as if just struck off by
a hammer-blow, but they are rounded in all their outlines ;
the " Tooth of Time" has not ceased to eat away at every
angle and corner of these tempting morsels as the teeth of
children gnaw at sugar plums. Nor does the work stop here.
As they lie out on the pasture or buried in the plow-land, the
same invisible tooth nibbles at every point of their surface,
roughening and corroding them until they are reduced to
dust. Even the sand-grains are ever cut smaller and finer
until they dissolve away from our sense of sight or feel, and
the long imprisoned potash and lime, the phosphates and the
sulphates, are released.

It is the " Tooth of Time" which thus levels mountains and
crushes boulders into soil, and it is the same tooth whose in-
cisive workings in the soil reduce the elements of the rocks
to the impalpable state of food for the plant. Where circum-
■stances remain the same, these changes prepare the nutriment
for plants at a certain regular rate, and the natural strength
of the soil is simply the expression of this steady development
of plant-food and the corresponding production of vegetable
matter.

To turn now to what Mr. Lawes calls the "condition" of
ithe soil. Farmers are in the habit of saying, " This land is

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. 85

in poor condition" — or, "This is good soil, but it is rather
run down ; it is in poor condition at present." Or, looking
over the fields of a neighbor, who has taken a little extra
pains, " This is poor land, but he has got it up into good con-
dition." " Condition," then, is artificial or accumulated
strength ; a thing we cannot depend upon, except as we can
depend upon the continuance of the artifice or temporary
causes of which it is a result. " Condition " refers to those
elements of fertility which are oapable of being turned to ac-
count in the growth of crops within a limited time. We may
have a " condition," which is the result of natural causes, as
is illustrated by the manner in which Indian corn is grown in
some parts of South America, on land newly cleared from the
forest. You know that in tropical latitudes, the year is usu-
ally divided into two seasons — the wet and the dry. During
the former, abundant rains fall and vegetation grows with
wonderful luxuriance. The other half of the year is com-
paratively dry, and plant-life is inactive. At the close of the
rainy season, the planters chop down the timber, the brush,
and everything that grows upon the land where they propose
to get a crop. When the fallen vegetation is sufficiently dry,
they set it on fire, and everything burns completely except the
largest trees. When the fire has gone out, toward the beginning
of the next rainy season, they have a field destitute of vegetation
and coated with the ashes of the forest. There, with the small-
est preparation, they plant their corn in the ashes, dropping it
in where they can, and get a magnificent crop. Tlie second
year, they put on corn again and get another large crop. The
third year they get another crop, and after that, it is cheaper
to abandon that field, and to clear another. The first piece
grows up to forest, and in six, eight, or ten years, perhaps,
they can burn it over again. Here, the fertility of the soil
after burning is a " condition" which is produced partly by
natural means, the growth of the forest, which brings up
matters from below, and partly by artificial means, the felling
and burning of the forests, restoring those matters to the
surface.

" Natural strength" is something which is comparatively

86 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

Unaffected by cropping. Where the soil has great natural
strength, you cannot permanently exhaust it ; you may get it
down to a point where production is unremunerative, you
may say your land, once good, is " exhausted," but a skillful
farmer will take hold of it, and by the use of some judiciously
selected fertilizer, and the application of well-directed labor,'
he will bring up this exhausted soil in a short time, and make
a profitable farm of it. It only needs a little " condition" to
reestablish its good name. '•' Condition" itself, however, is a
thing which is easily run through with. You may take a
poor, light soil, and make it productive by the application of
manure and by careful tillage, but if you stop there, and un-
dertake to work on that capital, you will find that it deterio-
rates rapidly. You will have to come down to the natural
strength, and if that be small, your crops will correspond.

To illustrate further what "condition" means, take the
case of those fields of Mr. Lawes, the natural strength of
which was measured by a yield of 16 bushels of wheat, or 20
bushels of barley, or 2600 lbs. of hay, through a number
of years. He took a portion of that land and put on it annu-
ally, fourteen tons of yard manure, to the acre, and during
the nineteen years in which he carried on that process simply,
he got 36 bushels of wheat per acre, as the average, some
years a little more and some years a little less, and one or two
years a good deal less than this quantity, on account of
some peculiarity in the season. On another field of the same
land, where he put four hundred pounds of ammonia-salts —
sulphate of ammonia, I believe, mainly — he also raised annu-
ally, SB bushels of grain. On another field, where he applied
fourteen tons of stable dung, he got 48 bushels of barley, on
the average, for nineteen years. The annual use of stable
manure in this quantity, and the annual addition of a certain
number of pounds of salts of ammonia, raised the crop of
wheat from 16 bushels to 36 bushels, and kept it steadily at
that point for nineteen years ; so that the difference between
16 and 36 bushels, that is, 20 bushels, was the crop v. Inch was
produced from that field by the use of fourteen tons of stable
manure in one case, and four hundred pounds of salts of am-

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. 87

monia in another. It was the stable manure and ammonia
salts in those quantities which improved the "condition" of
the land by the equivalent of 20 bushels of wheat.

We understand, then, that there is a natural quality in the
soil which we cannot easily bring below a certain limit ; and
there is a " condition," an artificial, temporary or adventitious
fertility, which we can easily increase and easily exhaust.

•There are many circumstances which necessitate or justify
a Rotation of Crops. I will not attempt to enumerate tliem
all. Differences of soil and climate, the quantity of fertilizers
accessible, the demand in the markets, ease of transportation,
politicians, when they make fluctuating tariffs, weeds which
come to infest the fields, insects even, may make it advisable
to alternate our crops. It m?y not be uninstructive to go
back in history and give a sketch of the gradual development
of the practice of Rotation.

The earliest husbandry was simply pasturage. When the
people of temperate climates found they could not support
themselves by killing wild animals and gathering fruits, the
natural produce of the country, they began to tame animals
and keep herds of cattle, sheep, etc. ; and you know that on
the vast plains of Asia and South America, this sort of pasto-
ral husbandry is still the only one known. As population be-
came more dense and land more valuable, people crowded
each other, and there was not room enough to roam about at
will and settle upon pasture wherever it could be found, un-
less, for a change, the people fell to fighting, and partially
killed each other off, thus leaving land enough for the sur-
vivors. When civilization began, it became necessary to
cultivate forage crops, or, at least, to take some care of the
natural meadows. The next step was to assist these natural
resources by growing some grain, and people began to break
up a little land, and cultivate wheat and the various grain
crops ; afterwards, attention was given to root crops. It may
not be possible now to show how these steps of progress have
taken place in any given locality ; but this is a general history
of the development of husbandry all over the world, wherever
it has attained any perfection. Farmers have always carried

88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

0.1 their operations in a rery simple way, at first, for many
generations. On the continent of Europe, where we have the
most authentic accounts, they plowed a small portion of land,
and grew some grain upon it — barley, wheat, or rye — putting in
the same crop as long as they could make it grow and get back
a little more than the seed. They were content with much
poorer crops than we regard profitable. Tliey used the same
land for several years, until its " condition " was gone, or until
it was no longer remunerative, and then they left it and plowed
up another piece. The old field would grow up to grass, and
after a number of years they would come round to it again
and sow it to grain. That was the earliest and simplest plan
of conducting farming. In those days, there was but little
skill or thought bestowed upon agriculture. The intelligence
of the world was mainly given to government, war, and things
of that sort. The peasant was a man who knew nothing ex-
cept to grub the ground, and he did it year after year, genera-
tion after generation, as his father had done it before him,
with little idea of change or improvement. In the neighbor-
hood of cities, where there was better pay for this kind of
work, and more intelligence concentrated upon it, of course
it began to be found that a little rotation was a good thing.
Where rotation started, we do not know. In some books it
is stated that it was invented in England. But if you will
read Virgil and Varro, you will find that the Romans were
well acquainted with rotation, although Virgil, who was a
poet, only mentions it in an incidental way. Leaving the re-
sults of modern science out of the account, there is not much
in our agricultural practice that you will not find described in
Latin books. Those people, who developed a magnificsnt
civilization which they forced upon the unwilling savages of
Britain and tlie north of Europe, who were our ancestors, did
a great deal of good work in the way of agriculture, consid-
ering the facilities at their command.

After a time, there came into use in Europe a system
which was practised there extensively in the ninth century,
and is still followed in some parts of the continent. It was
known as the tliree-course system of rotation. For centuries

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND EOTATION IN CROPS. 89

this system was carried on where the farmer had large pastur-
age, and little plow-land. The first year, the plow-land was
left in fallow, but in tlie autumn was prepared, by what
manure and rough tillage could be given it, for a sowing of
winter grain, mostly rye, which occupied the second year.
The third year the ground was put in summer grain which
completed the shift. Then the farmer began again, with a
year of fallow and 'manure, a year of winter grain, a year of
summer grain ; and so he went on — three years — three years
— three years — indefinitely. I suppose there are districts in
Europe that could be pointed out where this practice has pre-
vailed for nearly a thousand years, and it was early imported
into tliis coimtry. It was the subject of legislation in the
time of Charlemagne. Some historians think that this mon-
arch decreed the adoption of the three years shift ; others
think that he merely recommended it, as an improvement on
what had been previously the custom among the less advanced
peasants, of simply using the plow for a succession of years,
without any rest for the land. In the vicinity of cities, where
the plowed land increased in proportion to the quantity of
pasture, and the supply of dung became i)i adequate to manure
it sufficiently, so that the manure and fallow together could
not make two good grain crops, forage plants — grass, clover,
or roots — were introduced into the course ; and in that way, a
great variety of rotations came into use.

In England, there has been practiced, over a considerable
part of the country, what is known as " the Norfolk rotation"
— a four years shift. You have all read of it, doubtless. The
first year, clover and mixed grass seed ; the second year,
wheat ; the tliird year, turnips or rutabagas ; the fourth year
barley ; and then the same course again, with, perhaps a httle
variation ; perhaps the land was kept two years in clover and
grass. In Dorset, Wilts, Essex, Herts, Suffolk, and Cam-
bridge, in England, ten or fifteen years ago, this course was in
almost universal use. I speak of this matter to bring up one
point. There are certain advantages in rotation which being
observed or conceived led to its adoption. But farmers, es-
pecially in long-settled countries like England, are apt, having

90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

once accustomed themselves to a routine, to adhere to it long
after its advantages cease to exist. This is illustrated by the
fact that Norfolk, which gave England the four-course system
just described, began more than thirty years ago to amend its
own improvements. The command of concentrated and arti-
ficial fertilizers which admit of easy application at any point
in a rotation, led some of the best farmers there to introduce
another grain crop — oats — into the shift, making a five years
course, and according to Caird, in his " English Agriculture,"
" on a large" farm where this system has supplanted the four
years course the average produce of all the grain crops has in-
creased in ten years between thirty and forty per cent. ; the
extent of land on this farm in wheat, having during that pe-
riod annually increased till it has now (1850-51) become
one-third greater than it was then."

In Great Britain, Germany, and other European countries,
you will find in many localities very complicated systems of
rotation. I saw the other day, in a book which I was looking
into for some statistics, a long and curions calculation, show-
ing the various materials — lime, potash, phosphoric acid, <fec.
— taken off and put on a farm, which was divided into ten
equal fields, and each of these fields, went through succes-
sively with the same ten years' rotation; which was : 1, Sum-
mer Fallow, manured. 2, Winter Coleseed. 3, Wheat and
Rye. 4, Legumes, manured. 5, Rye. 6, Potatoes. 7, Clover
and grass. 8, Clover hay. 9, Pasture till 1st July, then
summer fallow. 10, Rye and Wheat, " half manured."

It is a great advantage, in the conduct of a large estate of
four or five hundred acres, to have the whole system of crop-
ping made up beforehand, so that the men can tell just what
is to be done from year to year. Tlie management of farm
labor is simplified by this arrangement. That is one of the
reasons why such complicated rotations are adopted.

It should be well borne in mind that while there are cir-
cumstances in which rotation is extremely advantageous
there are other circumstances under which it is compara-
tively unimportant. Certain conditions make rotation neces-
sary, and others make it unnecessary. There are two kinds

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS. 91

of agriculture, which have been defined as " extensive " and
"intensive." The " extensive " is where land is cheap, and
where capital, labor and manure are scarce. There the
farmer must go over a great deal of surface, and depend
chiefly upon the natural resources of his farm, — getting out
of it what he can, " by hook or by crook." "Intensive"
agriculture is where the circumstances are such that the
farmer uses ai comparatively small quantity of land and a
large amount of capital, is able to get fertilizers in abun-
dance, and sells his crop quickly and at a good price. He
puts a great deal more into the soil and gets a great deal
more from it than his "extensive " brother. He works in a
more intense way. That is, his labor, instead of being spread
over two hundred acres, is concentrated on fifty, and he is
able to make his fifty acres more profitable than the other
farmer can make his two hundred. In " extensive " agricul-
ture we usually have a large quantity of pasture and keep a
good many cattle, for we have to depend largely on their ma-
nure. We have to sell off a large share of the crops, which
remove valuable materials from the soil, and we cannot or do
not buy fertilizers to make good the deficiency. In the other
case, the farmer can put in as many fertilizers as he chooses
to pay for. He is able to buy them, and he finds his profit in
using them. In " extensive " agriculture, which is made
necessary by circumstances, the farmer must depend largely
upon rotation ; he must bring it into successful use. As he
succeeds or fails to do this he carries on a paying or a losing
business. In "intensive" agriculture the farmer is largely
independent of this necessity ; he can rotate or not, very much
as he chooses. Rotation is not indispensable to his success.
That is, tlie advantages that come from rotation are not so
great as the other advantages which the farmer has at com-
mand by the use of plenty of money, plenty of fertilizers, by
his nearness to market, and high prices.

Now, I wish to state some of those principles which should
govern us in rotation, so far as this depends on what we may
call the chemistry of the crop and the soil. So far as the
feeding power of the soil is concerned, the special require-

92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ments of the crop should determine the rotation. Of course
there are other conditions to be taken into account in prac-
tice. Winter wheat, for example, cannot follow itself beyond
a certain length of time, even if the soil will allow, because
the land ordinarily becomes foul with weeds; and it is better
to alternate with some crop whicli will enable us to destroy
the weeds by hoeing or which will choke them out directly.
There are many conditions which influence rotation that I do
not propose to speak of, but I shall confine myself to that
part of the subject which is involved in the feeding of the
plant. The broadest principle of rotation is to alternate
grain crops with forage crops. That is-, to follow plants hav-
ing a short and rapid growth and which produce seed, by plants
of a longer period of growth which are not allowed to ripen
seed, but are harvested for their large amount of foliage.

Plants, like animals, have different ways of feeding. If
you were to undertake to keep a dairy of hyenas you would
have to provide a different food from that which you give to
cows. If you should choose the giraffe as a domestic animal
you would find that its habits of feeding are adapted to very
different circumstances from those of your common pastures.
The natural food of the giraffe is mainly the buds and twigs of
a kind of locust tree that grows in the African wilderness, and
the long fore-legs and long neck of the animal are shaped
for browsing among the fops of those trees. The different
classes of plants have peculiarities in their feeding arrange-
ments which are as marked and striking as these differences
in animals.

On comparing together the roots of our ordinary crops, we
find that when they grow under similar circumstances there
is a great difference in the depth to which they extend, a
great difference in the degree in which they branch, and a
great difference in the absolute quantity of roots. Unfortu-
nately, we have not enough really satisfactory observations on
these points to serve us in any very extended comparison, it
being rather troublesome to make accurate observations of
the roots of plants when they have once penetrated the soil.
A few brief paragraphs in my book " How Crops Grow," em-

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 93

brace pretty nearly all we know about this matter of the
growth of roots. As to depth, Schubart has made the most
satisfactory observations we possess on the roots of several
important crops growing in the field. He separated them
from the soil by the following expedient : an excavation was
made in the field to the depth of six feet, and a stream of
water was directed against the vertical wall until it was
washed away, so that the roots of the plants growing in it
were laid bare. The roots thus exposed in a field of rye, in
one of beans, and in a bed of garden peas presented the ap-
pearance of a mat or felt of white fibers to a depth of about
four feet from the surface of the ground. Roots of winter
wheat were observed as deep as seven feet in a light sub soil,
forty-seven days after sowing. The depth of tlie roots of
winter wheat, winter rye, and winter coleseed, as well as of clo-
ver, was three to four feet." Schubart further collected and
weighed the roots of wheat, rye, and peas, and ascertained
their proportion of the entire plant. Hellriegel has also pub-
lished some observations on the extent of the roots of barley
and oats.

We have a few other observations of this sort, but not'
enough to enable us to determine the comparative quantity
and depth of the roots of our cultivated plants with any accu-
racy. It will not do to draw conclusions as to the length of
roots from such observations as these, made, it would appear,
in different soils, differently treated and fertilized, because
other observations show that the development of the root de-
pends not exclusively upon any impulse which it receives
from the plant (that is, the root must not necessarily weigh so
much or measure so much), but depends also upon the nature
of the soil. Where this is rich the roots tend to remain ;
they branch and ramify through all the pores of a small bulk
of earth. Where this is poor they stretch off and are sparsely
distributed through a larger space. Where they find plenty
of food they grow and multiply upon it ; where nourishment
is lacking they seem to go in search of it. All observations
must therefore be comparative. We know, however, in a
general way, that the development of roots is different in dif-

94 BOARD OF AGRICTLTURE.

ferent classes of plants. We know that clover has a much
deeper system of roots than our ordinary grains. "We know
that where the soil is rich at the surface, and where it is
adapted naturally, by its mechanical condition, to the growth
of wheat, for example, the large proportion of wheat roots are
found within a rather narrow space. On the fertile plains
surrounding the town of Leipzig, the principal commercial city
of Saxony, situated in one of the richest agricultural regions
of Germany, I have seen the same kind of plow going back
and forth, wliich you will find pictured in the classical dic-
tionaries as used by the Romans. If you should take a
shingle five inches wide and sharpen it to a blunt point, you
would have about the shape of the plowshare I refer to.

This wooden instrument, shod with thin iron, did not turn
a furrow; it simply made a groove about four inches deep
from crest to base, stirring and mixing the soil thoroughly,
however, to that extent. This was the only l<ind of plowing
1 saw practised on these fields in 1854, and yet splendid crops
were harvested from them. The soil was doubtless naturally
of excellent texture and allowed a due penetration of the
roots. But the fact remains that with such tillage all fertiliz-
ing applications must remain near the surface, and this makes
evident that the roots of our grains need not go down to anj
very great depth. If the soil has nourishment and moisture
for them, six or eight inches of earth will answer for the sup-
port of a crop. A foot will, in a majority of cases where the
soil is of good quality, contain the bulk of the roots of the
wheat crop. They may go deeper, as Schubart observed, but
only because they must descend in order to find food or drink.
It has been shown by experiment that roots dcvelope in
poor soil in the vicinity of any enriching material ; so that
we cannot say, because Indian-corn roots have been traced for
twenty feet in a sand-bank, that it is the habit of the maize
plant to send out roots twenty feet long. The length de-
pends upon the soil rather more than upon the plant.

It is greatly to be desired that our knowledge of the relative
development of the roots of our various crops should be com-
pleted. The roots are in one sense the most important part

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS.

95

of the plant. We cannot influence a field crop, except through
the roots. We do not manure the tops, or operate upon them
in any way. All out efforts to promote growth must be di-
rected to the root, and yet we do not know with precision
what is the extent and depth of the roots of the wheat plant,
for example, as compared with the roots of any other plant.
Wc simply know that some plants have more and longer roots
than others ; that clover, for instance, is deeper rooted than
wheat.

Some important contributions to our knowledge of this
subject have been made quite recently, and I have placed
upon the blackboard some figures obtained by chemical analy-
sis of the residues of certain crops ; i. e., the stubble, and tlie
roots down to the depth often inches. At Proskau, in Prussia,
there is a Government Agricultural School, and Dr. Weiske,
one of the chemists connected with that school, a year ago last
summer, measured off certain plots of land, several yards in
dimensions, and carefully excavated the soil to the depth of
ten inches and with extreme pains dug out all the roots he
could get in that depth of soil. These he dried, weighed, and
analysed, and these figures show the average of his results,
calculated in pounds upon the surface of an acre. Unfortu-
nately, he did not state any thing about the quantity of the
crops ; but from the fact of their growing at Proskau, where
the soil has long been under cultivation, it is to be presumed
that these crops were good.

COMPOSITION OF ROOTS AND STUBBLE — Ibs. per acre.

Dry

Nitro-

Mag-

Pot-

Sul.

Phos.

Teg. mat.

gen.

nesia.

ash.

Soda

40

acid

12

acid.

24

Rye, . . .

3400

62

69

14

30

Barley, . .

1515

22

40

5

9

3

5

11

Oats, . . .

2200

25

81

12

24

17

8

28

Wheat. . .

2240

22

72

10

17

11

7

Jl

Red Clover,

6580

180

246

46

77

19

24

71

Buckwheat,

1630

45

75

7

9

4

6

10

Pea, . . .

2400

53

68

11

11

7

9

14

Lupine, .

2800

58

76

12

16

3

7

13

The first column gives the amount of vegetable matter which
was contained in the roots and stubble. We are not informed

96

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

what the height of the stubble was ; probably it was rather
short, as straw is too valuable in most parts of Prussia to be
left on the ground. These figures were obtained to throw
light on what happens under the circumstances that prevail
in the culture at Proskau. We want a similar work done to
throw light on what happens under our circumstances, and
this work should be repeated several years, so that we shall
arrive at average figures that can be fully depended upon.
Referring to the table, you have of rye stubble and roots, 3400
lbs. ; of barley, 1515 lbs. ; of oats, 2200 lbs. ; of wheat, 2240
lbs. ; of red clover, 6580 lbs. ; of buckwheat, 1630 lbs. ; of
peas, 2400 lbs. ; of lupine, 2800 lbs.

You see at once the bearing of these figures. You see that
when you have got your clover hay off the field, there remains,
within ten inches of the surface, twice as much vegetable
matter as is necessary to go into the next rye crop, and three
times as much as is necessary to go into the next wheat crop.
That helps to explain why clover is a good preparation for
these crops. Look at the column headed " Nitrogen." In
rye, we have 62 ; in wheat, 22 ; in clover, 180 lbs. Take lime.
In rye, 69 ; in clover, 246 ; and so on. What I want to show
mainly by this table is expressed in the first column of figures
— the amount of vegetable matter remaining in the roots.

Here we have another set of figures which refer somewhat
in detail to two of our standard crops — Rye and Clover.

Rye, before heading,
" headed,
" in bloom,
" ripe.
Clover, before bud,
" in bud,
" in blossom,
" ripe,

Roots.

Top.

Koots.

Ratio of

av. length.

6 inches.

weight.

50

weight.

30

Root to Top.

10: 17

8 "

106

23

10: 45

8 "

143

24

10: 59

8 *'

253

19

10: 136

18 "

56

35

10: 16

16 "

94

50

10: 19

14| "

106

45

10: 23

15 "

147

99

10: 15

In this experiment, due to Heiden, a mass of soil, one foot
wide, five feet long, and four feet in depth, was enclosed in
boards, then lifted out and the roots removed by careful pick-.

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPS, 97

ing and washing. The average length of the roots was noted,
and the total weight of roots and tops ascertained. Tliis was
done, as the table shows, at several different periods of growth.
You see from the second column that the roots of rye at
the time of heading had an average length of eight inches,
and did not gain anything beyond that. In the clover, at the
time of budding, their length was eighteen inches ; in bud,
sixteen inches. That looks like going back ; but you must
remember that the roots measTired in the one case were not
the same roots as those measured in the other, but were from
another plot of ground. In blossom, they were fourteen and
one-half inches; when ripe, fifteen inches. The grand result
is simply this : that wherever rye roots were eight inches,
clover roots were twice that length ; and this in soils which I
suppose were quite similar in character. That is a piece of
Information of great value.

Mr. Lyman. I have heard old men express the opinion
that the principal benefit of clover arose from the large
amount of root which is left in the ground, even after it is
plowed under. I suppose that to be the fact.
Phof. Johnson. Undoubtedly so.

Mr. Lyman. If we grow a plant which has a very small
joot, of course the vegetable matter to supply the succeeding
crop is comparatively small.

Prop. Johnson. I have hoard old farmers, and young ones
too, say that they would give more for that part of the clover
crop below ground than for the part above ground. You
have here an accurate setting forth of the proportions. Look
at the figures which represent the weight of the top and of the
roots. You see there is a rapid increase in the amount of
top in the rye plant — from fifty up to two hundred and fifty ;
but you observe that the absolute amount of roots diminisiies.
Whether that is due to any actual decay of the root, or
whether to the fact that each result came from a different
plot of ground, or because of different care in extricating the
roots from the soil, we have no information. It may be due
to the fact that there was less development of root in one
place than in another.
7

98 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Question. Might it not be owing to an absorption of the
root into the top ?

Prop. Johnson. It may be. I had supposed that old roots
would have the greater absolute weight. If these figures
are correct, they are interpreted by your suggestion, which is
supported by some observations that have been made regard-
ing the mode of growth of the underground organs.

In the next column of figures we have the ratio of root to
top. Tlie root is taken as a fixed quantity, ten. In the case
of rye we have, in the first place, 10:17 ; then 10:45, 10:59,
10:186. In the case of clover, 10:16, 10:19, 10:23, and
lastly 10:15, which may be an error of observation.

Here you have another capital fact brought out — the
greater relative quantity of roots in the ripe clover plant.
You have half as much roots as top, in the clover plant,
whereas you have almost fourteen times as much top as roots
in the ripe rye plant. These plants, then, are very different
in the way in which they act upon the soil, and therefore in
the way in which they leave the soil. When you reap rye close
to the ground you take away one hundred and thirty-six out of
one hundred and forty six pounds, and tlms leave very little in
the soil. When you cut clover you may leave half as much in
the ground as you take off. That is a point of great impor-.
tance in considering their relative bearing upon the question
of exha:ustion, and shows that you may expect a very dif-
erent result from leaving clover roots and clover stubble in
the soil than from the roots and stubble of rye.

Mr. Lyman. If we cut the rye low we take very nearly
tlie whole of the plant off from the land, and it requires five
times as much put back to bring the rye field up to an equal-
ity with the clover field, as it stands cut, with the roots in the
ground. Therefore we cannot look for a crop that would be
equal to what clover would bring us unless we restore this
ratio.

Prof. Johnson. You are right.

Mr. Lyman. What is the difference if we plow the two
crops under ?

Prof. Johnson. The total weight of your rye crop is 272 ;

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION IN CROPvS. 99

the total weight of clover is 246 ; so that in this case tlie clo-
ver has a soiueuiiat less absolute mass of vegetable matter.

Question. There are two or three other important ques-
tions. We want to know if the plants take from the soil a
certain amount of manurial constituents or saline matter?

Prof, .Johnson, They do, of course. That is one of tlie
first principles of agriculture.

Question. Do these roots left in the soil create any thing?

Prof. Johnson. Nothing whatever.

Question. Then they take from the soil manures to grow
them, the same as what you take otf ?

Prof. Johnson. Certainly. They take manures or equiva-
lent nutritive matters.

Question. It took all tliese manurial matters to make this
crop, and if you carry it off you carry off those manurial
matters ; whatever you leave restores what it took to make it,
and no more ?

Prof. Johnson. Yes.

Mr. Gould. Ought it not to be said that in its previous
condition the manurial matter was in an insoluble condition,
not adapted to the plant ; whereas, what you leave is in a
soluble condition, and assimilable ?

Prof. Johnson. During the growth of a crop, plant-food
in the soil does pass from an insoluble into a soluble form,
and being taken up by the crop remains in that part of the
crop left in tb.e field in a state adapted for immediate use.
The deep-rooted clover also, in this case, brings up, from
an average depth of sixteen inches, matter which remains
in part within the range of shorter-rooted grain crops.

Adjourned to two o'clock.

100 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

Afternoon Session.

Wheat and Rye.

The afternoon session was opened by a paper on the cul-
ture of rje, by James B. Olcott, of Buckland, which was
read by Mr. Gold.

CULTURE OF RYE.

JAMES B. OLCOTT.

The old saying was that " any land that'll grow big mulleins
will fetch a good crop of rye." This came to be used after
our plain-lands had been strif)ped of their wood to supply
glass works now almost forgotten, and when well-worn sandy
fields were already common. The plow for rye was driven at
its liveliest speed, perhaps, in our town, a full generation
since, before the increase of manufactures, while every farm-
house was packed with full-fledged children, like a nest of
grass-quails just ready to take wing ; while our uncles and
aunts were being pinched off westward by the sterility of the
land, or while the dull boy of the family was making desper-
ate efforts to portion the bright ones ofif for college and keep
the old homestead intact by growing this grain at fifty cents
per bushel to the distiller. A proper credit where credit is
due, would mete to the "dull boys" of those times, who fed
the fires of the family altar while their more mercurial bro-
thers and sisters went errant over the world, with a fuller
measure of honor than has been customary. Their attention
to little things and small savings, imperative in their circum-
stances, has incurred the contempt of the superficial and
thoughtless observer. Yet a just consideration of the self-
denial and the long lives of patient, cheerful, lowly labor of
many a close-calculating rye-grower of the past generation
will show that he helped mightily to make solid the founda-
tions of our national wealth, and instead of being stingy and

CULTURE OF RYE. 101

mean, has really borne himself towards what seemed his
nearest duty, with a faithfulness truly heroic. The oak and
the rose are alike dependent upon the broad base of roots
that continually and contentedly draw sustenance from the
soil ; and the florid and umbrageous superstructures of our
modern society found the germs of tlieir growth in the elab-
orated sap of the earth, gathered in driblets and savings by
many a so-called "skin-flint" rye-grower.

A spurt of well-doing for the hour has its reward in the
hour's applause, but the fight with the unending difficulty of
shaping gracefully and graciously the ends of a life upon a
sterile New England farm, during the major part of the past
seventy-five years, was of the long-winded sort of human ef-
forts and struggles tliat will never cease to give inspiring
themes to the true poet. For the fact is, we gave our smart
est boys and girls to the fat lands of the west, and for years
have l)een competing with them in grain-growing with such
disadvantages. Our prices, from fields faint with exhaustion,
have been struck level as our railways, with the produce of a
virgin soil. Looking for the bottom cause of things, it is
clear that but for our rye bread — but for the peculiar virtue,
as bon,e, and brain, and muscle-producing food of the staunch-
est sort, resident in the brown skin of our rye kernels — we
could not have held our own in the unequal struggle !

The production of this grain in our town at present, (Man-
chester,) is not large, as may be understood when I mention
that we have no public grist mill within its borders, and but
a single run of provender stones in private hands. Our eyes
are fixed upon the manufacture of other things than flour, meal
and feed. We buy our breadstuffs, or make occasional trips to
other and less sophisticated towns, with our single bag of rye,
or corn, or buckwheat. It is scarcely worth while for me to
do more tlian respectfully refer to the questions of Mr. Secre-
tary with regard to our present methods of cultivation, acre-
age and maximum, and average production. We sow rye
enough so that children who walk two miles to school still
know this cereal by sight. We raise, in town, perhaps
nearly as much as we use for bread, for we have come to use

102 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

but little of it, and that little is consumed chiefly by our most
conservative aud old-fashioned people. Yet there seems to
be a revival of interest iu this grain as humau food. The
prejudice against its honest drab color is being somewhat
abated. Obscure diseases of the nervous system are quite
prevalent, and it comes to be remembered that in the times
when bread was browner and rye was a staple raw material
for it, that very few people were aware they had any nerves.
I've seen a "nervous sufferer" of our town, "worth a hun-
dred thousand dollars," so disgusted with medicine, and fear-
ful of " refined," medicated, stale an ! musty breadstuffs, as to
fling them all aside and fall back upon the simple brown rye
in the berry, wliich he grinds in his own coffee-mill and cooks
in his own porridge-pot, to the rapid building up and rejuve-
nation of his physical powers. And it is this altogether hu-
man view of the rye interest wliich inclines me to select it for
tlie subject of this communication. Not because we produce
much of it or use mucli, but because there is a growing be-
lief among shrewd people that we ought to do both a deal
more than we do. Tiiat we ought to grow it ourselves just
for the sake of having it clean and sweet, and close at hand.
Wheat suffers l)adly in coming to our market, through vermin
and musty sweats in stacks and elevators. It is high time
we began to raise our own. We could do it as cheaply as we
can buy it, except that we are somewhat out of that line of
business and have forgotten how. But the readiest way for
us to strengthen the wheat crop is to vary our " staff of life "
by using bread from rye occasionally — a grain that we still
liavc the seed of, and which, like the people who live upon it,
is the hardiest of its species, defying insects, sterility and cli-
matic rigors. The appetizing difference between wheat and
rye is a continual source of gastronomic satisfaction of pre-
cisely that sort necessary to health — well understood by the
lover of both grains, who delights to turn from bread of one
kind to bread of the other cereal at frequent intervals through
the year. I hear of inexperienced hands getting embarrass-
ingly stuck in the gluten of rye during their first experiments.
To beginners in making fine rye bread, I can commend with

CULTURE OF RYE. 103

confidence an admixture of twenty-five per cent, of wheat
meal or bran. For that vulgar despite of the natural color
of rye which we find, sometimes, in kitchen help and some-
times in kitchen mistresses, I know of no remedy but a radi-
cal change of heart, being brought, by greater access of
knowledge, to estimate values, not according to appearances,
but according to intrinsic worth. No chemical analysis that I
have seen accounts fully for that peculiar relish, craving, hun-
ger, requiring for its satisfaction a change of bread, so often
experienced by hard-working adults. People who have been
sufficiently well-bred — or well-breaded — have a store of the
different breadstuffs in the house, and with two or three kinds
constantly upon the table, or baking now from their stock of
wheat or rye — coarse and fine — or corn, barley or oats, have
no necessity for philosophizing in the matter, being so vari-
ously supplied as never to feel the hankerings from which
tlieir less provident and thoughtful neighbors ignorantly suf-
fer. The people most likely to injure themselves unwittingly
by abstaining from rye are those who owe their solid muscles,
firm nerves and strength of stomach to having used it, or the
other kindred cooling grains — oats and barley — in their
youth ; or through being descended from parents fed upon
them. Such people are apt to turn to the finest wheat bread
as nicer and more delicate and palatable — as by the fruit of
their exertions and the abundance of the land, they come
into easy circumstances — looking back upon coarse or brown
bread as not a whit more necessary or useful than coarse
clothing. The young Russian who has recently been visiting
us, might travel across these States again and again without
seeing any but the merest starchy wher.t bread — divested of
the vital parts of the grain — the brain, bone and muscle-sup-
porting pliosphates. Perhaps he did that, and so suffered
from constipation and indigestion — unless in bread, as in bed-
steads, he had sensible notions of his own that led him to
reject the "fuss and featliers " that were prepared for him,
and order brown biscuits from his own ship as he ordered up
his simple hammock. If the home diet of this vigorous
young man were made public, I'll warrant it would be found

104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that lie got the lull proportion of bran to his bread and but-
ter ; for however independent or oven reckless a republican
citizen may be in the matter of diet, it stands your royal
family in hand to nurture the su]iply of muscles of the lusti-
est peasantry, or their royalty would soon come to an end.

That there is a fine, lively spirit in rye is an old idea that
our forefathers were too full of, and the quack medicine vend-
ers have not forgotten. It remains for this generation to
prove that this spirit is best, every way, when extracted by
the natural processes of digestion. It is not necessary to stim-
ulate the growth of this grain because of any real scarcity.
How many thousand bushels of it we are worse than wasting,
the distillers know very well. And this sin of misuse is one
of those which has been well designated as unpardonable. Its
punishment has no atonement, cannot be avoided, and will
mainly assist in bringing us to repentance. There are not,
I hope, many old women left in the land now, who will con-
fess that they could " never bear rye as bread, but who can
manage to worry dowm a little of it when made into whiskey."

That was a proud day when I was first set to plow for i-ye.
The " system" pursued on my father's farm in my boyhood is
not altogether in disuse yet, and may be worth describing. It
might fairly be called a "' four-course system." There were
four old fields, of from sixteen to twenty-five acres each — all
of which were liable to be seeded with pines, birches, or
moss — and one of which was plowed annually, in rotation, for
rye. The others atlorded sparse forage for a hundred sheep,
or so. Such a thing as applying manure to the land, or
grass-seed, was no more thought of than of scattering such
things upon the mill-pond in winter. Of course fertility was
at a low ebb, except under the shade of the great oaks that
attested the former strength of the soil, and upon the knolls
where the sheep left their droppings. The game was to take
from the land the cream that had risen, so to speak, in four
years' rest, and set it for cream again. Rye was the handiest
and surest skimmer to do it with. I never heard of harm
coming to a crop of rye upon our sandy old fields where the
subsoil is porous, but twice in sixty years. Once our rye was

CULTURE OF RYE. 105

badly cut by hail and once by tVost while it was just in bloom.
It nsed to be a saying that rye looked well when it headed out
before " lection." The springs were warmer, perhaps, and
more moist then, and the rye lot was oftener under the lee
of woodland than now. At any rate, we' rarely see it come
up like that in honor of the election parade of these days.

My first day's plowing was in the field of twenty-five acres.
The lands were long and but two rods wide. Nothing was
said about the furrows being straight or the headings square ;
such matters were of no account. It was in early July, a
lowery day, so early in the season that my father, I think, must
have considered the possibility that my ten year old enthusi-
asm would carry me through the whole field, so as to give
time to cross-plow with advantage before sowing. At any
rate, he started me with the plow at what used to be called
" cut and kiver." That was — perhaps the boys may not
know — to run the plow wider than it could possilily turn the
furrow, and so lap the furrow-slice upon a strip of equal
breadth that was unturned, to smother and deaden whatever of
grass, or seed, or moss, or life-ever-lasting, or rattle-boxes there
was growing. It is not so bad a plan as it seems, when nicely
done,and followed in due time with another plowing and har-
rowing, for sweeping the pelt from a friable old field. I
didn't make very good work of it though. Probably the ox-
yoke wasn't long enough, or the clevis might not have been set
right. We use very short yokes in our section, with not
much more space between the bows than inside the bow-holes,
to keep the oxen from staggering in and out of our sandy ruts
upon the road. I did not hold to the " cut and cover" plan
long, but fell upon such regular plowing as could be wrought
with the old "Ben Lyman" plow, without a coulter, in my
feeble and inexperienced hands. The stags were kind, haw-
ing about at the ends of the land with a broad sweep, browsing
the scanty briars and grass the whiles, and not much minding
my cutting away at their tails with the whip. After righting
up the plow from its drag upon the land-side, (a ten year-old
boy isn't big enough to swing the plow round the ends, you
know,) and entering it in the ground firmly, with very likely a

106 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

clumsy rounding of the corner of the land every time, I found
continual delight in watching the clods roll from the smooth
mold-board and pitch over into the furrow — like living things
— as I have since seen waves and porpoises do. There
seemed a continual chance of stranger things turning than
the mere squirm of the sod as it twisted heavily into its place,
burying continually the blurred foot-print in tlie bottom of the
preceding furrow, made by the shambling step of the off ox.
Sometimes an Indian arrow-head gave small reward to my
search. Most farmers, and perliaps a good many others, go
through life looking for more than they find. My orders as
to depth, were to " run light over the knolls, but let her in
beam deep in the hollows," which the "Ben Lyman" plow
was well calculated to do without orders. Plowing for rye
was rather pleasant work for a boy, but harrowing was dull
business, that I had tried before. Hard walking for slim legs
upon the crumbling furrows, and dusty withal. Tiie boys of
those days were, many of tliem, harrowed off the land. I had
my suspicions that we didn't half finish our work ; also, doing
it as if we hated it and didn't find it to pay very well. We
harrowed once to smash and tumble the sods aro\ind a little,
with a heavy square harrow, and once more to cover the seed,
or hustle it and mix it up with tlie earth ; yet the pigeons
and doves got considerable of it whenever the weather was
dry. But a kernel of rye is quick to send its root downward
and set its purplish green spear aslant in the air, above even
the roughest seed-bed. It is very grateful for a little cultiva-
tion, and I have seen a very fair "volunteer" or self-sown
crop from the scatterings of the harvest.

My chance to go forth as a sower of the good seed of rye, came
pretty young too. " Here, boy ! " cried my father one morning
in the forepart of September. " Let me see you feed the chick-
ens. You've got to learn to sow. I want to set you to so win'
that rye ! Get a measure of the tailin's on the barn floor, and
bring 'em out here. There — wait, and see me sling a hand-
ful. Your fist is smaller than mine, but your steps will be
shorter. Hold your measure with your left arm — so — fill
your right fist full of grain — set your left foot forward — jerk

CULTURE OP RYE. 107

your hand out of the measure with a smart flirt to the right,
as full as you can grip, so that a little scatters about your feet.
Out with your right leg as you let your hand back to gather a
swing for the .upward stroke, which directly follows, scattering
the seed in a semi-circle, high and far abroad. Swing your fist
up, boy ! don't look at the chickens. You want to set the
kernels a-whirlin' ag'in' the sky ! then you can tell whether
you throw 'era smart, or not. The sower's step — mind — will
fetch your right arm back with a jerk, just in time with the
spat of your right foot forward ; that will keep your balance.
Get the sower's step, or you'll stagger, and tumble down, like
enough. And in making the cast, which must be done with
force — smartly — none of your old-country pottering over a six-
foot strip, sifting the grain around between your thumb and
finger, at a shilling a day — but sling your hand round as if
you were hitting something, so as to make the seed fall like
the clip of a mower's scythe, a rod wide. Let out a little
leak of seed at the right from your full hand, and open one,
two, three fingers in succession to let the grain through, and
spread it in front, and hang on to a pinch to carry over to the
left. Don't let your arm drop as you swing — you Guinea
man ! Keep your fist above your chin as long as there is a
kernel in it, and swing — swing boy — as if you meant to sling
your fist off!" Such were the cheery orders of the former
generation as to sowing, and a boy of twelve may get the
trick while feeding corn to the chickens across the door-yard.
In the field we had our deep dead furrows once in ten paces
as guides for our steps, and it required a bout and a half for a
boy to seed a land — up and down around the outside of the
land, and once along the crest, being careful to lap the scat-
terings of each cast of seed a little. It is hard work for a
youngster to lug a bail-basket or Shaker-pail of grain over
plowed ground. It might be done on the back of a steady
horse ; but an ambitious boy will take the job cheerfully, be-
cause it is a man's work. Indeed, there are many men who
say they can't sow grain, and many others who undertake it
that make but slobbering work. A good deal of skill and
practice is required to make a good seedsman not altogether

108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

afraid of a windy day. There are implements that do their
work fairly. Cahoon's is a very ingenious contrivance, and
answers a good turn upon a still day. But in making a cheap
grain crop one can't always wait for the weather. Tlie man
who could be trusted with the machine could get along with-
out. There are good horse-power drills that will come in
play I hope in the future days of more thorough tillage.
But, meantime, sowing by hand should not become one of
the lost arts. It is very convenient for the small farmer to
slip out in the gray of the morning and cover his five or six
acres with seed before breakfast, while his team is eating, or?
If the day is hot, he can sow his grain while his animals rest ;
or if larger undertakings are in hand, a good sower will lay
on the seed faster, by hand, than any harrow or bush ought
to follow him. We used to sow from three pecks to a bushel
per acre, of seed, and we used to call ten bushels of rye to
the acre a fair crop on old fields — didn't grumble if we got
eight, but seven was " rather slim." Twelve bushels was
*' first rate," fifteen bushels was " stout," and generally meant
newish land or land in better heart that had been summer-
fallowed. I've heard of twenty bushels to the acre where
land had been manured and prepared for grass, but it was not
considered so very profitable, for the straw was too heavy to
cut with a cradle, no reaping machine was to be had and
reaping by hand was expensive, with old country labor that
could spend a day in reaping and binding a quarter of an
acre. There has been one well-attested instance in town of a
harvest of forty bushels per acre, through the thorough til-
lage and generous culture of an Irishman and a manufac-
turer. And a bit of warm, sandy land, within a few rods of
my door, cleared of shrub-oaks and pines, very generously
dunged, used as an early garden one season, and sowed with
rye in August, gave a yield at the rate of something more
than forty bushels per acre. I mention these things to show
that rye is not so meagre in production as it is popularly sup-
posed to be. The former generation tell big stories of the
prowess of some of the muckle harvesters of old times. The
elder B — boys used to cut and bind their two acres of rye

CULTURE OF RYE. 109

per day, with a sickle ; and the two brothers — swept a six-
teen acre piece with their cradles in one day. Perhaps they
had a jug of rum at each corner of the field — for it was in
the times when men who had harvesting to do always "fur-
nished." We certainly can't do such things now. And I
look back upon harvests of fifteen years since, when four men
and two boys put the crop of that same twenty-five acre field
— there were seventeen heavy loads of it, I recollect — in the
barn inside of five days, with somewhat of surprise. Two
men cut it with cradles at fifty cents per acre, in a little more
than two days and a half. It will require the hum of a power
reaper to do it as quickly again. As to present profits, I will
state that that field lias been going begging for a year or two
to any responsible party who would take the same upon
shares, furnishing seed and labor, till the grain is put in
shock, and taking two-thirds of the crop for pay. The birches
and moss are coming in some, but one pair of oxen could
handle a plow there well enough. A more common way is
for. the owner to furnish half the seed and receive half the
crop. The matter with these fields is that though the grain
of the soil is right to produce a capital quality of rye, they
are about twenty-five dollars per acre too poor to be handled
with profit. They are like free horses which yield their
strength to any sort of a driver. They are like big mills
without machinery, or storehouses without goods, and are
simply awaiting the future needs and better cultivation of a
growing population. A man who liked to work upon rye,
could turn his physical force and a small money capital, into
cash, by treating such lands to wood ashes or fish guano that
didn't cost too much. Seventy-five bushels of ashes at
twenty cents, or half a ton of fish pommace at eighteen dol-
lars per ton, would not make a bad showing with a vigorous
worker who owns his land. Probably a catch of clover could
be got with such a dressing, which would make more barns,
and stock, and labor needed, and at last, pleasant homes,
with rugged children growing up on rye bread, with a stom-
ach, bye and bye, for what people consider something better.
As regards threshing. Wliat rye we raise we generally

110 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

pound out by hand after the mice have worked through the
mow some in winter. Whoever has ability enough to run a
threshing maclune, gets drafted, sooner or later, into some
mechanical employment that gives iiim work the whole year
through, and our sowings are smaller because of competition
with richer lands by railway ; because our manure and farm
labor is expended upon tobacco with what appears greater
profit, and because there is not the demand there should be
from an intelligent people for choice rye for family bread.
With a little awakening of public sentiment as to this latter
matter, a little greater home consumption of breadstuffs at the
west, a little closer attention to what is really a source of
lasting profit to the farm and the community, and we may
take a " new departure " in rye-growing, with a more general
use of capital, manure and harvei^ting machinery.

The common threshing machine injures the marketable
value of the straw, making it less readily portable. I hear
by word of mouth, of a power-thresher in common use about
Chatham Pour Corners, Columbia county, New York, which
preserves the straw as perfectly as if threshed by hand, and
wish I could give the maker's name.

The straw upon an acre is often worth more than the grain
itself, bringing $25 and $30 per ton to collar-makers and sta-
ble-keepers. Its value for manure is not great, and its depor-
tation should not rob the farm of substances that are difficult
to obtain. I believe there is authority for supposing that the
rye-grower might sell both straw and flour at current prices,
retaining the bran and a fair proportion of the price in his
business without depleting his land. I- heartily wish there
were some philosophic Connecticut man with the leisure and
means to make exact experiments in this direction, and in
other matters, for our State, as Messrs. Lawes & Gilbert have
made for England; and with this suggestion, my dear Mr.
Secretary, I leave the rye crop in the hands of the honorable
Board of Agriculture and yourself.

Mr. Gold. I wish we might have the opinions of the com-
pany upon the profits of the culture of these crops here in
Connecticut, as well as the methods of their culture.

CULTURE OF RYE AND WHEAT. Ill

Mr. Blakeslee, of Watertown. I commenced farming in
1807. My father deeded me 70 acres, called worth 1200.
I had no means of support but to improve that land, and I
endeavored to enlarge the possession by the product. I took
the course of the rotation of crops that has been so ably dis-
cussed by Prof. Johnson ; and what I expect to do is to give
my experience through all this time — sixty-six years. There
are very few, probably, in the New England States, who have
had that length of experience. This land, you see by the
price, was in a very low state of cultivation. I have never
purchased any land, during the whole time, at a high price;
I have taken all the land that I have purchased at its lowest
state of cultivation, and my support has been derived from
improving that land by rotation of crops. During this time
I have cultivated over five hundred acres.

The first crop which is usually planted is a crop of wheat,
which is the foundation of our discussion. That crop of
wheat prepares the ground for a crop of herbage. I think that
a crop of wheat, which is nourishment for the human race,
prepares the ground for herbage for the animal race. The
next crop is corn. When plowing for corn I plow so that
one fnrrow shall just lap over to the other, so that tlie vegeta-
tion in decaying shall furnish nourishment for the corn. In
that way I soon found out that I could get from thirty to forty
and sometimes fifty bushels to the acre. I had no manure
and nothing to make manure of. That crop of corn prepared
the ground for a crop of flax. That crop of flax, in those days,
furnished the material for the clothing of the family in the
summer. It furnished twine for our shoe-thread, and the
seed was miinufactured into oil to preserve the life of our
buildings. It was a very important crop, but one which is
now almost wholly neglected. That crop of flax was suc-
ceeded by rye. That crop of rye prepared the ground for
herbage again ; not as well as wheat, however, for we were
then under the necessity of sowing a little grass seed on the
rye, in the spring generally sowing timothy or red clover,
which was one of the native grasses and took better than
any thing else. That field was mowed one or two seasons,

112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

then pastured one or two, bringing the whole course into six
or seven years, because flax cannot be raised on the same
ground oftener than once in six years. Then at the end of
six or seven years we would go back and go over the same
ground again. Where we had land enougli, say seven fields
on a farm, we. could have one of each of these crops every
year. I have practised that system more than half of the
whole time. Since that time the article of flax has gone out
of use here, and I do not cultivate it at all. After following
this course three times over, which would bring it from eigh-
teen to twenty-one years, my land was raised more than fifty
per cent, in value in product. I had improved it more than
fifty per cent, by that course, without any manure.

I agree with the gentlemen who spoke last night on the
subject of corn. We can do much better to manure so as to
get a very heavy crop where we plow than to undertake to
cultivate more ground ; but I did not hear one of them give
any account about the back part of their farms. Their culti-
vation was apparently confined to a very small spot. The
manure that is taken from the whole farm is probably placed
on this small spot of ground. Now I must state to this board
that I am in possession of some two hundred and sixty »acres
of land, and there is not an acre of unproductive ground
upon it. There is not an acre of waste land there. I do not
suppose this will agree with the common course of culture at
the present time.

I will mention that on the farm where I now live, there was
a piece of ground of just about an acre, lying on the south
and west side of a piece of woods. It was so barren that
nothing grew upon it, and the land so sloping that all the
soil had been washed off, so there was no herbage there. I
bought the farm in 1834. The second or third year after-
wards I thought I would do something with that place, and I
plowed it and soAved it with rye. I got six bushels of
very poor rye from the piece. I put on a little southern clo-
ver and let that field lie about four years. Then I plowed
it up again and put on about six cart-bodies of barn-yard ma-
nure, which had laid some time and its goodness had evapo-

RYE. 113

rated so that it was not very strong. I sowed one half of
that field with winter wheat and one half with rye. I had
nine bushels of rye and fourteen of wheat^ — as fine wheat as
I ever saw. I seeded it with this southern clover and where
the wheat was I had a good crop of herbage — English grasses
and white and red clover — and not a particle where the rye
was ; yet it was tilled all alike. That is one of the facts
which leads me to say that wheat prepares the ground for the
grass crop. That lot then lay about four years more. I then
ploughed it up and put on about ten cart-loads of manure,
and I had twenty bushels of as fine wheat as I ever saw.
That lot lay about anotlier term of four years and I then
planted it with corn, and had about sixty bushels, and per-
haps carried on twenty loads of manure. Another experi-
ment I sliall try, if I live and have my health. I sliall plant
that lot without a particle of manure, and if I do not get
seventy-five bushels of corn I shall be disappointed.

Mr. George Sanger, of Canterbury. I do not feel like
occupying much of the time. I would rather hear from
others tlian speak myself; but I felt yesterday, and I have
felt to-day, that we have failed to get out the practical experi-
ence of different farmers in different localities, which I have
no doubt gentlemen here present are very desirous to
hear. We have been very much entertained by the essays
which have been read on the various subjects, but wo would
like to. know what is the practice in different parts of the
State in reference to these different cereals. And so, also,
with regard to potatoes ; I am desirous that there shall be
something more said on that subject. I will only occupy a
few moments in regard to the question now before us.

The cultivation of Avheat is pretty much out of the ques-
tion in this part of the State. I have been told by some here
present from the western part of the State, that it is a com-
mon crop there, but very few, if any, farmers within my
knowledge undertake to raise wheat here at the present time.
But there are a great many among us who believe that rye is
one of our most valuable crops, and it is becoming increas-
ingly so, from the fact of the high price that the straw brings,
8

114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

wliich, as has been remarked in tlie essay, is more valuable
than the rye itself, at present prices. These plains upon the
Quinnebaug river are particularly adapted to rye, and where
the farmers keep flocks of sheep to run upon those plains,
they will produce very fair crops once in three years, with
very little expenditure of labor and capital. I consider my
rye crop as valuable as any I raise. The common rye is the
kind that is usually sown. Tliere was a kind introduced
called white rye, which seemed to take for a year or two, but
it has entirely gone out of use now.

Question. How many bushels to the acre are usually
raised ?

Mr. Sanger. Not far from ten bushels to the acre. I
should say that I had a good crop if I got ten bushels to the
acre.

Question. Don't you sometimes get a good deal more ?

Mr. Sanger. Well, I think we do. My father used to
sow a field that is owned now by our family, from which he
used to get one hundred busliels from eight acres, and he
thought that was a fine crop, as it was.

These lands that we sow rye upon are situated so far from
our houses that it is difficult to manure them ; but sometimes
we plant corn or potatoes upon our plains, and manure, and
then we sow rye after taking off the crop. In such cases we
can realize more from a crop of rye than from potatoes or
corn. Rye is always benefited by the cultivatioi> of the
ground with a hoed crop. In all this region we have acres of
plain land which is nearly worthless. Since sheep have gone
> out of fashion among our farmers those lands have been run-
ning down. Now, I believe that if every farmer who has
such lands would have a flock of slieep, adapted to his extent
of territory, he would find that the sheep were the surest and
cheapest way of improving those lands. I regard my flock
of sheep as the most profitable stock I have, and they will
live, as is well known, where no other farm stock can get a
living. A neighbor of mine has a plain upon the Quinne-
baug of some fifty or sixty acres. It is a very barren-looking
field, but he will summer sixty or seventy sheep upon that
plain, froMfi the last of April until cold weather comes. You

RYE. 115

■would suppose that there was nothing there for them to eat,
but they will go through the summer in good condition.
Whenever he turns over that plain for a crop of rye or buck-
wheat, as he did this past season, he raises good crops. I
should say that he shifts his fences round so as to enclose
about eight acres in one part of the field one year and in an-
other part another year ; and this year he had a field of about
eight acres in buckwheat, from which he got about one hun-
dred and thirty bushels. If there had not been any sheep
upon that plain he would not have realized anything like that
crop of buckwheat. The same will hold good in regard to
rye. Whenever he gets ready to turn that plain over, com-
paratively worthless as it is when you look at it, he will have
a crop of rye worth harvesting.

I will say still further that I have some ten or twelve acres
that lie upon the river, in one level piece, and my way of har-
vesting is to attach a reaper to a Clipper mowing machine,
and 1 am not obliged to pay a dollar an acre to have it cut
down or have it cradled. I can do it better and quicker and
cheaper with a pair of horses and a reaper. Any one who
has level land, free from obstructions, will find it to his profit
to have a reaper attached to his mowing machine. It can be
made applicable not only to rye but to oats.

Question. Do you find it works well in very heavy grain ?

Mr. Sanger. I don't care how heavy it is ; the heavier the
better.

Question. Suppose it is lodged ?

Mr. Sanger. I think it will go through. I have never
found any trouble. You will want a dropper attached to the
reaper, which drops the grain in bundles. If your rye is
heavy, you will want three or four men to follow right on, to
keep out of the way of a pair of horses, bind it, and throw it
one side. The bundles will be even and like the bundles of
reaped rye. They will be in better shape than if cut by a
hand cradle and raked with a hand rake.

Mr. Olcott. What reaper do you use ?

Mr. Sanger. I use the Clipper reaper and mower, and I
am willing to endorse that machine any where. The size is
No. 4, 1 think.

116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Wakeman, of Westport. There is a great deal of
wheat raised in the town of Westport, and more tiian there
was twenty-five years ago. We do not break up a piece of
ground for the purpose of raising wheat entirely, but we have
a great deal of meadow land and we always find that grass
will take better after wheat, and always sow it eitlier after
corn or potatoes. I think for ten or fifteen years past we
have got from twenty to twenty-five bushels to the acre, on an
average. Forty bushels have been raised to the acre. My
brother had two acres this year on which he raised nearly
seventy-five bushels. I should think that within a space of six
miles square nearly half the breadstuff's we use in that placf
is raised. There is very little rye raised with us. We should
not consider it a very profitable crop if we could not get but
ten bushels to the acre. We should want to get from twenty
to twenty-five.

Mr. Day. I believe Mr. Wakeman lives in the vicinity of
salt water, where there are a great many fish taken. I would
enquire if he has ever fertilized with fish pommace, or fish gu-
ano or anything of that kind ?

Mr. Wakeman. I used fish guano to a considerable extent
some years ago, but I did not think much of it. I have also
used fish, but do not find its effects very lasting. But in that
section of country, six miles square, I suppose there are
$50,000 paid for manures every year. Two years ago there
were 75,000 bushels of ashes bought, and last year 50,000,
besides two or three hundred tons of bone dust. One of my
neighbors^ who lives within half a mile of me, went around
among the farmers, and they engaged over a hundred tons,
within a circuit of not more than two miles from my house,
besides what other fertilizers they used.*

* Mr. Wakeman gives the following estimate of amount and value of fertiliz-
ers used in 1871 in the vicinity of Westi^ort:

60,000 bushels of ashes at 25 cents, $15,000

5,000 tons of bones at $35, 17,500

120 tons super-phosphate at $50, 6,000

1,000 tons of salt hay at $10, 10,000

5,000 loads of sea-weed at $1, 5,000

$53,500

RYE. 117

Question. Do you put ashes on the crop of wheat or the
preceding crop ?

Mr, Wakeman. We do not put them on to get a crop of
wheat but more for the crops that come after.

Mr. Day. I have been somewhat interested in that fish
question and I should hke to ask a few more questions of the
gentleman in regard to the value of the different fertilizers
that he has used and what effect they have had upon his land.
What is the effect upon your land of fish or fish pom mace ?

Mr. Wakeman. I think we get all the benefit from fish the
first year.

Mr. Sanger. Isn't it a good investment at that ?

Mr. Wakeman. We have never found it so. There was
probably a hundred tons within three or four miles of where
I live, which was offered for about ten dollars a ton, and the
farmers would not take it at that price. The past year some
little was bought. We consider that when we put in ashes
we never lose the effect. We always see the benefit of them
as long as we cultivate the soil, and we consider a bushel of
leached ashes as good as a bushel of unleached. I suppose
the ashes came from Canada.

Mr. Sanger. About how manv bushels to the acre ?

Mr. Wakeman. Where we have not put on ashes before
we generally put on two bundred bushels to the acre.

Mr. Hall. What effect docs that have upon your crops of
rye ? As much as on your wheat ?

Mr. Wakeman. We do not raise but very little rye. We
never seed down with rye. Perhaps some gentlemen think I
am telling a pretty big story when I say we lay out so much
money for manures, but I think Mr. Gold will bear me out.
He has been in that section of country, and knows what the
farmers there use. I should think that in six miles square
there were used the present year about 50,000 bushels of ashes,
besides two hundred tons of bone dust and other fertilizers.

Mr. Hall. Do I understand you to say that a bushel of
leached ashes is equal to a bushel of unleached ?

Mr. Wakeman. We consider it so, and most of the
farmers who use them think they are just as good after lying

118 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

ill a heap as tliey are to use them right away, as they come
from the pottery.

Mr. Hall. What is the cost ?

Mr. Wakeman. Twenty-five cents a bushel.

Prof. Johnson. What is the character of your soil ?

Mr. Wakeman. The soil is a deep loam, rather light.
Some of it is rather yellow, and some of it is rather darkish.

Mr. Hall. What is the practice generally among farmers in
that vicinity, there being so large an amount paid out for fer-
tilizers, in making and saving their yard manure ? Do they
depend wholly on those fertilizers purchased outside or do
they take pains to make a great deal at home ?

Mr. Wakeman. They make all the manure they can. We
are small farmers. There are large quantities of onions
raised in that section of the country.

Mr. Hall. I have always noticed that it is a great deal
better to make manure than to buy it ; but I have also noticed
that where there is a great deal bouglit there is apt to be a
great deal made. On the other hand, I find that those farm-
ers who .take the least pains to make manure are the ones
who buy the least.

Mr. Wakeman. I don't suppose there is any section where
they take more pains to make manure than they do in the sec-
tion to which I refer. They make all the manure they can,
but the farms are so small that they rarely keep cattle for the
express purpose of making manure.

Mr. Olcott. How much fish guano do you use ?

Mr. Wakeman. I think there is hardly any used. We do
not consider it as good as the other manures we buy.

Mr. Olcott. *Would you use it if the price was less ?

Mr. Wakeman. I don't think I should ; still, I might use
some.
^Mr. Olcott. Why not ?

Mr. WaKEMAN. Well, it don't pay. It is not lasting
with us.

Mr. Olcott. Does it produce any effect the first year ?

Mr. Wakeman. Yes, sir. I would say, in regard to fish
taken right from the water, that I don't think it would pay

RYE. 119

for carting in the summer time, when you are busy. I un-
derstand that Mr. Bradley offered to sell tons and tons of it
for three dollars a ton to anybody, where he manufactures his
pliosphates.

Mr. Hall. I would like to inquire what the principal crop
is in that section that is turned off to market ?

Mr. WakemaN. Onions is the principal crop there. There
are a great many potatoes raised, and a good many farmers,
within a few years, have gone into small fruits.

Question. I would like to inquire whether the gentleman
has used, very extensively, fish manure?

Mr. Wakeman. For two or three years, I and my two
brothers, probably used fifteen or twenty tons ; perhaps fifty
tons in all.

Mr. Gould. I would like to make a statistical inquiry. I
should like to know what is the maximum length of the straw
crop. What is the greatest length of straw that has been
known to grow in Connecticut, and what is the greatest length
of head ? And in asking the question, I will state what the
fact is, so far as the state of New York is concerned. The
longest straw that I have ever known to grow in the state of
New Yoik, was grown in 1871, eight feet and four inches;
and the greatest length of head, eight and one-fourth inches.
I should like to know if any gentleman present has known of
anything longer than that for straw or head ? I saw a field
this Spring, of some ten acres, the heads of which would
average eight and one-fourth inches.

Question. How much rye to the acre ?

Mr. Gould. About twenty-five bushels.

Mr. Blakeslee. In 1816, I had a licld of rye, the heads
of which, I should think, (I didn't measure them,) grew from
six to eight inches in length, with six rows of kernels. From
two bushels of seed, I harvested sixty-nine bushels of rye.
Rye generally has four rows of kernels, but these heads had
six. I sow^ed this rye on the poorest piece of ground I had.
I sowed a bushel to the acre. I don't believe anything near
that could be raised on it again. That was the biggest crop

ever saw.

120 BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE.

Dr. Riggs, of Hartford. Three years ago, I had a crop
of rye on an acre and perhaps an eighth— not over that —
where I have raised tobacco for years. My practice has been
to sow rye to plow-in for the next crop. After tlie tobacco
crop is off, I sow rye, and by the time the ground is ready to
prepare for tobacco the next year, my rye is four or five feet
high. But three years ago, I had an old-fashioned man for a
farmer taking care of my place, and he over-persuaded me to
let the rye crop grow and harvest it, it looked so nice. It
towered up so high, that I was a little proud of it myself. I
had previously put on sixty bushels of leached ashes 'from
Canada. By-the-by, there is a great deal of insoluble potash
in leached ashes ; the soluble potash is taken out in Canada ;
the insoluble sold to us : but it takes two bushels of unleached
ashes to make one of leached, and there is where we get an
advantage. I had the curiosity one day to measure this rye
in different parts of the field, and I found that the straw was
seven feet long, up to the commencement of the head. The
heads I did not measure, but they were very long, and the
observation of the whole neighborhood. When we harvested
it, instead of cradling it, for it was toppled over a great deal,
so that it would have been next to impossible to cradle it, we
went in and mowed it as we would mow a double swatli in
grass, having one or two to mow, and one or two to follow
after the mowers and*gather it up. They placed it one side
in small heaps, and then, when we bound it, we put two heaps
together. We mowed it close to the ground, so that the
stubble was not over an inch high. From that piece of an
acre and an eighth, I got forty bushels of rye, two tons of
straw, that I sold for $25.00 a ton, and about nine hundred
weight that I sold at the rate of -f 30.00 a ton. I estimated
that the field yielded me about $100.00. This was on tobacco
land, and the grain was very large, and the straw the strongest
and heaviest I ever saw. It was the " observed of all observ-
ers " in our neighborhood, as a rye crop.

Now one word in regard to the profitableness. Tlie next
season, I raised tobacco on that piece, and for my tobacco

OATS, BARLEY, AND BUCKWHEAT, 121

crop I got $966.00. The crop of rye was a beautiful sight,
but it did not pay like that vile weed they call tobacco.

Question. What kind of manure was used for the tobacco?

Dr. Riggs. I bought 500 bushels of leached ashes from a
canal boat that came up the river. Sixty bushels of that I
put upon that field, and the remainder I spread over another
jfield of twenty acres, a part of it tobacco land, and a part of it
in grass. There can be no mistake, gentlemen, about the
value of leached ashes. I had that impressed upon my mind
by my father. When going across a field with him, he would
freqr.cn tly turn round to me, strike me on the shoulder, and
say, "Remember this — land never forgets ashes." He would
go down to the village, a mile and a quarter away, and pick
up all the ashes he could get, and cart them up the hill to his
farm. He had a way of impressing these things upon our
youthful minds, sometimes with a birch, and sometimes with
his hand. I repeat, there can be no mistake about the value
of ashes.

Adjourned to evening.

Evening Session.

The meeting was called to order at seven o'clock, by Vice-
President Hyde, who stated that the first subject on the pro-
gramme was

Oats, Barley, and Buckwheat.

Mr. Gold. I have before me the agricultural census for
1860 ; that for 1870 is not yet completed, and in default of
that, some reference to the census of 1860 may help us with
regard to our discussions upon the relative importance of these
different crops.

Connecticut, in 1860, is reported to have raised 52,401
bushels of wheat ; 618,702 bushels of rye ; only seven states
of the Union being ahead of this little stat€ in the production

122 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

of rye. Of Indian corn, we raised, that year, 2,059,000 bush-
els; of oats, 1,522,000 bushels; of barley, 20,000 bushels;
of buckwheat, 309,000 bushels. Doubtless, since 1860, the
production of rye and Indian corn in the state has consider-
ably fallen off. I think there are many sections where other
crops have taken their place.

The discussion this evening was designed to embrace oats,
barley, and buckwheat. Tiie range embraces the preparation
of the soil, the different varieties, their culture, their market
value, and their relative value, as compared with each other,
and as compared with other farm crops. Very many impor-
tant points in the previous parts of the programme have not
been discussed ; especially, the relative value of crops ; and I
hope that gentlemen will be free to speak upon this point, and
that we may have some facts to present to the farmers of our
state in regard to the profit of the culture of these different
crops.

No gentleman seeming disposed to speak upon the subject
announced, some little time was spent upon the question of
the preparation of manures and their application, after which,
the potato question was again taken up.

POTATOES.

Mr. Gould. I will mention a little experiment that I once
tried with potatoes, with a view to ascertain if any gentlemen
present have had corresponding experience. I had a piece
of land where the soil was three or four inches deep, on a
slate rock, covered with weeds and thistles, of a very unsightly
character. To banish these, I put in potatoes, the hills about
two and a half feet apart, over some ten or fifteen square rods,
covering the ground, to the thickness of about two feet, with
straw. I got from that piece, without doing anything else
whatever, at the rate of 140 bushels to the acre. They were
not, certainly, the best potatoes that I ever saw, but they were
fair, sizeable, eatable potatoes. The only cost was putting on
the thickness of two feet of straw, and the next year, the grass
came in beautifully, and the weeds were all exterminated.

POTATOES. 123

Mr. Gold. I will state my experience in regard to the cul-
ture of the potato this summer.

Tlie Early Rose has always been a favorite with me. This
summer, planted on rather light, dry land, the crop was a
partial failure. Planted in the garden, upon rich soil, it did
as well as ever. That was the general experience in that part
of the state, so far as my observation extends, in regard to
that variety of potato.

I planted some thirty varieties on trial ; I will speak of only
a few of them. The Peerless perhaps yielded as abundantly
as any other variety. • I had only two or three potatoes of
that kind. I tried also a single potato — the Aroostook^ sent
me by my friend Gov. Hyde. The yield of that variety was
very remarkable, perhaps equal to the Peerless. It is a very
fine, large potato, promising to be a good one. Gov. Hyde
also has a seedling, with some samples of which I have been
favored, and that, in growth and vigor, seems to be unsur-
passed by any other variety. It is rather late, and it remains

4

to be decided how good a table potato it will prove ; but I
think its vigor is such as to recommend it ; and if, after an-
other year's trial, it proves to be deserving of public favor,
we shall probably have it at your service for trial. The
standard kinds which I have planted for several years — Gar-
net Chili, Gleason, and Prince Albert — all did well; Climax
small in size and quantity, but of good quality. Breese's
Prolific yielded abundantly, good size, smooth and of fair
quality for the table. The King of the Earlies and tjie Early
Mohawk did not show any superiority to the Early Rose.

There have been such various reports with regard to the
yield of the Early Rose this year, that I wish gentlemen
would speak upon that point. I think, however, it will be
reduced to this : that in good soil, with proper manuring, the
Early Rose did very well indeed — -just as well as could have
been expected. I saw it under a variety of circumstances.
Among others, I saw it up in the region of which Mr. Gould
spoke yesterday, in Franklin county, in northern New York.
It grew there most magnificently, upon that virgin soil. Upon

124 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

light, dry land, the drought seemed to affect it severely, and
in some cases it was a failure.

Mr. Lyman. I made some remarks yesterday upon pota-
toes, and I would like to say a word further. The potato, you
will remember, that I spoke about yesterday, as. having tried
some experiments with, was the Garnet Chili ; but I had other
varieties. I planted six rows of that same potato in my gar-
den the first day of July, and they came out when I dug them
this fall very nice and large. There was nothing but a little
phosphate in the hill. It was after I had used up all the
ground that I cared about in my garden,! had a few potatoes
left, and I put them in, more to see what tliey would do than
anything else. It was very late in the season. The reason
I speak of this is, that I have neighbors and friends in my
own vicinity who planted the Early Rose about two or three
weeks later than the ordinary time, and they failed to raise a
respectable crop, or anything like it. Why this was I do not
know. I have one instance in my mind particularly. A
young man told me that the Early Rose which he got into the
ground very early yielded him a fine crop of nice potatoes, but
those planted late did not do anything at all ; yet the ground
was just side by side, was plowed, I think, at the same time,
early ; but for some reason, he planted a part of his potatoes
two or three weeks later than the others, and they came out
very small.

Now, in regard to the ground that I planted myself. I had
two pieces, one of which was sandy land, and I planted that
early in May, and I did not see but that the potatoes were just
as good as they have been at any time ; but as I stated yester-
day, (and as there are some here to-day who were not here
yesterday,! will repeat it,) the first year I planted them, I used
very small pieces of potato. The next year, I increased the size,
and last vear I used still more seed, and I think that I find no
falling off in size, while those of my neighbors who have follow-
ed the plan of using very small pieces each of the three years
in which they have planted that variety, have grown only small
potatoes, and comparatively few in a hill. On the other piece
of my land, which was planted about the same time, I put ashes;

• POTATOES. 125

in the hill, and I had a very handsome growth of potatoes.
It was nothing but clear gravel, where, when you ran a plow
through, it would rattle like going through a bed of oyster-
shells ; and yet, will you believe me, right on that knoll, where
we could dig down and come to good sand for plaster, putting
two double-handsfull of ashes, with no manure into the hill,
we had from six to eight good marketable potatoes in a hill.
The other part of the piece was on lower ground and richer, '
and the potatoes were proportionately better.

Mr. . The Early Rose is my favorite for an early

potato. They seem to be good yielders, and do well as a
general thing. Last spring, I had a very warm piece of land,
and I planted my earliest potatoes about the first of April.
They seemed to grow well enough, but they did not yield very
well. About the first of May, I planted the last of my pota-
toes, and they were fit to dig about as early as those I planted
the first of April. When you come to late potatoes, I planted,
last May, a bushel of the Peerless, and they yielded beyond
all potatoes that I have ever raised. I dug from that bushel
last fall, twenty-one barrels of what may be called merchant-
able potatoes. There was only about a bushel of small pota-
toes in the whole twenty-one barrels. My mode of planting
has been to plant in drills. I drop the pieces from twelve to
fifteen inches apart, one piece in a place. I generally cut the
seed pretty small. I think that, as a general thing, farmers
put in too much seed for potatoes. I think, if you put in a
great deal of seed^ you have a great many tubers, and conse-
quently have small potatoes. The Peerless seems to be an
excellent table potato. I think it is rather the best late va-
riety we have now. We cannot tell how long it will last, for
most of our varieties, after a while, run out.

Mr. Lyman. Will the gentleman state his opinion as to
whether they would require a strong soil? It is well known
that there is a difference in potatoes in regard to the character
of the soil they require.

Mr. . The Peerless yielded belter than the Rose,

with about the same culture. It was on pretty rich soil. I

•"126 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

should prefer to plant large potatoes, taking one or two eyes,
not over two, in a piece.

Mr. Gould. I merely wish, as a stranger, to be allowed to
compliment the farmers of Connecticut upon the exceeding
modesty of their statements in regard to potatoes. It becomes
every one who speaks on that subject to speak with a great deal
of personal modesty, because it is utterly impossil)le, so far as
my experience goes, to make any general statement with regard
to potatoes which shall be a reliable guide for the practice of
others. For example, the Harrison potato is very generally
supposed to be one of the most prolific potatoes that can be
grown. It is customary for those who are desirous of raising
potatoes chiefly as food for stock, to raise the Harrison potato ;
but I believe it has been generally admitted that it is an ex-
ceedingly poor potato for the table ; and yet, I am told that
the Harrison potato, in Tennessee, is one of the most accept-
able table potatoes they have. Such are the modifying influ-
ences of soil and climate, even at the distance of a few miles,
that the experience of one man in relation to potatoes cannot
be taken as a guide by another. You may remember that
sometime ago the Monitor was quite the rage among farmers,
and every one was seeking for seed. At that time, a gentle-
man from the island of Bermuda came to New York and
secured a quantity of seed and carried it to that island. There
the whole character and shape of that potato changed, and
large quantities were afterwards sent as a very favorite potato
to New York under the name of Bermuda*Reds, They were
very much more mealy than the Monitors ever were, and
more acceptable as a table potato. These Bermudas being so
much admired in New York, many farmers obtained them,
and now they find that there is a Western potato so nearly
like them that they cannot be distinguished apart. Here,
then, is the same potato, the history of which has been clearly
traced, which has assumed three different names, three differ-
ent shapes, and three different qualities.

I do not know in all my experience with regard to potatoes,
that I ever heard so general a verdict with regard to any
variety as there has been with regard to the Early Rose. The

I

POTATOES. 127

concurrent testimony of almost every individual who lias tried
tliem, is, that they are not only the earliest potato which can
be relied upon, but that they are the best table potato that
can be obtained ; and yet there are parts of this country —
very few, to be sure — where the Early Rose is not worth cul-
tivating. In relation to the Peerless potato, I may say, that
in the state of New York, there is no potato which on the
whole has done as well as that has. The yield of that potato
is superior this year to what it has been in any preceding
year, and the abundance of its product has been exceedingly
remarkable to every one. I think the same thing has oc-
curred in some of the neighboring states. I do not know how
it is in Connecticut, but I have been told that in New Hamp-
shire their experience has been most decidedly in accordance
with our experience in New York, in regard to the Peerless
potato, not only with reference to the abundance of product,
but to the excellence of its quality, which is decidedly superior
to what it has been in any preceding year.

I mention these facts, not only, in compliment to the farm-
ers of Coimecticut for the very modest way in which they
have confined themselves to a statement of their experi-
ence, but also as a caution to every one who may be inclined
to speak in high terms of a potato, with reference to its gen-
eral excellence, to avoid doing so, lest they lead their brother
farmers into very grave and serious mistakes. My own expe-
rience leads me to say, that every man should try on his own
soil four or five hills of potatoes, and judge of their adapta-
bility to his own farm, before he goes into any variety very
extensively. I think, if gentlemen will follow this rule, they
will avoid a great many mistakes, and the expenditure of a
great deal of money, which would be utterly thrown away.

Mr. Gold. Is it not more reasonable to suppose that there
was a mistake in the seed of the Monitors shipped to Bermuda
than that a white potato was changed to a red one ?

Question. I will ask Mr. Acland how he raised those
twenty-one barrels ?

Mr. Acland. They had no extra care, more than the ordi-

128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

nary potatoes that I planted. I nsed, perhaps, a little phos-
phate.

Mr. Stewart. The Early Rose that were planted after the
first of June yielded a heavy crop of very excellent potatoes ;
those that were planted from the 10th to the 20th of April,
were an entire failure. They did not pay for the cultivation
and digging, owing probably to our extremely dry weather
the last of May and the first of June. In some small experi-
ments with potatoes that I made last year, the Early Rose did
the poorest of any of them ; whereas, other potatoes, the yield
of which had generally been less, yielded more than the Early
Rose. The Peachblow potatoes, in our section, did remarkably
well last year. Two-thirds of an acre of Peachblow potatoes
that I planted a few years ago, on the 3d of June, yielded at
the rate of 600 bushels to the acre. This is a large statement,
but the ground had been dug over from eighteen inches to two
feet deep, and heavily manured. I was preparing the place
for tobacco. Of the Idaho, which is a new potato, sent out
last year for the first time, the yield was twenty-seven times
what was planted ; of the Peerless, the yield was eighteen
times ; of the Excelsior, the yield was thirteen times ; of the
Early Rose, eleven times; of the Aroostook, thirty-six times
what was planted. The seed potatoes, with the exception of the
last named variety, were all large, some of them exceedingly
so, and cut into pieces of three or four eyes. The Aroostook
was raised from single eyes, and the increase was thirty-six
times. Where I raised the Early Rose, two years ago, from
single eyes, they produced a much larger yield than where 1
planted large potatoes.

Question. What was the preparation of the land for the
Early Rose ? ,

Mr. Stewart. There was no special preparation ; it was
simply sandy loam without any manure.

Question. What was there for the Early Rose to feed on ?
Was it good soil ?

Mr. Stewart. I thought it was; it was for other potatoes.
Mr. Lyman. I wish to enquire if there is any gentleman

POTATOES. 129

•

in the hall who ever raised or who ever heard of a variety
called tlie General Grant ?

Mr. Gold. I had a sample sent me from Maine of that
variety, in a box witli a dozen others. One of the varieties
did not grow at all, but aside from that the yield from the Gen
eral Grant was the smallest of any, and I discarded it.

Mr. Ly.^ian. I asked the question because I have had some
experience with the General Grant, and I thought if nobody
else in tlie world had ever raised such a potato or ever lieard
of it, I would keep quiet ; but it seems it bas dropped down
into our Secretary's hands, and ho liad rather bad luck with
it and now I will state simply my experience witli it. I had
four of tliem, and made about twenty hills, and they turned
me out a bushel and a half, but they were not remarkable for
size. They were tlie yellowest potatoes that I ever saw. 1
think the man who gave them to me spoke of their fineness
of grain as one quality, and they proved to be fine-grained ;
but when cooked they were almost as yellow as saffron. As
to their eating qualities they were certainly, if eaten soon
after they were cooked, a very good potato.

Mr. Gold. While from that one Aroostook I gathered half
a bushel, from this single specimen of the General Grant that
I planted, which was not quite as large as the Aroostook, I
did not get more than two or three quarts. We cooked them
and found them quite an indifferent potato, but I should
hardly think they were as yellow as the gentleman states. I
am sure we did not save any for seed.

Mr. Yeomans. I have no potato experience to relate, but
last summer I conducted some experiments that have a bear-
ing upon some of the suggestions which were made yesterday
in regard to the part of the potato from which the seed should
be taken ; and I regret that in consequence of my necessarily
hurried departure from home, I omitted to take my figures
with me. In preparing the seed, I cut the potato as nearly
as I could judge (and they were good sized potatoes) so that
there should be about the same number of eyes upon each of
the parts, and they were planted in rather light sandy soil,
in a good state of fertility. The fertilizer which I applied
9

130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

•

was gypsum and ashes, about a handful in a hill. The sea-
son being dry, the result was not as satisfactory as I might
have hoped for ; but at the same time the conclusion at which
I arrived was, that the middle of the potato produced the
most, the seed end produced the least, but the butt end (which
I think was similar to the experience of some of the gentle-
men who referred to that matter yesterday) produced the
largest and best-sized potatoes, as a general thing ; that is,
they were more even in their size. There were not so many
small ones ; and of the three parts, the seed end produced
the most small potatoes. But, as I said, this was only one
experiment, and was not satisfactory. I propose to try it
again.

Then, some three or four years ago, I tried an experiment
with regard to the different modes of fertilizing the potato.
I think I tried four different modes ; plaster, plaster and
ashes, barnyard manure, and barnyard manure with plaster
and ashes. I found that where the mixture of the plaster
and ashes was applied, the success was more marked ; that is,
the crop of potatoes was considerably increased. And where
the manure alone was used (it was rather coarse manure)
there was an increased number of potatoes, but they were not
sound. I do not recollect that there was a single decayed
potato that came from the hills manured with plaster, plaster
and ashes, or where the manure was used in connection with
plaster and ashes, whereas, in the hills where manure alone
was used there were a good many potatoes that were partially
decayed. I accepted that as an evidence that it is not the best
policy to plant potatoes upon manure ; and that, I think, agrees
with the suggestion of some of the gentlemen yesterday.

Mr. Robinson, of Hampton. From the experience I have
had in raising potatoes, I find that from some peculi-
arity in the season, early potatoes do much better some years
than late, while some years late ones do the best. For in-
stance : a year ago this last summer, and two years ago,
early potatoes, with me, and, I think, as a general thing
through this county, did much better than late ones. I
have planted, for the last two or three years, about three

POTATOES. 131

acres. Those two years of which I spoke I only planted half
an acre of Early Rose. They yielded the best of any kind I
planted, and I considered them the best potato to eat, and
they were the most salable. Last year I thought I would go
in largely for the Early Rose and raise what would bring me
the most money. I planted the three acres with Early Rose.
In the first place I planted a few in my garden, about the 20th
of April. Those were sprouted, which I consider, on such
ground as mine, very important. My soil is a moist, gravelly
loam, mixed with clay. I cannot plant very early; if I do
they rot. Therefore it is very important for me to set them
out somewhere, in boxes or baskets, where it is warm, and let
the sprouts start somewhat before I plant them. Then I plant
them about the 20th of April, and I get potatoes about as
early as any one. Those I {)lanted first yielded well. After
that, about the lOtli of May, I planted two acres of Early
Rose potatoes, and about an acre of later potatoes, of different
kinds, at the same time. Those which were planted about
the lOtli of May were not entire failures, as Mr. Gold says,
but they were a slim crop — did not come up hardly to
mediocrity.

Now, if it is proper, I want to state to this meeting an ex-
periment which I tried with Mr. Hayward's Mineral Com-
pound. And in stating this experiment, I want to do it in all
fairness, for I have certainly no prejudice for or against his
preparation. He came along last spring and lectured in my
town, and I went to hear him and was somewhat pleased with
his lecture ; so much so that I joined a class and went in and
heard his course of lectures. And certainly he made every-
thing appear plausible and I lioped for the best ; for if there
is any way by which we can raise larger crops with less ex-
pense than we do now, we want to know it. I bought his
book and tried his mineral compound, and did as he requested
me to do. " Now," said he, " I want you to try this thor-
oughly, and I want to tell you how to do it. I want you
should try it on potatoes. Take a spot of ground and put on
at the rate of a ton to the acre ; plow it in, and then cross-
plow the ground, so as to mix it up well with the soil." I

132 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

did SO. I plowed up a quarter of au acre and put on four
hundred and fifty pounds, and then I cross-plowed it, as he
requested me. The rest of the two acres I only plowed once.
It was old ground, where potatoes were planted years before.
On the other acre and three-quarters I put a shovelful of com-
post in each hill. It was manure taken from the hog-yards,
the stable, and all about, and composted together. It had
been pitched over onco and made fine. As I say, I put a
shovelful of that manure in each hill, and put about a table-
spoonful of super-phosphate in a hill, and I also put about
the same quantity of super-phosphate in the hills where I put
the Mineral compound. Now for the result: when I came to
dig the potatoes, where I used the compost in the hill, it took
from thirty to forty-five hills for a bushel ; where I used Mr.
Hayward's Mineral Compound it took from sixty to seventy-five
hills for a bushel. I notice, in our county papers, certificates
signed by a number of good farmers in Woodstock, who have
used his Mineral Compound, and they speak well of it. If
there are any of those gentlemen here to-night, if they will
give their experience, and tell wherein they have derived any
benefit from it, I certainly would like to hear them, for we
want all the liglit we can get upon it. It is cheap. He says
that a ton of that article can be made for $9. That is so ;
but when he says that a ton of that compound, manufactured
for $9.00, is worth as much as a ton of super-phosphate, that
remains to be proved to me, for I have not seen it.

I also tried it on carrots. I spread a field all over with
manure and then took a strip about two rods wide and sowed
on this compound, and I could see no difference in the growth
of the carrots while they were growing, and when I came to
harvest the crop the carrots were no better on that strip than
on the rest. Now, to be fair about it, I will state one thing
further ; for if there is any good in it I do not want to hide
it. The vines of the Early Rose potato which I planted on
the two acres where I put the compound and where I put the
manure, died early, and after the vines died the weeds sprang
up all over the field, and there was a much greater growth of
weeds where I put the Mineral Compound than where I put

POTATOES. 133

the maniire. Now, if there is any value in tliat compound^
that kept itself back and showed itself in those weeds, I do
iiot know but I may get some benefit from it another year.

Mr. Perry, of Woodstock. I used Mr. Ilayward's Com-
pound last spring, in a small way, on potatoes. I cannot
speak distinctly as to the benefit I derived from it, for I used
it on the whole piece and left none witliout it. I had about
an acre with no other manure than this manure compound.
The result was, I had a good crop of potatoes, as good as I have
ever raised. I used it on a piece of mangold-wurtzcls, and
there I saw a marked difference, for I used it only on a part of
the bed. I should think it increased the beets one-third ; and
otherwise they were treated all alike. There are others in
our town who have used it on corn, and been satisfied with
the result, as far as I have heard, and I have heard of some
who are making preparations to use it on a larger scale next
spring.

Mr. Day, of Brooklyn. I have had some considerable ex-
perience in the cultivation of potatoes, and last year my crop
was a failure. The ground was cropped wdth rye the year
previously, a liberal coating of long manure spread on the sur-
face, and the ground plowed to the depth of about six inches,
harrowed, and marked into rows three feet or a little more
apart. My custom has been for the last twenty years, since
the potato-rot begdn to show itself, to plow in my manure ; to
plow the ground to the depth of about six inches, harrow, and
then run the plow down some three inches into the- soil, drop
the potatoes about twenty inches apart, and keep tlie ground
as nearly level as I can. I have had excellent success watli
the Early Rose. In the earlier part of my cultivation of it,
when it first came into notice, I raised nearly or quite a hun-
dred to one. Afterwards, I purchased the Climax potato,
from four pounds of which I raised nine bushels and seven
pounds — one hundred and thirty-seven to one. That was tw^o
yea s ago this harvest. Since that time I have failed to raise
a good crop of potatoes. I attributed the failure last season
to the dry weatlier just before the dog days set in, the 24th
or 25th of July, when my potato-tops were looking very finely.

184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

That drouth came, the tops died, and consequently I had a
very slim yield of potatoes.

I have heard some gentlemen speak ahout putting ashes in
the hill. My experience has been, in the cultivation of pota-
toes, that ashes on top of the hill do much better than in the
hill. When tliey are put in the hill the potatoes are often
rough and present an uneven surface, whereas, when put on
top of the hill, they are much smoother, and my impression
is that ashes or even plaster is as beneficial on top of the hill,
and perhaps more so, than in the hill. In a number of very
scientific experiments made by the Massachusetts State Soci-
ety, the result was almost invariably in favor of the applica-
tion on top of the hill, of ashes, plaster of Paris, and other
fertilizers that are not volatile. Some ten or twelve vears
ago, Mr. Dyer, the former secretary of our State Society, sug-
gested to me the propriety of using a mixture of ashes, salt,
and plaster, at the rate of ten bushels of ashes, a bushel of
plaster and a bushel of salt, mixing them together some
few days before I wanted to use them. By the by, I might
say, that when I make that application I do it immediately
after planting, before the tender shoots come up. I had had
very poor luck in raising good-sized Dover potatoes, and I
took about one-quarter of my ground that season and made
this application of ashes, salt, and plaster, as suggested by
Mr. Dyer, and 1 never saw finer or more sizable Dover pota-
toes than I got from that field. That, I believe, was a wet
season. I tried the same experiment afterwards, without any
visible result.

Considerable has been said in praise of the Peerless potato.

I thought a great deal of the Climax from its great produc-
tiveness the first season I planted it. That was two years
ago when the potato crop was very good with us. I gave
some of them to a friend of mine in the town of Pomfret,
who planted them by the side of the Peerless. I called upon
him sometime, I think, in the month of September, and he
asked me to look at his potatoes. He dug a hill of the Peer-
less and a hill of the Climax, and I must confess that I never
saw more beautiful looking potatoes, or a more abundant

POTATOES. 135

yield, in ray life than those Peerless. I think that they would
yield one-third more than the Climax, if not twice as many.
I think that he said they were a good quality of potato.

Mr. Lyman. Just one word. I think the difficulty in re-
gard to potatoes manured with ashes not coming up, is owing
to the fact that a heavy rain comes immediately after plant-
ing, while the ashes are near the top of the ground, and there
is such a strong lye made that it destroys the growing tuber.
On wet ground I should certainly never put ashes in the hill,
but on dry ground I would put them there, for I think they
attract moisture and tend to keep the ground more moist,
and the plant will be more likely to grow.

Question. Has it been decided whether it is better to hill
potatoes or not ?

The President. I will say that it is pretty generally con-
ceded that a shallow covering is the most desirable. Last
spring I was desirous of reclaiming a piece of land that I had
which was quite bushy. The bushes that predominated were
thorns, to which I was compelled to hitch my cattle to ex-
tract them from the soil. This was quite early in April. In
reclaiming this land 1 thought I would try the experiment of
planting in a furrow, dropping in my manure and potatoes,
and then passing a plow along and covering the potatoes by
the plow. Being on a steep side-hill, I had the advantage of
a swivel plow. I think I covered those potatoes not less than
seven inches, and some of them probably nine. As you
would naturally suppose, they were a long time in coming up,
but the result was, the best potatoes that I gathered last fall
were the potatoes that were covered to this depth. I planted
three furrows of Silver Lake (the Mercer proper), the E;irly
Rose, and a seedling of my own, of which Mr. Gold has spoken.
The yield of Early ^Rpse was very light ; my seedling gave an
excellent crop, and I tliink that the Mercers were somewhere
about three-fourths that of my own seedling. I think the
yield of the best of them was not less than three hundred
and fifty bushels to the acre. Now. my principal object in
stating this, is, to know whether or not the turning of this
furrow over upon them to that depth, was best, and the cause

136 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

of the successful result. You see the potato was covered to
a great depth. .

Mr. White, of Putnam. I think we have now hit upon
one of the most important questions connected with potato
raising. Some thirty-five years ago I remember that my
grandfather let out half of an eight-acre lot to be planted.
The man who took the four acres to plant planted his potatoes
very deep — as much as four inches, at least. My grandfather
did- not plant his more tlian half as deep. It was a level
piece of clay land, deep loam, which would stand a drouth
well and which would stand wet well. The result was that
our lialf of the potatoes on the part that we let out was
worth more than the whole on our own piece : and I have no-
ticed it invariably, that where I have covered deep I have had
the greatest yield of potatoes. Two years ago this last spring
Iliad a young man from West Woodstock planting, and I
charged him to plant very deep. After speaking to him as
much as a dozen times while he was planting four rows across
the piece, and not being able to get him to do it I thought I
would put him to shoveling, and planted the rest of the piece
myself; and on that part of the piece which I planted deep,
there were twice as many potatoes as there were on the other
part. I have never known it to fail. I would not think, on
good loamy land, of planting potatoes less than three or four
inches deep. As the chairman spoke about their coming up
late, you will find that potatoes, as a general thing, will come
up much quicker if planted four or five inches deep than if
planted only two inches ; and I have observed for years that
the quicker the potato comes upafter being planted, tlie stock-
er and more rugged it is, and it seems to maintain that vigor,
other things being equal, through the season.

Another point has been suggested — in reference to planting
small potatoes or small pieces. I have tried that experiment
for years. My experience has been, that if you pick out
your largest potatoes to plant from, year after year, no matter
what the kind is, you will find that you will have less small
potatoes, after you have tried it two years, and a greater
yield. That has been my invariable exoerience. I never

POTATOES. 137

saw much difference, in planting small potatoes one year, but
the second year they would run down ; there would be none
so large and there would be a great quantity of little ones-
My experience has been that large potatoes, cut, have always
given me the best and the most sizable ones, and the greatest
yield.

For the last ten or fifteen years I have used, almost invari-
ably, ashes, plaster, and lime, mixed, and every time I have
left rows where I have not used this mixture, to see if it had
any effect, I have found that I have got a better yield and bet-
ter potatoes where I used it, and they have generally been
more free from rot. Before the potato-rot came on, I used to
manure very heavily in the hill, and got large crops, but I
found that I must abandon that, and since tiicn I have plowed
in my manure and used plaster, lime, and ashes. This last
year I tried a different experiment on a piece of land a little
sidling, descending to the southwest — a deep, yellow loam.
I plowed perhaps six inches deep, and plowed in coarse ma-
nure. Then I took green manure from the windows of the
barn, and put a half shovelful in a hill. Then I took a
a small handful of that lime, plaster and ashes, and put in
the hill and made my men cover it as deep as I could, keeping
watch and talking all the time. Th-ey came up very well and
looked finely. About the time of hoeing, the bugs troubled
me considerably ;. the vines were perhaps nine inches or a
foot high, and they began to eat them. So I took plaster and
sowed it all over the vines when the dew was on them. I
think those potatoes were planted about the first of April ;
they were plowed a second time in August, and kept green
until the frost came. I rather attribute their keeping green
so late to the plaster I sowed on them. I will say that by
cutting the larger potatoes you have fewer stalks in the hill,
and they grow more vigorously. The first time I tried this
experiment of plowing in the manure and using plaster, ashes,
and lime, I cut my potatoes very fine and I did not use quite
five bushels to the acre. You may think that was too little.
One, two, three and four stalks came up — very seldom five.
In digging those potatoes I watched very closely, and I no-

138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ticed that the hills that had two or three stalks invariably-
yielded the most. This was yellow, loamy land. My process
•was this : I put on from twenty to twenty-five loads of good
hog manure, spread it over tlic ground, and plowed it in. I
did not harrow or brush ; I never do that for anything, be-
cause I think it is a waste of time and makes harder work in
cultivating my land. I plant not more than the thickness of
the potato below the soil, cover them deep, and I have inva-
riably got good crops in that way.

Mr. Gould. I am unable to give you any information from
my own experience in relation to the deep planting of pota-
toes. With regard to the question of Gov. Hyde, it seems to
me that there must necessarily have been from the circum-
stances of the plowing, a very great degree of pulverization.
In that case, there would be an admission of air through the
interstices of the soil, which would, in point of fact, be equiva-
lent to planting the potato more shallow. The access of air
would be the same. Such would be my opinion.

Mr. Yeomans, of Columbia. Perhaps the practice of a
neighbor of mine which I have noticed may throw some light
upon that question, and I will relate it as near as I can. After
the ground has been plowed, preparatory to planting, it is fur-
rowed rather deeply. Into this furrow he strews fine yard or
composted manure. Then I think he cuts his potatoes into
pieces, with from two to three eyes to a piece, and drops those
pieces from a foot to a foot and a half a part. Then he takes
his team and covers them with two furrows. In that condi-
tion the field is left, until the potatoes just begin to show
themselves above the surface ; then he talces a light harrow,
with short wooden teeth, from four to six inches long, and
harrows it over thoroughly, so that in fact it leaves the ground
level, removing the weeds ; and in hoeing, it is left as nearly
level as possible. So far as I have noticed, he invariably has
good success in raising potatoes. He always gets what may
be termed a large crop of good-sized potatoes — from 250 to
300 bushels to the acre.

Perhaps a little personal experience that I had the past
season may apply to this same point. I planted some potatoes

POTATOES. 139

in a furrow, with the hills some two feet apart. The furrow
was quite deep, and I put in it for a fertilizer, a shovel-full of
partially decayed buckwheat straw and old hay. It had
arrived at such a state of decomposition that it was fine and
very loose. I dropped the potatoes and covered them quite
deeply. In hoeing, the ground was left very nearly level. I
cannot say whether the old straw had anything to do with it,
but when I came to dig the potatoes, I found them the clean-
est and nicest I ever raised, and as large.

Mr. Hart, of Cornwall. My own experience in relation to
potatoes has led me to three conclusions : first, tliat it is
necessary to select pure seed ; second, that it is beneficial to
change the seed often ; and, tiiird, that we should adapt the
cultivation to the habits of each variety. For instance, in the
Early Rose, if the cultivation is shallow, a part of the potato
will be exposed to the sun and the light, and will turn green
and be very much injured. My own practice the past season
has been like this : One section of my piece of potatoes was
planted with Early Rose, the next with Peachblow, the next
with Colebrook Seedliiig, the next with a mixture of Oolebrook
Seedling and the Dover. Last year, I planted my Early Rose
shallow, and probably one third of the crop was ruined for
table use from its exposure. This year, I plowed a deep fur-
row, and put them into the bottom of the furrow, and in hoe-
ing, I instructed my hands to cover them well. The conse-
quence was, there was no exposure, and not a single tuber
was injured. In part of the hills I put in, just for experiment,
perhaps a table spoonful of Coe's superphosphate, which pro-
duced a smooth potato, as smooth as an egg, and of uniform
size. There were hardly any small potatoes, and none of them
too large for table use.

The Peachblow is a potato that, with me, grows deeper in
the soil, but I planted it the same as the Early Rose. The
tops grew enormously, and blossomed like a flower bed. The
produce from them was a little over half what it was from the
Early Rose.

Now I am going to touch upon another point, that may call
out the experience of others ; and that is, in relation to the

140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

purity of the seed. A few. years ago, my seed having deteri-
orated, I obtained of a neighbor some Colebrook Seedlings for
seed, and the result was very satisfactory. I was raising the
Dover at the same time, and I became negligent and allowed
the seed to get mixed, and planted them together for two or
three years. I wished to secure again, for spring use, the
Colebrook Seedling, and last spring, I selected with my own
hands all the Colebrook Seedling variety, rejecting entirely all
the potatoes that had any appearance of the Dover. I sup-
posed I was going to get the pure product of that variety. I
went to the field myself and saw them dug, and I do not know
that there was a hill of pure Colebrook Seedlings; there was
a mixturje still. I could not account for it. I do not know
whether any one has had the same experience or not.

One thing more, in relation to the question the gentleman
asked about hoeing potatoes. One season, owing to sickness,
there was about a quarter of an acre of my patch of potatoes
that went unhoed. It was planted as nearly upon a level
surface as possible. The piece was a little stony, and it was
not furrowed out, but places for the potatoes made with a hoe.
There was no after cultivation upon that part of the piece,
but the best potatoes we had that season grew upon that
piece of ground. The difference was decidedly in favor
of this level and uncultivated part. But there are certain
conditions which should be observed in these experiments.
This quarter of an acre to which I refer had never been
plowed before, that I know of, and that may have been the
reason ; the other land had been cultivated. So that the con-
dition of the soil, after cultivation, and manuring, must al^
be taken into consideration, because all these circumstances
go to vary the result ; and it is just as important to know these
various conditions and circumstances, as it is to know the
result, and perhaps more so.

Dr. Eiggs. Were those potatoes hybrids ? That is, were
they crossed ?

Mr. Hart. No, sir. They were distinct in the same hill,
Colebrooks and Dovers, where I took the utmost pains to
select nothing but Colebrook Seedlings.

POTATOES. 141

Question. Is it not rather difficult, in the spring of the
year, to pick out tlie Dover from the Colebrook SeedUngs, and
some others ? Do they not undergo certain changes, so that
the variety is not so easily determined in the spring as in
the fall ?

]\[r. Hart. Both varieties have very marked characteris-
tics. The Colebrook Seedling is an oblong round potato, with
eyes even with the surface, while the Dover has more of a
spherical shape, with deep, hollow eyes. The characteristics
are so distinct, that it is not very difficult to distinguish the
varieties.

Dr. Kiggs. They must have been hybridized, if the gentle-
man planted nothing but Colebrook Seedlings, and there were
two kinds in the hill when dug. I thought the question had
been settled, that potatoes would not mix in the hill.

Mr. Sanger. I am aware that the hoar is late, but I would
like to say a word upon a single point in this connection, whicli
has not been touched upon, as to varieties in potatoes. Be-
fore alluding to that, however, I will say, in reference to the
remark which has just been made, that I have found in my
experience, that it is very easy to be deceived. A few Dover
potatoes mixed with other varieties will very much deteriorate
them, because the Dovers are prolific in small ones, and
wo are in the habit of planting small potatoes, and unless a
man is a very careful observer, he will find the Dover when
he thinks he has planted the Garnet Chili. We do not select
our seed in the fall, but put our potatoes away in the cellar,
and in the spring, many plant what are left, and plant Dover
potatoes, when they think they are planting something else.
They will get the Davis Seedling and the Chili, whicli closely
resemble each other, mixed, and when they undertake to soit
them, they will pick up a great many that they cannot tell
whether they are the Davis or the Chili.

I was going to speak as to varieties. Our farmers are be-
ginning to find out what kind of potatoes to raise. There are
more Davis Seedlings, I venture to say, in this region,
than any other kind of potato, and they meet with the readi-
est sale. It is impossible to sell the White Rusty Coat. It is

142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

no use raising them with the expectation of selling them in
our villages. Our foreign population occupy a good many
farms, small places, and raise a great many potatoes for
market, and they almost invariably plant the Davis Seedling.
But I can raise more good sizable potatoes for market from
the Garnet Chili than from the Davis Seedling, and I know
other farmers whose experience corresponds with mine. The
Rose for early planting, the Garnet Chili and tlie Davis Seed-
ling, are the three standard varieties in this region. We have
a great market for potatoes in all these villages, and besides,
there are thousands of bushels sent to Providence, and the
Seedling will sell as readily as any. I can sell the Davis
Seedling in these factory villages sooner than the Early Rose ;
but the Early Rose is sought after by our native-born popula-
tion. They would rather have it than the Seedling.

Mr. Robinson, of Hampton. A very important question
has been asked here this evening in regard to hilling potatoes.
I do not know that it has been answered satisfactorily, and I
do not know that I can answer it satisfactorily to the gentle-
man who made the inquiry. A number of years ago, I lived
in Canterbury, and improved a farm that lay in the valley of
the Quinnebaug. It was dry, sandy, or gravelly soil. I came
to the conclusion, from experiments that I tried there, that
flat cultivation was the best. I afterwards moved to the hilly
land in Hampton, away from the river, on a gravelly loam,
mixed with clay, and there I have tried the same experiments,
and I find I have much better success to hill my potatoes. I
have come to the conclusion that on sandy soil, flat cultivation
is the best ; but on a diflFerent kind of soil, like that I am now
on, it is better to hill them. I used to think it was better to
spread the manure, but I now find that I can do better by
putting the manure in the hill. My soil is wet, and I have to
put the manure in the hill to keep the potato out of that wet,
cold soil, and I can do much better there to hill my potatoes.

The matter of harrowing has been alluded to. Last spring,
I happened to be in Pennsylvania, and I saw them bushing
their potatoes after they came up. It looked to me like rather
harsh treatment.

POTATOES. 143

Mr. Gold. I stated yesterday that I used the Thomas
smoothing harrow this last spring, with excellent results. It
destroyed all the weeds, and pulverized the surface. It was
done just as the potatoes were coming out of the ground. It
scarcely disturbed one of them, and answered a most excellent
purpose.

Mr. Currier, of Bridgeport. Is not the time of hilling of
more importance than whether flat-hilled or not ? My expe-
rience has been, that if you hill potatoes after the tubers be-
gin to set, it destroys more or less of them, and invariably
makes an inferior crop. I never allow myself to hill my po-
tatoes or disturb the ground after the tubers begin to set. If
I do, I never get a good crop.

Mr. Hubbard, of Middletown. I have practised harrowing
potatoes for a great many years. I think it is the cheapest
way of cultivating them. I never give them but one hoeing
afterwards. I have sometimes harrowed them two or three
times, the last time after the potatoes appeared so that you
could discern the rows across the field. Although it seems,
as the gentleman says, like rather harsh treatment, I have
never found that the plants suffered at all. I have used the
common harrow, just the same as I would in any other field,
and I think the practice is one that accomplishes a great deal
of labor with trifling expense.

Mr. Wakeman. We all admit that it is best to change the
seed. Does it make any difference whether we get the seed
north or south, in regard to the earliness or lateness of the
crop ?

Mr. Lyman. I can introduce a little illustration on that
point. As I stated yesterday, a cousin of mine, in Columbia,
planted some potatoes that came from Mr. Breese in Vermont,
with others saved by himself for seed, and in digging them he
found that the potatoes which grew from the Vermont seed —
they were the Peerless and Breese's King of the Earlies —
were a week or ten days earlier than those which came from
his own seed.

Mr. Gould. The gentleman behind me has suggested a
questifti of very considerable importance, as it seems tome. My

144 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

own experience coincides with that of one gentleman who
has spoken. I have invariably found that when potatoes
have been hoed after the tubers had started, a new set makes
its appearance, and the result is a whole bill full of small,
worthless potatoes.

Col. JMead, of Greenwich. I merely rise to express an idea

that was fully concurred in, I believe, by the potato-raisers in

my section, and that is, that the cultivation of the crop ought

to be closed about the time the blossom buds make their

appearance.

Mr. Yeamans. Is it not a fact that these small potatoes wiU
set after each hoeing, if there are three ?

Mr. Gould. I have found it so.

Mr. Lyman. That is my experience exactly. Every year
we have a lot of these little potatoes that never come to ma-
turity. My practice has always been to close tlie cultivation
as soon as I see the blossoms come, because I think it injures
the crop to disturb them afterwards.

Mr. Gould. Will you allow me to make an inquiry for my
own satisfaction ? I wish to inquire what is found to be the
most economical mode of digging potatoes in Connecticut ?

Col. Mead, of Greenwich. I would say a word in relation
to my method of planting potatoes. In the first place, I usu-
ally plant them in drills and cover them with the plow, using
two horses so that one shall be on one side of the row and
the otb.cr on the other — covering them perhaps six inches
deep. About ten days after they are planted, I take a light
inch and a half plank, ten inches wide, the lower edges
champered off, with a couple of handles on it, and go over
the field. This takes off about two and a half inches from
the top of the ridges, cleans them off, and the potatoes come
up without any weeds whatever. As soon as the potato
makes its appearance I start the plow, which destroys the
weeds between the rows, and my potatoes are nearly clean.
By this method but little or no hilling is required.

As to digging ; I run the plow each side, and it facilitates
digging fully one-third. A man can go over a large piece in
a day with a couple of horses, so as to carry the plow steady
— no dodging.

POTATOES. 145

Mr. Yeomans. There is one other matter, that was alluded
to by the gentleman from Hartford, that I should like to hear
something said upon, and that is, in regard to mixing pota-
toes. He intimated that the question was settled that they
would not mix. I will state a couple of instances and then I
should like to have tliem explained, if possible. In one ^ase,
a variety called the Rhode Island Peacliblow, which is known
as a white potato, with splashes of red occasionally on it, was
planted by the side of a red potato, the name of which I do not
recollect, and in digging the Rhode Island Peachblows there
were a great many potatoes found in those hills that were en-
tirely red, and similar to the red variety planted by the side
of them, whatever it was. The next year those that were
supposed to be pure Peachblows were sorted out and planted,
but they yielded a much larger proportion of that red variety
than the first year. Then another case which occurred some
fifteen or twenty years ago. There was a kind of potato
raised called the " Black or Silver Lake," and that was
planted by the side of a very light red or pinkish variety, and
while the black potato did not change in the least, the stem
end — the bud end, I might say — of the pink potato was no-
ticed to be of a very dark color, approaching the color of th.e
black potato ; and upon planting some of those potatoes the
next year a large proportion of the product was nearly black.
Now if there was no mixing of those potatoes, I would like
these facts explained.

Dr. Riggs. It is the most difficult thing in the world for
any person to go into his cellar in the spring of the year (I
find it so, at least) and select from the various kinds of pota-
toes there, all of a particular variety, unless, in the fall of the
year he has been very particular to barrel up those he wants
for seed and put them one side, for the women, when they go
down to get potatoes, take some out of one bin and some out
of another, and throw them around in all sorts of ways. The
result is, that when the man goes to get his seed potatoes in the
spring he is very apt to get some, at least, of the wrong kind.
From the very nature of potatoes they cannot mix in the hill.
The potmto, in the first place, is not the seed ; it is merely a

10

146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

part of the plant. To put it in the ground in a certain form
and have a different kind of potato come, from it would be
something as if you should cut out some branches of an Isa-
bella vine, cut them up into lengths of one or two eyes, keep
them in your cellar until spring, then plant them out and get
Hartford Prolifics or Concords from them. The potato seed
is from the balls and that is the only seed that the potato has.
If there is any gentleman present who has been accustomed
to hybridize potatoes, and to grow them from the ball, he will
testify to the fact that by fertilizing the blossoms of one kind
of potato with another, he can get a great many different kinds
of potatoes from those balls by planting the seeds. The first
year they will be very small ; the next year the product will
be a little larger, and the next a little larger still. That is the
way the Rev. Mr. Goodrich has obtained the Garnet Chili, the
Early Goodrich, the Pinkeye Rustycoat, and half a dozen
other kinds which he has given to us. Only a few of the
thousands he has cultivated have proved to be worth one far-
thing, but those he has given us have restored, as it were, cur
potato crop from the almost annihilating rot; and from that
source alone we shall have to recuperate that excellent escu-
lent, without which neither this nation nor any other can get
along. We must recuperate it occasionally. There must be
some Rev. Mr. Goodrich, or some other gentleman, whose love
of agriculture is almost a passion, to take the same trouble in
a few years more, and give us a new series — perhaps of the
Early Rose or some other potato more excellent still.

Mb. Yeomans. My impressions and my convictions would
have been precisely the same as those of the gentleman who
has just taken his seat, if it were not that they had been
interfered with by the fact I have stated. Why was it that
the first year (without any chance to mix in the cellar, to
which the gentleman has referred) the planting of those two
varieties, side by side, produced a different kind. I will say,
to preclude the idea that there was any mistake, that those
potatoes were very marked in their characteristics. It was not
the case of the selection of two red potatoes so nearly alike that
it would be .almost impossible to make a distinction, biit one of"

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 147

the varieties was nearly white, with those splashes of red; the
other a red potato.

The Chairman. How do they differ in quality?

Mr. Yeomans. The quality was decidedly given to this
mongrel by the red potato. It is poor. It is not fit to eat.

Mr. Olcott. I have raised the Rhode Island Peachblow,
called the White Apple, and I have noticed that some seasons
it has been much redder than in other seasons, and the years
when the potatoes were red the quality was invariably poor.
The other instance of the apparent mixture of the old Black
Mercer with some other potato, I cannot account for, but the
red patches he observed, it seems to me, are easily explained.
I have observed the same thing with the Red Peachblow a
good many times, to my chagrin. I do not like them.

Adjourned to Thursday, at 10 A. M.

THIRD DAY.

The meeting was called to order soon after ten o'clock on
Thursday morning by Vice-President Hyde, who stated that
Prof. Johnson would continue his lecture of yesterday.

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS.

Prof. Johnson. I was speaking yesterday on the peculiar-
ities of plants wWch enable them to act differently on the
stores of nutriment which may be supplied to them in the
soil. I spoke of the difiFerences in the absolute quantity of
roots which various plants put out into the soil, and also of
the differences in the depths of roots ; and gave some illus-
trations on those points. I propose to speak this morning of
the different structure of the foliage of plants.

We know with absolute certainty that a large share of the

148 BOARD OF AGRICDLTURE.

feeding of the plant is done through the leaves. We cannot
certainly tell how much goes on through the leaves and liow
much through the roots, in highl}^ manured and very rich
soil, but experiments have demonstrated that all the carbon
of the plant (which is about fifty per cent, of the weight of
the dry plant) may come from the atmosphere ; it is not nec-
essary that any of it should come from the soil. The seeds
of various agricultural plants — Indian corn, oats, barley, etc.
— have yielded a larger increase under artificial circumstances,
where the roots had no carbon whatever at their disposal,
than is ever produced under field culture. It is a well-known
fact of agricultural practice, that soils which are nearly des-
titute of vegetable matter, and therefore have no considerable
source of carbon in them, will produce lai-ge crops. Some
very sandy soils, containing but little carbon, may be made to
produce heavy crops by irrigation. Crops are also raised on
soils free from organic matter, or from sources of carbon, by
the aid of fertilizers which themselves furnish nothing of that
sort.

Carbon, then, which makes up half of the weight of the
dry plant, is always chiefly supplied by the atmosphere and
may be supplied by the atmosphere exclusively. It is not
necessary that it should be in the soil. The nitrogen of the
plant, which forms indeed a small proportion — two per cent,
perhaps, as an average— of the dry plant, is still an impor-
tant ingredient, for without it vegetation cannot exist.

Some crops have the power of gathering nitrogen without
any difficulty ; they not only supply themselves with it but
they even cause its accumulation in the soil. There are other
crops which are dependent upon artificial supplies of nitro-
gen, unless the soil be naturally very rich in this element —
crops which, if we undertake to raise thsm continuously on the
same field, presently begin to show that they lack something,
while if we apply nitrogenous compounds as fertilizers, the
growth is ensured. We do not know in full detail how plants
acquire a sufficient supply of nitrogen from the atmosphere,
but we conclude, with great probability, from the results of
practice, that different plants draw on the natural supplies of
nitrogen in a different way.

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 149

Let US consider how the structure and habits of two typi-
cal crops, wheat and clover, stand in relation to their power
of assimilating atmospheric nourishment. In respect of
foliage we cannot certainly say that the wheat plant or
the wheat crop when full grown, exposes a less surface to
the air than full grown clover, but we know that the leaves
of wheat, as of all our cereals, maintain their green color
and succulence during a much shorter time than is true of
clover. In case of winter grain the period of leaf-activity
usually begins in October and ends shortly after heading out,
in June, some weeks before the crop is harvested. Clover, on
the other hand, is not arrested in its growth by any crisis of
seed-production, but, when cut for hay, sends up new shoots,
unfolds new leaves, and shortly yields an aftermath, its
growth going on uninterruptedly all the summer and late into
autumn, until checked by heavy frosts.

That the actual leaf surface of the clover crop, taking its
duration into account, is much greater than that of the wheat
crop, I do not doubt, because although the total weight of
the harvested crops is, on the averaojp, not very unlike when
clover is cut for hay,* the total amount of vegetable matter
organized is much greater in case of clover than in that of
wheat, as appears from the table on page ninety-six, where
clover roots are seen to constitue two-fifths (equal to six-
fifteenths) of the entire plant, while the roots of rye, which
doubtless do not differ much from those of wheat, are but
one-fifteenth of the entireplant.

You see that the foliage and mode of life of these two
classes of plants are very different for the purposes of gather-
ing food fi-om the atmosphere, and they must therefore be ex-
pected to leave the soil in a very different condition, because

* Corresponding crops are, according to

Winter Wheat. Clover.

Lbs. per acre. Lbs. per acre.

E. Wolff, . 6.230 5,340

Lippc-Weisenfcld, 5,760 6,330

Rohde, ....... 4,270 to 6,400 3,480 to 5,230

150 BOARD OP AGRICITLTURE.

their roots remain there, and the material of those roots is
gathered very largely from the atmosphere ; so that when we
raise a grain crop we leave in the soil a small quantity of ma-
terial taken from the air, but when we cultivate a deep-rooted
plant which grows the season through, we leave a large amount
of atmospheric matter in the soil.

Again, in ordinary culture some plants are permitted and
required to reach a crisis of growth which others are not al-
lowed to attain. This crisis is seed-production.

Our meadow grasses are of the same botanical order as the
cereal grains ; which means that all these plants are of the
same great race and closely resemble each other in their
most characteristic features. The noble wheat and the scoun-
drel quack are, in fact, brothers of the same family, both be-
ing of the genus Triticum. The latter is sometimes termed
wheat-grass, as if in allusion to this brotherhood. There are
two other grasses, vagabond members of the wheat family,
living obscurely in this country. Barley and the ' oat have
each two brothers of low degree — worthless grasses, living on
salt or sandy shores, or^on rocky hills, and unknown to the
cultivator.

If wheat, instead of being allowed to ripen its seed, as is
our universal practice, should be mown or fed off just before
heading out, it would throw out new shoots and continue to
grow the summer and autumn through, would come on the
second year and deport itself as a perennial ; would in fact,
become grass in the usual sense of that word. Wheat is pro-
bably not hardy enough to make a good substitute for Timo-
thy, but it is sufficiently so to justify our statement.

The reason why wheat under our culture is an annual is
that the process of seeding exhausts the plant, and as a con-
sequence it dies out naturally. It is the universal opinion
among farmers that the meadow grasses are weakened very
much by being allowed to go to seed. I have myself ob-
served that where Timothy seed was raised the crop of grass
the next year was very small, although the soil was excellent.
The plants had suffered severely from being allowed to go to
seed, notwithstanding Timothy has a bulbous root, which

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 151

should fortify it considerably against this strain, and a small
seed, which renders the exhaustion less than is the case with
our bread-grains. The production of seed is thus a critical
thing for the life of the plant.

Let us consider again for a moment, the mode of growth
of our cereal grains. Sown in the spring, the plant comes up
and grows, slowly at first but with increasing vigor, up to the
time of "heading out" — a period of two months. Then the
growth acquires its greatest intensity. It heads out, blossoms,
and the seeds begin to form and ripen, and tiiis vv^hole pro-
cess of seed-production requires but about a month when the
weather is favorable for its completion..

In actual trials with the oat plant, it has been found by
Bretschneider and Arendt that a large share of the growth of
the over-ground part of the plant occurs at the time of head-
ing and blossom. Thus the former observed that out of 6,886
lbs. of the dry acreage yield of the oat, 3,099 lbs., or three-
sevenths of the crop, were produced from June 19th to July
8th, i. e., in nineteen days; the total period of growth being
one hundred and six days. Arendt found that three-eighths
of the total dry produce of the oat grew in twelve days, 18th
to 30th of June, the period of heading and bloom, and dur-
ing the twenty-two days between June 18tli and July 10th,
nearly three-fifths of the growth took place. [How Crops
Grow, p. 205, et seq.]

Before the seed is ripe- the lower leaves begin to turn yel-
low, and show that their activity is diminishing or has ceased
altogether, and the ripening of the plant takes place to a
great extent, by the removal of matters which have been pre-
viously stored up in the stem, leaves and roots, into the seed.
You may cut any of the grains at the root when the kernel
is in the milk, and the seed will still ripen, and although, if
you cut it too early, the kernel will shrink, it will be per-
fect in its parts and serviceable as seed-grain.

It thus appears that the cereal plant grows from the soil
and atmosphere until the seed arrives at a certain stage of
development, then the activity of the roots and foliage de-
creases, the acquisition of food from external sources gradu-

152 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ally diminishes, until it ceases altogether, the plant concen-
trates all its energies upon the seed, all its juices flow thither,
and the roots, as well as the leaves and stem, are exhausted
in the effort. The seed grows, not directly at the expense of
the soil and atmosphere, as the plant has done, but at the ex-
pense of the plant itself. It is, indeed, true in all cases that
the seed is formed from the plant itself; but there are plants
which, while feeding the seed from themselves, are still ac-
tive in gathering food from external sources ; and other
plants, like the cereals, which do not, at the same time that
they are elaborating seed, gather food from outside sufficiently
to maintain their individual life.

In contrast with the cereals, look again at the clover plant.
This starts from a seed, grows vigorously, buds, blossoms,
forms seed, and the seed ripens ; but there is not that uni-
formity in the time of budding, flowering and ripening of
clover that is noticed with wheat. In a field of wheat, if the
catch has been good and every thing is as it should be, when
one head is ripe all the heads in the field, practically, are
ripe. Every stem heads out, blossoms and ripens about the
same time. In the case of clover, you have a much greater
diversity, especially when the soil is rich and the plant grows
thriftily. If the soil is poor, you will have a nearer approach
to uniformity. When you are getting a large amount of
foliage, you will find on the same plant ripe heads and buds.
If you pick off the ripe heads the plant will still keep throw-
ing^out new buds. The process of flowering and ripening is
a continuous one, and it does not affect the vigor of the plant
to nearly the degree that happens to wheat. During all the
period of the growth of the clover plant until the seeds are
ripe, the roots are still active and the foliage still vigorous.
The quantity of seed produced by the clover plant is much
less, relatively to the weight of the plant, than the quantity
of seed produced by the wheat plant, and the energies of the
(ilover plant are relatively less occupied in ripening the seed
ithan is the case with wheat.

You would therefore expect these very different plants to
have a very different function in the rotation of crops.

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 153

An annual plant, again, one that is sown in the spring, or
in the fall, perhaps, and is harvested within 'a year, other
things being equal, will be different in its relation to the soil,
from a biennial plant, which lives two years, or a perennial
plant, which keeps along indefinitely. Now, our ordinary
grains are annuals, as we cultivate them; the clover plant is
a biennial more nearly than any thing else. When it grows
vigorously, it is usually spent in about the second year. "We
may not call it properly a biennial in a botanical sense, but
in an agricultural sense it is a two-year old plant. We can-
not depend^ ordinarily, upon having much clover from tlie sow-
ing of 1872, later than 1874, except as the result of self-seed-
ing. Our natural grasses are perennial ; they live, we do not
definitely know how long. Their mode of propagation, besides
from seed, is by root-suckers ; the old root dies, but in the
meantime it has propagated a numerous family, which succeeds
it. and the race is kept up without the trouble of sowing any
seed or giving any attention to the matter at all. Tliese dis-
tinctions make an obvious difference in the relation of the
three kinds of plants to the sul)ject of rotation of crops.

We have thus considered the plant itself, its roots, foliage,
and manner of growth ; now let us look more closely at what
remains when the crop is removed. This matter came up in-
cidentally, and a little out of order, yesterday, as I referred
to the tables on the board. When I raise a crop and harvest
it, I leave, of course, the roots in the soil, I leave the stubble
on the surface. If each crop were taken out of the soil com-
pletely, root as well as branch, so that nothing of it were left
in the field, the effect of any crop upon the soil would be
measured simply by 'what we took away. But we leave a
great deal in the soil. Ever since farming has been practised,
the value of what is left on and in the soil has been, to some
extent, appreciated, but we have not known accurately the
quantities or the relative proportion of those substances. We
have known that clover leaves much more than wheat, but
the precise relation we have not understood as we understand
it now, and we do not understand it now as we ought to and
as we shall understand it after further investigation. I re-

154 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ferred yesterday to the table of Dr. Weiske,of Proskau, which
gives the ingredients of the stubble and roots of various crops
remaining on and in an acre of land after harvest. (See
page 95.) This is the first, or nearly the first, exact experi-
ment of the kind that has ever been made, and these observa-
tions must be repeated here and there, on different soils,
before we can get entirely trustworthy data, to enable us to
make a satisfactory calculation. Still, these first results will
serve a very good purpose.

In the case of rye, for instance, you have 3400 lbs. of dry
vegetable matter remaining in the soil to the acre. Ordinary
rye straw contains some fourteen per cent, of moisture. The
vegetable matter in the table is considered free from that
variable amount of water which is always present in the plant,
unless it has been dried at the temperature of 212'^. In the
case of barley, we have about half as much as in rye — 1515
lbs. ; in oats, 2200 lbs. ; in wheat, 2240 lbs. ; in red clover,
6580 lbs. ; in buclcwheat, 1630 lbs., and so on. You see that
in the amount of matter remaining in the soil, the clover crop
far surpasses any other. If it were a fact that the organic
vegetable matter of one crop remaining in the soil, supplies
the food for the following crop, you see that what remains in
the soil from a good clover crop would furnish the material
for about three oat or wheat crops. It is not the fact, that
the vegetable matter from one crop acts as such directly to
support the succeeding crop ; but it is a fact that some of tlie
ingredients of the vegetable matter are of use to the succeed-
ing crop, and in some places must be supplied, in order that
the succeeding crop may grow. That is especially true of
nitrogen. We have in tlie clover field a residue of 180 lbs.
of nitrogen ; in rye, wc have 62 lbs. ; in oats, 25 lbs. ; in
some other crops we have a larger quantity ; you see how the
figures run. (p. 95.) This nitrogen came partly from the
atmosphere by the foliage, and partly from the soil taken up by
the roots. The clover residues contain three times as much
nitrogen as those of rye and 7 to 8 times as much as tliose of
wheat, barley, or oats. We have 246 lbs. of lime remaining
in the residue of clover — three times as much as in that of

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 155

any other crop. This, of course came from the soil. All
these shallow-rooted plants, when they succeed clover, find
ready to their hand, in the upper eight or ten inches of the
soil, material brought up by the previous clover crop from
twice that depth, or more. The clover not only furnishes to
the succeeding crop these mineral matters that were in the
upper portion of the soil, but it takes them up from a depth
where they would not be directly accessible to other plants,
and puts them where they are wanted. The clover plant
leaves in the surface soil, as the table shows, a much larger
quantity of all those materials than any other crop. The only
apparent exception is that of soda, and soda is a substance
which is not, as the best information we have upon the subject
tends to show, essential to any cultivated plant. We have
of magnesia, 46 lbs. in clover, against 14 in rye. Of potash,
77 lbs. in clover, against 30 lbs. in rye. Of sulphuric acid, we
.have 24 lbs. in the case of clover, against 12 in the case of rye.
Of phosphoric acid, which is, on the whole, the most precious
mineral substance in the soil, because it is the most costly
when we have to supply it by purchase to our fields, we have
71 lbs. in the case of clover, against 24 lbs. in the case of rye.
Now, the point comes in here again to which 1 referred
yesterday ; namely, the ratio of root to top and of foliage to
seed. In the rye crop, when ripe, I have nearly 14-15ths of
the vegetable matter above ground, (and the same is probably
true of all the grains,) and when I get off my crop, I get off
14-15ths of the whole. (See table, page 96.) Fourteen-
fifteenths of the vegetable matter is carried away in my grain
and chaff and straw, if I cut close to the ground. In the ob-
servations whose results are given in this table, there was no
stubble. If I leave stubble on the ground, I reduce the pro-
portion of removed substances. When I take off the clover
plant close to the ground, for every fifteen pounds I take off,
I leave ten pounds in the soil ; whereas, in the case of rye,
for every fourteen pounds I take off, I leave only one in the
soil. That is a great difference. When I cut the grain
crop low, I take it nearly all away ; but when I mow off my
clover hay, I leave two-thirds as much as I take. The

156 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

assertion which has been made, that the part of the clover
crop remaining in the soil is as good as that which goes into
the barn, finds its jnstification in these figures. They show
with precision and in detail, what observing farmers have long,
vaguely Icnown.

The reason of the truth of the old saying, that if you can
start clover, you can grow anything, is thus apparent ; and
we know further, from observation, that the habits of the
clover plant are such that we can often start on a course of
improving the soil with that plant when we could not with
what are commonly called our more valuable cereal grains.
Some years ago, I was in East Windsor, in this state, and I
was shown two fields, separated by a fence, one of which you
would call perfectly barren and useless ; on the other was a
growth of red clover a foot high, which I was told by Mr. S.
W. Bartlett of that place, had been brought up within twelve
months by the application of a bushel or two of plaster to the -
acre and turning in some sheep. I believe there was no seed
sown upon the field ; the plaster alone brought the clover in.
The plants were there in an undeveloped state, and I suppose
the plaster, by furnishing sulphuric acid and lime, both of
which are large ingredients in clover, supplied the two things,
or the one thing, it may hav-e been, which was necessary in
order to give the clover a chance to live. On the other side
of the fence, one or both of these substances was probably not
present in sufficient quantity to develop the starveling clover
plants and to start their deep roots into the soil ; but with
that start, there is no reason why that land could not be made
agriculturally profitable. It could never be converted into
such soil as the Genesee region or a western prairie, because
the original constitution or strength was not there ; but it was
a soil which might, by judicious management, be improved,
and brought up to a reasonable degree of fertility. It would
be hopeless to undertake to reclaim any such field as that by
the use of wheat grown for seed ; it might be done by rye cut
green, but it would be a much slower process than by clover.
The fields in that neighborhood had been cropped with rye
beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant. The plan had

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 157

been to take off a crop of rye once in three years, getting
about nine busliels,to the acre, leaving the soil to itself the
other two years. Three years of weathering, and atmospheric
action on that soil, put it into a condition to make a rye crop
of nine bushels to the acre.- If that rye were turned under,
instead of being cut off, so as to make the soil more retentive
of moisture, it could be brought up ; but the clover plant is
adapted to do that thing much more rapidly than the rye
plant.

We now come to an important question, viz., the possibility
of continuing the same crop on a field indefinitely. Should
you ask me if that can be done, I could answer both " Yes "
and "No," and be equally right in each reply. There are
quite a number of agricultural questions that can be answered
in just that way. Instances can be brought up in which
almost any crop has been grown continuously, without inter-
ruption, or with no more interruption than the nature of the
plant requires, for a term of years — in many cases for a long
period of time. I mentioned yesterday the experience of Mr.
Lawes, who has groAvn wheat twenty-seven years in succession
on the same soil, and, without any manure has got an average
of 16 busliels to the acre ; while with manure he has averaged
36 bushels to the acre. "VVe kno"w that tobacco can be raised
year after year on the same soil, with the help of manure and
thorough tillage. The same is true of onions, buckwheat, rye,
in fact, I do not know of any crop that may not be grown in
that way. And yet, " circumstances alter cases." Clover
will not grow on this or that farm, or on this or that field,
with such and such culture, to advantage, unless an in-
terval is allowed between the crops. In some sections, you
cannot grow rye without interruption, and anybody can find
cases in which none of our crops will succeed, for several
years in succession, or even succeed at all. These differences
depend chiefly upon the soil, not upon the plant, and it is
dangerous to make any sweeping or absolutely general state-
ment where so variable a thing as the soil is concerned.

Clover is a plant which has often given farmers a great
deal of trouble to grow year after year, or to cultivate in quick

158 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

succession. It is generally admitted as a rule of practice
that there is, ordinarily, no profit in attempting to grow
wheat two years, or, at the furthest, three years in succession
on the same soil. It is admitted to be a good plan generally
not to grow any crop more than two or three years in succes-
sion. Even our natural grasses are included in this rule, al-
though in some particular localities they do well indefinitely.
We have indeed natural meadows and pastures which are as
old as the memory of man and just as good now, for aught
that can be seen, as they ever were. But even in the case of
natural pastures we know that " circumstances alter cases."
Each farm, perhaps, may have some low-lying piece of moist
land occasionally flooded by a river, where grass can be cut
year after year, year after year. Then we have uplands which
must be broken up once in a while ; they get " hide-bound,"
and the grass runs out. These facts are familiar to you all,
and illustrate the broad statement that there are some soils
where the same crops can be cultivated for a succession of
years and other soils on which rotation is quite indispensable.
There are soils where clover has been grown once in three
years for a very long period. I have in mind a valley in the
Austrian Tyrol — the valley of Saint Martin — where this has
been done. No one living can remember the time when this
practice was not followed on certain parts of that valley.
They have a marl which is regularly put upon the land, and
by its use the clover crop continues undiminished from gene-
ration to generation. Its growth there is also very luxuriant,
the ordinary clover stems being five or six feet in height.
This is a very remarkable case of natural clover ground kept
unexhausted by a native fertilizer. But the land of Mr.
Lawes, adjoining the fields where he raised wheat without in-
terruption for twenty-seven years, would not carry clover ex-
cept at quite long intervals. Mr. Lawes made a series of
experiments on this land, beginning in 1848 and going on un-
til 1860, in which he applied stable dung, coleseed cake, su-
per phosphate of lime, sulphates of potash, soda, and mag-
nesia, sulphate and muriate of ammonia, soot, and fresh
burned lime, singly and in various combinations. The fol-

I

ciOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 159

lowing is a sketch of the history of the crops obtained from
four acres, divided into eighteen plats, during twelve years :
1848 ; sown to clover and barley, having been heavily ma-
nured the previous season and borne a large crop of Swedish
turnips. 1849 ; manured with various applications. Three
cuttings yielded at rate of from three and three -fourths to
nearly five tons per acre. Seeded in fall to wheat. 1850 ;
in spring clover-seed was sown on the young wheat. The
wheat yield was at rate of twenty-seven to thirty-six bushels
per acre. After harvest, the clover catch not being good, the
land was plowed. 1851 ; after manuring again, clover-seed
was drilled in, April 28 ; came up well and was cut in Sep-
tember. Best yield was at rate of one and one-third ton of
hay. 1852 ; clover looked well in winter, but in March symp-
toms of failure became apparent in many of the plats; later
it died out in patches, more or less, in all the plats, still on
the whole a good plant remained, and two cuttings gave hay
on best plats at rate of two and one-fourth to three tons
per acre. 1853 ; plants stood fairly through the winter but
nearly all died off in spring. Land was then plowed and fresh
clover-seed drilled in ; plants came up weak. There was no
crop worth cutting in autumn and during winter nearly the
whole died off. 1854 ; field was plowed and left fallow till Sep.
tember. After heavy manuring (twenty tons yard manure per
acre on some portions, and 5,000 pounds quick-lime on oth-
ers) clover-seed was drilled in October 10. Plants came up,
but died off during winter. 1855 ; clover-seed drilled in
April 14. Best crop was at rate of one and one-quarter ton
of hay per acre. Plants died in winter. 1856 and 1857
land was left fallow. 1858 ; sown to barley without further
manure ; crop fifty-eight to sixty-five bushels per acre. 1859 ;
without manuring, sowed to clover. Crop cut in September
was one to one and one-half ton hay per acre. 1860 ; plant
looked well through winter, but as spring advanced died off
rapidly, and in June the few remaining plants had a stunted
and unhealthy appearance.

Thus, after seven sowings and the liberal use of every fer-
tilizing element, Mr. Lawes was compelled to see a complete

160 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

failure of the attempt to keep his laud in clover. He relates
that in the rotations customarily practised in his neighbor-
hood, a good yield of clover can be relied upon once in six or
eight years.

Dr. Riggs. The land was what they call " clover-sick."

Prof. Johnson. " Clover-sick," and finally clover-dead !

Mr. Lawes made another interesting trial on a piece of orig-
inally similar ground, which had, however, been used as a
kitchen-garden probably for two or three centuries. It was
sown to clover early in 1854, and from this one sowing the
plant grew well, without further manure, for six years and
yielded in that time fourteen cuttings, at the rate of twenty-
six tons of hay per acre for the six years, or four and one-
third tons yearly.

In discussing the causes of clover sickness, Mr. Lawes
suggested that the assumption that clover requires a portion
of food to be supplied by the soil in the form of certain or-
ganic compounds — vegetable matters or humus, such as are
contained in garden earth and come from the yard manure,
would perhaps explain why the crop failed on ordinary soil,
but should succeed in a garden which had been heavily ma-
nured perhaps for centuries. Mr. Lawes did not assert that
this was the reason, only that it might be.

But I think we have facts enough to justify us in conclud-
ing that that is not the reason. When a student in Germany,
I saw an experiment by Dr. Wolff of tlie Academy at Ho-
henheim, which he was in the habit of making for the benefit
of his classes. He took a quantity of rather poor soil, and
calcined it in a clay muffle — a kind of oven which is heated
by fire burning all around it, so that its sides are brought to
a bright redness. This operation completely burned out all
the organic matter of whatever kind that was originally in the
soil. To that soil he added the various components of the
ashes of plants which are given in the table page 78, viz. :
lime, magnesia, potash, soda, phosphoric acid, etc., in proper
proportions, together with a certain quantity of saltpetre —
nitrate of potash — and in that soil he raised the most beauti-
ful clover. You can grow anything to perfection in that

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 161

way. You do not need a particle of organic matter in the
soil for the growth of any plant. Many plants have been
grown in simple water in which the mineral elements of the
plant, including nitrates, were dissolved or suspended.

The suggestion that the result, in the case to which Mr.
Lawes refers, was due to the absence of vegetable matter,
must therefore be reo:arded as destitute of foundation. I be-
lieve that if he had spaded his land as deep as the roots of clo-
ver go, and had fertilized it well to the same depth, he would
have cured the clover-sickness effectually.

The weight of evidence goes to show that this " disease"
is owing to the lack of nutritive material in the lower strata
of soil, where the long clover-roots go, and where they must find
nutriment. Those soils which are naturally adapted to clover
are those in which an equivalent to deep manuring is created
by the disintegration of the soil itself to a considerable depth.

Mr. Lyman. We have instances in this county where clo-
ver has grown for thirty years, in deep soil.

Mr. Gould. The soil of the Genesee wheat lands, where their
regular practice has been, for seventy or eighty years, to alter-
nate clover and wheat — wheat is their staple crop, and always
has been, and they always prepare for it by a crop of clover —
is what you would call a rich loam, mixed to a considerable
depth with fragments of a slaty rock. This slaty rock decora-
poses so rapidly as to keep the soil constantly rich, and rich to
a considerable depth. It does not decompose on the surface
rapidly enough, so that they can get a wheat crop every year,
but if they put on clover, and let its roots go down where there
are materials which the roots of the wheat plant cannot reach,
and bring those up to the surface, then their wheat crop runs
right along, and if rust or insects do not interfere with it,
they get a large yield every time they try it. They have two
years of clover and one of wheat.

Prof. Johnson. Do they cut tlie clover entirely off?

Mr. Gould. They do, one year. They generally have a
pretty good crop before they plow it in. They plow it in,
usually, about the first of August.
11

162 BOAED OF AGEICULTURE.

Dr. Eiggs. They take off the first crop, and plow m the
second.

Prof. Johnson. There are some further facts in regard to
clover which are very interesting. Dr. Yoelcker, who has
been Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England for
the last twelve years, when he was formerly in the Royal Agri-
cultural College at Cirencester, found that some of the farm-
ers in the vicinity not only thought that clover was an excel-
lent preparation for wheat, but asserted that the wheat did
better when, instead of plowing in the second crop, th.ey took
it off. The doctor we may suppose was rather incredulous ;
but he found other farmers who said, " Our wheat does best
when we let the clover ripen, and save the seed, and put the
wheat in after that." These opinions were put to him in such
a way that he could but candidly say, " It would be folly to
deny such statements on my knowledge of what is probable ;
I will look into the- matter, and satisfy myself by my own
trials. I am living here on the ground, and I can make the
experiments, and if it be true, that taking off two crops of
clover leaves the soil in better condition for wheat than when
one crop is taken off, if I examine the soil when one crop has
been taken off and when two crops have been taken off, I
ouglit to find more available nitrogen and more available
phosphoric acid in a given quantity of soil in the latter case
than in the first case ; and if it be true, that where tlie plant
has been allowed to go to seed, the preparation for wheat is
still better than in the other two cases, I ought to find still
more of those materials." He made the investrgation, and
actually found that the quantity of those nutritive materials
left in the surface-soil after the clover seed had been taken off
was greater than when two crops of clover hay had been cut,
and greater when two hay crops had been removed than when
only one had been taken off. That is due to the fact, which
I have already insisted upon, that the clover plant, after pro-
ducing its seed, is still able, when the character of the soil is
adapted to it, to continue its growth and bring up to the sur-
face-soil those materials which the wheat plant cannot reach.
We cannot, from cases of this sort deduce rules of universal

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OP CROPS. 163

application, and this English experience may not apply to the
Genesee valley or to the lands of this vicinity, because of differ-
ences of soil, but these results of Dr. Voelcker are of very great
importance. They enable us to make the experience of those
Cotswold farmers of oeneral value, by showing us the reason
of their result. They furnish us a grand contribution to our
knowledge of the capacities of the clover plant. If the farm-
ers of Genesee do not find the rule to hold good with them,
we shall find, by study, the reason for it.

Question. It is often asked. What is to be done with our
side-hill pastures in New England, that are too rough and hard
or too steep to plow and get manure on ? I have a pasture
of this kind. It is naturally moist land, pretty stony, and
it has begun to be covered with moss. Forty years ago, one
acre of it produced more feed than two do now. What shall
I do with that land ? It is considerably steep, and it would,
be very unprofitable to undertake to plow, manure, and culti-
vate it. I have been thinking of putting on a heavy harrow,
well sharpened, with a strong team, in the month of March,
when the ground is thawed say three or four inches deep, and
harrow it severely, and then sowing clover. Can we not in
that way resuscitate these old pastures, so that they will pro-
duce something again ? If I can get some information on
that point, it will be valuable to me, and I think I have neigh-
bors who would receive benefit from it. We have immense
quantities here in Windham county of moist side-hill land,
too rough to plow and cultivate. What is to become of these
pastures ? Are they to become a loss to us ?

Mr. Low. Travellers in the northern portion of this county
will find a great many acres of that kind of land which are
producing most luxuriant grass, the result of the application
of plaster and ashes. You do not need clover seed if you put
on ashes and plaster.

Prof. Johnson. There is one question to which Mr. Gold
referred in a letter to me written previous to the one which
I read yesterday, and that is, the waste of manure, which
seems to belong to the production of some crops and not to
others. Any man who for twenty-five years will cultivate a

164 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

number of plots of land with different crops and different
fertilizers, will get hold of a great many facts and find a
great many questions coming up which it would be exceed-
ingly interesting to discuss. This is what Mr. Lawes has
done. He has shown that on his land, in order to get a large
crop of wheat, he must use a great deal of one kind of ma-
nure. I mentioned yesterday that he got 16 bushels of wheat
to the acre, for twenty-seven years, in unbroken succession,
on land to which he applied no manure whatever ; that by the
use of 14 tons of stable manure per acre, applied annually,
he was able to get 36 bushels of wheat. By using all the
elements of our fertilizers, with the single exception of nitro-
gen, applying phosphates, sulphates, and nitrates of lime, mag-
nesia, potash, and soda, all the fertilizing matters which are
found in ashes, in guano, or in stable dung, nitrogen com-
pounds excepted, he raised the crop to barely 25 bushels; but
when, to one good dose of these materials, he added annually
400 lbs. of salts of ammonia, or nitrate of soda, the yield went
up to 36 bushels and held at that point for years. This differ-
ence between 25 and 36 was unquestionably due to the nitrogen
of the nitrate of soda or salts of ammonia. If the facts ad-
mit of any other inference, I do not understand the logic
which can make it.

Let us compare the quantities of nitrogen in those two ap-
plications. In the salts of ammonia, there were about 80 lbs.
of nitrogen ; in the barn-yard manure, Mr. Lawes says 200
lbs. ; but there arc usually nearer 300 lbs. of nitrogen in strong-
stable manure. It would thus appear that there must be a
great loss of nitrogen, and the wheat crop has got the repute,
among some writers, of wasting a great deal of nitrogen in its
growth.

On another plot of land, where Mr. Lawes raised barley,
he applied 200 lbs. of ammonia-salts, which contained 40 lbs.
of nitrogen, and raised 48 bushels to the acre. When he
doubled his dose, and put on 80 lbs. of nitrogen, his grain
was so heavy that it lodged and failed to ripen, and the crop
was spoiled. Without the addition of any fertilizer, the soil
gave him considerably less than half that amount.

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 165

I will mention some otlier experiments which may give us
light on this subject, made by Dr. Hellriegel, who has been
studying agricultural problems for some twenty years, having
been all this time employed in one of the Experiment Stations
kept up in Germany, partly by government and partly by
associations of individuals, for the purpose of making agri-
cultural investigations, by the help of chemistry and physi-
ology, and whatever aids can be brought to bear on these
questions. Dr. Hellriegel proposed to himself to ascertain
what quantities of the different materials which plants require
for their growth must be furnished to them in order to get a
crop. We have for some years known that phosphates and
sulphates of potash, lime, and magnesia, and nitrogen must
be given, but we need to know how much of each of these
various substances is necessary. In order to arrive at accu-
rate results. Dr. Hellriegel had to experiment under artificial
conditions. So he took for soil a perfectly pure sand, or one
as nearly free from everything that would furnish plant-food
as possible. In a large series of experiments, he mixed the
soil with a sufficient quantity of all the materials necessary
for the support of a crop, with in each case one single and
different exception. These excepted substances he added in
graduated quantities, putting one quantity in one box of soil
and a larger in another, and so on through a sub-series of
eight or nine boxes, in order to ascertain by the growth of the
plant, in which case he had hit the l^est proportion of these
ino-redients. His trials have been extended to the whole list
of the elements of the plant. In regard to water, for example,
he found that the growth was greatly influenced by the quan-
tity of this substance with which the crop was supplied.
There was a certain quantity of water in the soil necessary to
a maximum crop, other things being equal. In the sandy
soil which he experimented with, the largest yield of rye,
wheat, or oats was obtained when the soil held steadily ten
or fifteen per cent, of its weight of water. On increasing this
proportion, the straw in some cases was heavier, but the grain
was reduced in quantity. Thus the very fact that tlie amount
of rain fall is unequal in absolute quantity, and unequal in

166

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

distribution from year to year, is of itself a reason wliy you
get different crops, everything else remaining perfectly the
same. That is a matter always to be taken into consideration
in judging of the value or effects of a fertilizer. But it is the
effect of nitrogen I am coming at. Dr. Hcllriegel experi-
mented with various quantities of nitrogen (in the form of
nitrates,) applied also to cereals. The plants grew in the arti-
ficial soil, consisting of pure sand, with an admixture of ash
ingredients, in such pro^iortions as previous trials had demon-
strated to be appropriate. All the conditions of the experi-
ments were made as nearly alike as possible, except as regards
the amount of nitrogen, which in a series of eight trials ranged
from nothing to eighty-four parts in a million parts of soil.
The following table gives the results.*

Effect of various Proportions of Assimilable N

itrogen in the

Soil.

Nih-ofcen in

Yield of grain in lbs.

1,000,000 lbs.

of soil.

Wheat.

Eye.

Oats.

0.0

0.2

0.3

7

0.5

0.8

0.9

14

1.7

1.9

2.6

21

2.7

2.6

3.8

28

3.7

4.2

6.2

42

6.1

5.1

7.0

56

7.2

7.1

9.0

84

5.2

8.7

9.3

The maximum crops of wheat and rye were obtained with
eighty-four parts of nitrogen to one million parts of this soil,
but the maximum oat crop was got with fifty-six parts of
nitrogen, at least; the gain between fifty-six and eighty-four
parts of nitrogen, in the case of oats, was a mere trifle. Dr.
Hellriegel made some other observations, which he has not
reported in detail, which led him to conclude that he might
have got his best crop of wheat with seventy parts of nitrogen,
his best crop of rye with sixty-three parts, and his best crop
of oats with fifty-six parts, to a million parts of soil. This

* See also " How Crops Feed," p. 2S8.

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND EOTATION OF CROPS. 167

soil which he used was not a large absorbent or fixer of the
substances furnished to the plant. The nitrogen which he
used was in the form of nitrates, which are never absorbed
by soils, so far as we know. The matters with which he en-
riched the sand, therefore, were soluble and entirely available
to the plant. The latter had only to stretch out its roots to
obtain its food, and the quantity of soil was small, so that the
roots had not far to travel, and could so completely occupy
the soil as to come in contact with all the nourishment it con-
tained.

Question. Does nitrogen form a part of the plant ?

Peof. Johnson. Yes ; an important part, always.

Question. How large a part ?

Prof. Johnson. In the entire plant, when dry, from one-
half to two per cent. In the different parts of plants it va-
ries greatly. You have fifteen per cent, of nitrogen, for
example, in the gluten of wheat; one and one-half to two per
cent, in the wheat grain ; you have no nitrogen whatever in
pure cotton fiber ; there is no nitrogen in the sugar or in the
starch of the plant.

Question. Does it exist in the wood in the form of
nitrate ?

Prof. Johnson. No ; but in the form of what is called al-
buminoids ; something which is similar to the albumen or
white of the eggs of animals.*

Mr. S. L. Goodale, of Saco, Maine. What is the compara-
tive value of a given amount of nitrogen in ammonia salts and
in animal substances, such as blood, flesh, dung?

Prof. Johnson. It is very difficult to say ; but these ex-
periments of Mr.Lawes show that in order to get thirty-six
bushels of wheat to the acre, he used two hundred pounds of
nitrogen, in the form of stable manure, whereas eighty
pounds of nitrogen, used in the shape of salts of ammonia,
gave the same crop. The reason of that is, that the nitrogen
of the salts of ammonia is in a condition to be made immedi-
ately available to the plant, whereas the nitrogen in animal

* See " How Crops Grow," pages 94 to 109.

168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

manure exists in a form or in forms such that much of it
cannot be taken up by the plant at once, if at all. It must
undergo an alteration to become of use, and much of it, in-
stead of passing into an available condition, doubtless becomes
permanently inert.

Mr. S. L. Goodale, of Saco, Maine. What are the cir-
cumstances under which the nitrogen of manure is converted
mto ammonia, which is retained in the soil, and what the
circumstances in which it is converted into nitrates, which
may pass out of the soil ?

Prof. Johnson. So far as can be judged from our imper-
fect knowledge, a rapid decay of nitrogenous matter which
goes on with comparative exclusion of air, generates ammo-
nia ; on the other hand, where there is a large access of air,
there we have nitrates formed. But we do not know minutely
the conditions under which nitrates are produced. Another
fact to be noticed is this: that in the decay of animal matters
with access of air, there is invariably a quantity, and often a
large quantity, of nitrogen liberated in the state of free, gaseous
nitrogen, such as exists in the air about us, and which does not
assume the form either of ammonia or nitrates, and thus be-
comes lost as a fertilizer.

Mr. Gould. Before the current of questions drifts away
from the main subject of the lecture, I am desirous of asking
the Professor a question as matter of explanation. He has
stated a distinction among plants — plants which exhaust the
nitrogen and plants which accumulate nitrogen, in the soil.
This is a subject of immense practical importance, and I
think it will play a much greater part in questions of practi-
cal farming, than it ever has done in the past. The state-
ment which he made would justify the inference, although he
did not state it himself, that plants accumulate nitrogen in
the soil in proportion to the surface of their foliage extended
to the air, and to the length of time during which that foliage
is in actual growth. The inference would be that there was
a proportion between the amount of accumulation and the
length of time. I desire to know whether the Professor
#ishes to be understood in that way ?

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 169

Prof. Johnson. I would ilot assert that to be the fact, ab-
solutely or unqualifiedly, but the indications very strongly
favor that general conclusion.

Mr. Gould. That is my own personal impression. I
wished to know whether the Professor so understood it.

Prof. Johnson. I was about to say how much nitrogen
was needed in the soil.

A wheat crop of thirty-three bushels, with straw and chaff,
contains fifty-six pounds of nitrogen. If we allow for stub-
l)le and roots one-fifth this quantity, we have for the total ni-
trogen required in the vegetation of an acre of wheat, say
sixty-eiglit pounds.* flellbriegel found, Ijy actual trial, sev-
enty pounds of nitrogen to l)e sufficient to produce his maxi-
mum wheat crop.

Mr. Lawes' soil furnished enough nitrogen to yield seven-
teen bushels of wheat. Addition of forty-one pounds of ni-
trogen, in form of ammonia salts, gave twenty-seven bushels,
or an increase of ten bushels. Eighty-two pounds of nitro-
gen applied in the same form gave thirty-seven bushels, or
twenty bushels increase.

The reason why Mr. Lawes was obliged to add eighty-two
pounds of nitrogen to double the wheat crop, lies in the fol-
lowing considerations :

When ammonia is applied as manure, a portion of it is
fixed in a comparatively insoluble condition in a clayey or
loamy soil, and a share of this fixed ammonia it is doubtless
very difficult for the plant to acquire. Again, nitrification,

* On examination of wheat roots collectecl by Schubart June 8th, 1855, Stock-
liardt found that the roots composed a little more than one-fifth of the entire plant,
or twenty-two per cent., and the nitrogen of the roots was a little less than one-
fifth that of the entire plant, or eighteen per cent.

Heiden found the nitrogen of the roots of ripe rye but one-tenth that of the
entire nitrogen. Stockhardt's examination was made on the unripe wheat. By
ripening, the proportion would doubtless have been reduced. Heiden found, in
fact, that the ratio of root to top in blossoming rye was about one to six, but in
ripening was reduced to one to thirteen and one-half.

If, then, the roots alone contain one tenth of the entire nitrogen, the roots and
stubble may be fairly reckoned to contain one fifth of the entire nitrogen.

Weiske, indeed, gives twenty-two pounds of nitrogen per acre for the roots and
stubble of wheat, but we are not informed how high the stubble was cut.

170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

or conversion of ammonia into' nitrates, goes on, and the ni-
trates are freely soluble and wash out of the soil. Then wo
know that the roots of the plant cannot come into contact
with the whole of the soil, so that we should not expect that
all the available nitrogen there would be taken up. The
figures show that from seventy to eighty pounds is sufficient,
provided it is in a form and in a position in which the plant
can appropriate it. In stable manure we appear to waste a
considerable quantity simply because it is not present in a
form in which the plant can use it.

Now, stable manure, wdien it is put into the soil, may be
compared with clover roots or any other vegetable matter put
into the soil. Stable manure consists very largely of vege.
table matter which has passed through animals, and of
more or less litter wdiich we mix with it. There is a small
portion of the nitrogen of the manure actually formed into
these ammonia salts which Mr. Lawes applied, but most of
the nitrogen, in order to be used by the plant, must be trans-
formed, must pass into some other state than that in which it
exists in the manure itself; must probably either be convert-
ed into ammonia or nitrates.

Mr. Lyman. Suppose the case that I wish to use all the
liquids of my stock, and absorb it all, and do not pay so
much attention to the coarser manure. What, in your judg-
ment, is the relative value of the one placed by the side of
the other? This question is being agitated extensively.

Prof. Johnson. That depends somewhat upon the food
which the animals have. If they are kept upon low rations
the liquids would be the best. But if they are supplied with rich
food, grain, meal or oil-cake, that indeed increases the value
of the liquids, but increases more, relatively, the value of the
solids, because you cannot get into the circulation of the ani-
mal beyond a certain amount of nutritive matter ; but you
can run through the intestinal canal much more material
which is only partially digested, and so the value of the solid
manures, as compared with the liquids, is increased by in-
creasing the richness of the food.

When oxen or other herbivorous animals are kept on ra-

SOIL EXHAUSTION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 171

tions which just maintain them without much gain or loss of
live weight, the daily urine usually contains rather more ni-
trogen than the dung. Sometimes the nitrogen of the dung
exceeds that of the urine, but while all the nitrogen of the
urine is adapted for immediate use as plant food, much of
that in the dung is comparatively inert. The urine contains
also more alkalies than the dung, but the dung usually con-
tains all the phosphoric acid and most of the lime.

Measured by assimilable nitrogen or by alkalies, the liquids
are much tlie best ; measured by phosphates, the dung is
most valuable. Practically, however, we cannot make a sharp
separation. The solids nearly always absorb a good portion of
the liquids.

I think I have now gone over about the ground that I con-
templated. At least, we have approached pretty near the
hour for dinner. With regard to the question about the im-
provement of pastures, there are a variety of ways in which
the land can be saved from being useless. One of the most
practical methods is to put on a top-dressing of some sort.
The fact that moss grows there indicates that the soil is get-
ting a little too moist, and it is a question whether plants will
do well unless that moist condition of the soil is somewhat
broken up. If those fields admitted of nnder-drainage, and
it did not cost too much, tliat would be an effectual remedy
against moss ; you would never see that again. My excellent
friend, Mr. Blakcslee, whispers to me, " Put on a flock of
sheep! " and that is also an excellent prescription.

Mr. . We can't do it ; the dogs kill them.

Prof. Johnson. . The treatment which the gentleman sug-
gests who asked the question, has nothing against it theoreti-
cally, and the fact that it has succeeded elsewhere shows it
must be a good plan. There is no reason why such land
should not grow into great value. If clover could be brought
in it would probably raise the land in a couple of years to the
productiveness that it had forty years ago, by simply bring-
ing up the materials which the roots of other plants cannot
get at. Probably any application containing lime or sulphate
of lime, leached aslies, oyster-shell lime, or any thing of that

172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

sort, would be beneficial. These things always favor the
growth of clover.

Mr. Low. I have found the results of the application of
commercial fertilizers so variable, under different circum-
stances, that I would like to have the Professor give us some
information on the question whether, if we should incorpo-
rate with any litter or straw we have about our farm yards
some chemicals that would act upon the soil something like
barnyard manure that would not be better than the chemi-
cals alone.

Prof. Johnson. I do not know of any chemicals, except,
perhaps, plaster, that can be advantageously mixed with the
yard litter.

Afternoon Session.

The Board reassembled at two o'clock, Vice-President
Hyde in the chair,

The subject upon the programme was

TOBACCO, •*

and the discussion was opened by Dr. Riggs, of Hartford.

Dr. Riggs. I presume there are many men in the conven-
tion who know more about raising tobacco than I do ; still, I
will give what little information I have in regard to it if you will
accept it. I shall have to confine myself to tobacco as raised in
Connecticut — to the wrapper, rather than the general subject.

The soil best adapted to it, so far as my observation ex-
tends, is a light, sandy loam, well pulverized. Even our
sand-blows in East Hartford liave been converted into good to-
bacco fields. Our next best land is what I shall- call, not al-
luvial soil, such as our river bottoms, where the water over-
flows and sometimes destroys the crop upon them, but like the

TOBACCO. 173

level lauds near Springfield, that are not overflowed. The
finest leaf tobacco, the most desired, the most sought for, is
produced on that quality of soil which I first named. But
tliere are other soils, good loams, that lie higher up, that pro-
duce good qualities of leaf by being properly fertilized.

The great question with us is, how we shall get manure to
raise so much tobacco and to raise our other crops. It is ex-
ceedingly high, and we can hardly get enough for the general
purposes of the farm, if we raise much tobacco. My plan has
been to make all the manure that I possibly could make by
keeping cattle and housing the manure in barn cellars, as we
call them ; and by fixing all the ammonia that is liable to
float off, and saving that in the stables or in the barn-cellars,
where it is somewhat warm and does not freeze. The mode
of fixing tliat is simply tlie earth-closet system, which I have
practised for fifteen years, and which is now just coming into
vogue in houses. I make a practice of getting muck or light,
sandy loam, even clay loam, wherever I can get it, in the fall
of the year before the fall rains come on, I spend several days
in carting that material, sods and soil down, a foot or two in
depth, just as I can light upon it, sometimes in the highways,
sometimes in the field. This I cart back of my cow stable,
and make a pile six or eight feet in breadth, and it is so sus-
tained by joists that I can pile it up five feet deep. This is
sprinkled in back of the cows every day, after the stables are
cleansed, and liberally distributed there, so as to absorb all
the urine that passes down through. I have what is called in
England, " boarded floors," that is, a two-inch plank, running
lengthwise like a gutter, back of the cattle, three inches wide
with a space then of two inches. Most of the manure made
by the cattle goes down through. The urine runs off from
where the cows stand and runs down through. I formerly
had the floors all boarded in this way under the cattle, but
they never got used to it ; they were timid and would not lie
down upon it. I thought it would take off the flesh of the
cattle and therefore I have substituted lattice-work back of
the cattle. The stables are cleaned twice a day, and the drop-
pings mixed with this earth, and it deodorizes the whole
body of the manure. There is no effluvia comes up

174 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

through. You would hardly know there were any cows
in the barn, and yet there are twelve or fifteen on that
floor. This earth, after it is put in, continues to dry until it
gets quite dry, so much so that if there is a knot hole or crev-
ice in a board it will sift out by a little jarring. In that way
the urine is absorbed and the ammonia fixed and retained.

There is but little or no escape of the ammonia, which
would otherwise go off by fermentation in such a cellar as
mine, where it does not freeze. The pigs underneath — some
half dozen or a dozen,depending upon the season — are con-
tinually working this over. They are fed there, their beds
are there, and they are in there continually. The windows
are quite large, and in the milder weatlier they are open, giv-
ing them plenty of light and air. Their beds are in one cor-
ner away from the cattle, made of straw and other material
that we throw in on purpose for them to have a dry place to
lie on. The pigs root over the manure and pack it down,
which is very important in keeping manure well. They pack
it down hard and tight, so that we are able to get twice the
quantity in there that we should if we had no pigs there. I
keep five horses and their manure also is thrown in among the
pigs, so that the horse and cattle manure and the absorbents
are all together, and in the spring of the year the pen is so
filled up that the backs of the pigs touch the joists above.

Then my other sources for manure are green crops. I
have been long in the habit of plowing in rye for tobacco, and
although my neighbors laughed at the idea exceedingly, it
seems by the figures upon the blackboard that I have hit
upon the next best plant, if not the best, for that purpose.
As soon as the tobacco crop is off, I plow up the ground
lightly with a pair of horses, and sow about a bushel and a
quarter of rye to the acre. That comes up and gets a good
start before winter, and in the spring, when I want to plow
for tobacco, it is four or five inches high, depending greatly
upon the earliness of the season, etc. There is plenty of ma-
nure. We have what we call a smoothing iron ; it is made
of two-inch plank, five feet square, spiked with railroad spikes
on to joists, three inches by four. The end of it is made of

TOBACCO. 175

plank beveled so as not to carry the earth with it, and two or
three weeks before planting out, this is drawn over the grain
to level it and got it out of the way, and then I go ou with the
plow and turn it all deeply in. I have been in the habit of
fertilizing the field witb three hundred weight of Peruvian
guano to tlie acre, and turning that in with the rye. The
whole field is gone over in that way ; plowed up to the depth of
twelve inches as nearly as possible, and then we let it rest
right there, that this vegetable matter may heat and go
through its fermentation and whatever changes nature effects.
When we get ready to prepare the ground we generally top-
dress with perhaps a third of the quantity of barnyard ma-
nure that 1 should put on if I had not fertilized the piece
with the rye and guano. We generally put on about four
hundred weight more of guano with this manure and harrow
it in thoroughly, and as soon as Ave have gone over it in that
way, we put on the smoothing-iron again, and go right over
the whole of it, levelling everything down smooth — ironing
it, so that it is just as smooth as a floor, or nearly so. Then
we let that rest a few days, until we think the manure and
the guano have l)een completely absorbed and incorporated
with the soil, so that none of it shall be lost. The great ob-
ject of going over the field with this smoothing-iron is to pack
it, and bring the manure in contact with the soil as much as
we can, so as to have no escape of the ammonia. When we
get ready to set the plants, we mark out the field the way we
want the rows, which is generally east and west on our lot,
because it inclines to the east. We take a light plow and
throw a furrow this way and the other, turning the two fur-
rows together. That is the preparation of the soil, with the
exception that in some cases if there are any lumps, or the
soil is not well pulverized, we go over the field and make hills
so as to be sure to have nothing in the way of the man's pro-
gress wdien he undertakes to set his plants. There is an im-
portant point in raising tobacco. Many men set out their
plants so carelessly that they topple right over, and make a
kind of bow. Those plants will show themselves by not
growing at all, in the course of a few days. Latterly, I have

176 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

not been in the habit of putting any phosphates in the hill.
I put everything on broadcast, mix it up well, and turn two
furrows together. My rule is to plant on those ridges, from
twenty-two to twenty-four iuches apart, and the rows three
and one-half feet apart. My great error, in the first place,
was in not setting the plants far enough apart. When the
tobacco leaves grow from thirty-five to forty inches in length,
and from twenty to twenty-four inches broad, they fill the
field pretty thick, and it is impossible to get through the field
to worm it, to sucker it, to top it, and to go through the va-
rious processes we have to put it through.

When the plants get up to a certain height, I have adopted
a new plan in regard to the lower leaves. I found by close
examination that the lower leaves of my plants, where they
grow so large, were of very little value. I found they were
dirty, torn, and a great many of them broken off, and when
the spearer went through them and strung them, if he strung
them by the leaves entirely, he would generally break off sev-
eral more of them. I am in the habit of stripping off these
lower leaves, when the plant gets up to a certain height, as
useless leaves. If they are left on the plant they consume a
good deal of nutriment which, if they were not there, would
pass up the stem, and give m'e bigger leaves and more of
them. I take off from two to three leaves, in order to enable
the man who hoes to go along without being obliged to
stoop and hold up those leaves. They are large leaves,
but they really come to nothing, and when we get the hoeing
done those leaves are out of the way and the plant seems to
grow more rapidly above, because it has not to supply those
lower leaves with nutriment.

The point of time to top tobacco, or the height to which it
should be done, is very difficult to be described. The most
general rule I can adopt or describe to you, is this: top down
to a good leaf, and if the color of the plant is yellow above,
be sure to cut down plump to a good leaf. We are apt to top
too high. I tried an experiment upon my field, at the sug-
gestion of some tobacco raisers. About a quarter of an acre
was topped some two leaves higher than I usually top. They

TOBACCO. 177

said, " there is force enough in this ground to carry them
along without topping, and you will have more weight." I
heai-d to them, and let my men top high. I am satislied it
was a mistake, and those who are stripping the tobacco for
me say that that tobacco is not as good in leaf and the top
leaves are not really A No. 1, which they should be on any
plant which has been properly raised. That is an important
point. You have to decide upon a certain medium betwixt
the bottom and top of the plant, for the better leaves of your
tobacco. The lower three or four leaves I find worthless.
They are all mangled, the worms get on them from the ground,
and bore holes through them. Since I adopted this practice
I have talked with a Virginia gentleman, who told me that it
is the universal practice in Virginia to take off the lower
leaves when their plants are growing, and they grow for plug
and smoking purposes.

When the plant gets to a certain point and the suckers be-
gin to show, we have to go through the field every few days
and take off the suckers; and if there are any secondary
shoots from the roof, those are to be taken off. Sometimes a
plant will divide at the bottom, and these shoots have to be
pulled up. We pull them up and snap off the suckers, for
they break very easily. The plants must be kept clear of
them, and that throws the juice into the leaves, and they grow
up much larger and longer.

It is almost impossible to say how many leaves should be
left on the plant. I should say from eight to ten in the most
fertile fields, and less in a crop that does not grow heavily.

Question. — Do you wait until the plant is fairly in blossom
before you top?

Dr. Riggs. — No, sir. There will be occasionally a stalk a
little ahead of the rest that will show a blossom. We let
them be until tlie blossom-buds round out and begin to appear.
We are not particular whether we wait until they fully appear
or not. When we go into a field to top it the man walks be-
tween two rows, and he knows, by a glance of the eye, when
a row wants topping all the way through, and takes hold and
snaps off the top and throws it down, first on one side "Uid

12

178 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

then on the other, and if the shoots have not begun to branch
very much, it makes no difference ; he tops where he thinks
the plant ought to bo topped. Occasionally there will be a
plant that v/ill not be up high enough to top, and that he lets
remain, and when it gets a proper height, as we go through
the field to kill the large green worms that infest the plants,
we top the balance, or go through on purpose, if the ground
is not infested with worms.

The plant after that requires little care until it reaches the
point for cutting. When it reaches a certain stage, (and we
generally detect that stage by going into the field, say at eleven
o'clock in the day, and bending a leaf betv/ixt the thumb and
finger,) if it makes a snapping noise and cracks open it is
ripe ; if, on the other hand, it bends very much like a piece of
India rubber, and only makes a crease, like drawing the back
of a knife across a leaf, it is not ready to be cut. Some
plants may be a little earlier than others, of course, if they
are more forward ; but in a piece evenly cultivated, and pretty
well prepared, well set with good plants, and all growing from
the first, the piece will be very even in its time of ripening,
so that it may be all cut at once. If we should leave a few
plants in a row they would not grow enough better to pay for
the trouble of cutting them separately.

We cut differently from what we used to. We used to cut
in the morning after the dew was off, sometimes with a hatchet,
sometimes with a saw. A saw is the best. If your tobacco
is rank, and the leaves full of sap, a blow with the hatchet is
very apt to tear the leaves. The man takes a common fine-
toothed saw, seizes hold of the plant about a third of the way
up, and cuts it off. A skillful man will cut it off with one
cut. The first push of the saw will take the plant off, no
matter how large it is. He lays that right back on to the side
of the row carefully with a kind of sweeping motion, so as
not to break the leaves, seizes another and cuts that in the
same way. These plants are not allowed to remain there long
enough to heat very much. We have adopted a new plan.
We find that the quicker we can get the tobacco in the barn,
a,way from the sun and liglit, the better the color of the leaf,

TOBACCO. 179

and the more lively and better the quality of the tobacco. If
it remains long in the field the rays of the sun scorch it, which
detracts materially from the value of the leaves. Two men
go forward with a properly rigged wagon, and we have a
" horse," as we call it, for sticking. A lath is stuck into a
socket, a knife or spear put upon it, and the plants are handed
by one man to another about as fast as the other man can
put them on — from four to six plants to a lath — depending
upon the size of your crop. Mine admitted only five this year.

Question. — What is the length of the lath ?

Dr. Riggs, — Four feet. Mr. Marston, in Hartford, a lum-
ber dealer, who owns a mill, has laths sawed on purpose.
They are a little thicker than ordinary laths for plastering.
As the five plants are put upon the lath, another man takes it
and carries it right to the cart, and pushes it on to the frame-
work, slipping it along at right-angles with the body. There
is a frame-work made on purpose, nearly four feet broad, and
it slips on them so that the tops of the leaves just touch, or do
not quite touch, the bottom of the wagon. They are pressed
forward from time to time until they have packed on all they
can get upon the two-horse wagon or cart. You may make
the frame-work as long as you please, if you can get it into
the barn. The wagon is drawn right to the barn, the two
men following, and there the tobacco is placed upon the laths
not more than from eight to ten inches apart, so that the
plants crowd upon each otlier considerably. Commonly they
are placed farther apart, but with my method of ventilation
I can place them a good deal nearer. The whole field is then
gone through with in that way. When we have cut all we
can dispose of that day, the men go to the barn and begin to
pass it to the roof, that is, to the upper tiers. My barns are
so constructed as to take in four tiers four and a half feet in
height, with one tier in the roof. They put that day's work
overhead, and the next day's work is carried in and put on the
lower poles, to get as much into the barn as possible. The
doors are shut, the ventilators opened, and they go on in that
way, putting up at night or early in the morning the tobacco
they got the day before, and in that way the work is carried

180 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

on until we get it all into the barn. Any stray leaves tliat
are worth picking up around the field are picked up by a boy,
wound with twine, and hung up on poles aj'ound the barn, to
cure as well as they may. They do not amount to much,
however.

[The doctor then gave an elaborate description of his to-
bacco shed, the distinguishing feature of which consists in the
method of ventilation adopted. The shed is raised about a
foot from the ground, which, of course, gives a free circulation
of air underneath, and what is known as a monitor roof ex-
tends the whole length of the building.]

Rev. Mr. Cottle, of Pomfret. There is a great deal of to-
bacco raised in this State, and a great deal consumed. The
question is how to have it consumed in such a way as to pro-
mote the moral, intellectual and physical development of the
race. In other words, how we can best teach little boys and
girls to use it so as to make better men and women of tliem.

Dr. Riggs. I find that there is a draft in this shed which
carries off all the fog, and if there is a breath of air stirring
outside, the tobacco will be sure to get it. It keeps the tips
of the tobacco waving backward and forward, and every por-
tion of the shed is ventilated from bottom to top. Very
little side ventilation is necessary. Formerly the top of my
'tobacco would grow black, but I have had no difficulty in
that respect in this shed. In this way we get a continual cur-
rent of air. Not a breath can stir without taking up a cer-
tain quantity of this effete, dead air, from the tobacco, and
carrying it off, and when your tobacco is well cured, all
you have to do is to drop the boards on the sides of this mon-
itor roof. Our tobacco was more uniform in this building
this year than it ever was before.

Many of our farmers build their tobacco-sheds with one
ventilator on top six or eight feet square ; some will have
two, one on one end and the other on the other ; but this is
by all means the best method.- The ventilation is so perfect
that you will hardly notice any effluvia or stench in the at-
mosphere, as is generally the case when curing tobacco in the
ordinary way.

TOBACCO. 181

Question. The ventilator runs from end to end ?

Dr. Riggs. From end to end, right on the ridge-pole of
the barn.

Mr. Gould. How broad are the dropping boards ?

Dr. Riggs. Not less than a foot, and from that to eigh-
teen inches, depending on the size of yom* building; sixteen
feet long, each one with four strap liinges on it.

Mr. Low. If you were building a common barn would you
adopt that plan ?

Dr. Riggs. I should not recommend drying tobacco
where hay was kept. I don't think animals take to to-
bacco.

Mr. Gould. How do you know when the tobacco is thor-
oughly cured?

Dr. Riggs. It will begin to dry, generally, at the top, and
dry along up. You will see the change.

Mr. Gould. Is it cured when it is thoroughly dried ?

Dr. Riggs. It will change color a little, but it will change
more if you have plenty of light. The more sun and air and
light you can have the lighter and less lively the color will
be. It wants to be cured just as our old-fashioned mothers
cured herbs. They picked their herbs in the fields and dried
them in bunches put in dark closets, and hung them up nicely
after they were cured, and when they took them out, the
plants looked as green as the day they were cut. But tobacco
changes to all sorts of hues, from a bright cinnamon color to
a bleached and pale leaf.

Mr. Gould. Is it not a mere matter of fancy?

Dr. Riggs. There is a fashion among tobacco purchasers
just as tliere is in the selection of stones. Some years they
will find fault because the leaf is too light, and at other times
they will find fault because it is too dark. You cannot very
well control that except by non-exposure to light and air.

Mr. Lyman. Don't you know that that is an argument
used by speculators to bring down the price ?

Dr. Riggs. Oh, yes. " There are tricks in all trades but

ours."

Mr. Lyman. I have been told that horses will eat tobacco
with great avidity.

182 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

Dr. Riggs. My man strip the tobacco right at ray horses'
heads, and I see them every day offer it to my horses, but I
do not see them take it.

Mr. Lyman. I do not mean when it is cured, I mean in
the gr^n state. Give them some green leaves nest summer
and see.

Dr. Riggs. It is very possible. I never experimented in
that line.

Mr. Hubbard. Have you ever been seriously troubled
with the cut-worm, shortly after the tobacco is set out ? I
did not know but your practice of plowing in green crops
might save you from that pest.

Dr. Riggs. It does in a great measure. They will work
on this green stuff underneath until the tobacco is out of the
way, or until they have run their course. We were so little
troubled with them last season that we hardly had to reset a
plant. Some years we are troubled a little more than others,
but we have noticed that since we liave plowed in the rye we
have been troubled less than formerly.

Mr. Hubbard Can you give any explanation of the prev-
alence of white veins in tobacco, which are very objectionable
to dealers, and destroy the value of the crop, almost ?

Dr. Riggs. That is a fanciful objection rather than a real
one. When they can operate in that way upon the raiser,
they do so. But I cannot account for those white veins.
Some growths will be thicker than others, and will have tliose
white veins, especially when tlie plant is growing very rank and
heavy. Perhaps it may be owing to the use of certain kinds
of manure, as, for instance, hog manure. Hog manure pro-
duces a pretty thick leaf with us, and tlie color of it is rather
a dark hue, approaching to black. We can only use swine
manure as it is mixed with the other. We make them the
instruments of turning it over and manipulating it in the
barn cellar or in the pen. I never heard any one account for
those white veins. We have never been troubled much with
them, except in the case of a great growth of tobacco several
years ago, where we put on an immense quantity of manure.
Then we were troubled with white veins somewhat, and the

TOBACCO, 183

tobacco men who looked at it said, " Oh, white veins ! " But
those leaves were so large that they did not need to cut through
the veins to get a cover for the cigar.

Mr. Hart. How many pounds do you raise to the acre ?

Dr. Riggs. We think two thousand pounds to the acre a
good crop. I Have raised from two thousand two hundred to
two thousand four hundred pounds to the acre, by actual
measurement. I do not speak at random, as farmers do
sometimes when tliey say they plowed eight or ten inches
deep, and if you put on the rule you will find that it is four
inches. There are not many who measure down on the land
side of the plow. It is very indefinite. There are not many
farmers who plow more than five inches deep when you come
right to it and put on your rule. When you put on your
rule and find twelve inches, you have a very large furrow ;
there is a large amount of earth turned up. It looks
tremendous. It requires three yoke of oxen in ordinary
ground, with a double Michigan plow, or any other, to go to
such a depth as that and turn it over. I use a double Michi-
gan plow entirely in the preparation of my ground for to-
bacco, on stubble land, tnrf land, corn land, and ahiiost every
thing but oats after corn. I am sometimes tempted, when,
hard pushed for time, to take my Collins' steel plow, which is
the next best plow I use, going from eight to ten inches, by
measurement. I would suggest, while on this point, to every
member present, that he carry a rule in his pocket and meas-
ure the depth to which he plows, so as to have a little more
, definite information about it. I do, invariably, and when I
say a foot I mean a foot, when I say fourteen inches I mean
fourteen inclies.

When I bought my farm the old furrow marks on the land
were not over four inches deep, and for a very good reason.
The former owner was one of those men who skin their land,
— take two dollars off a field and carry it to the city and sell
it for a dollar, put that dollar in their pocket, and think they
are growing rich. I plowed those fields with a double Michi-
gan plow, until I got down eight, ten and twelve inches.
Now I have acres of that farm in herd's-grass and red-top of

184

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

great growth, and making a most beautiful kind of soil.
That, however, is a digression from the subject.

Mr. Hart. After you have raised your two thousand
pounds to the acre in the manner you have described, what
do you get for it ? What does it cost and what do you get
for it ? What is the net result ?

Dr. Riggs. I cannot tell you what it costs me to produce
an acre of tobacco. I ought to be a little abashed by it, too,
for I have not yet kept an accurate account of the labor, as I
should. I raise all the way from one acre to four. I have
increased my number of acres in tobacco every year, and ex-
pect to increase them this next year. I cannot tell the rela-
tive cost. The labor required is perhaps three times as much
as is necessary to raise a crop of corn, and hoe it twice.

Question. Have you ever raised any tobacco on turf
land, turned over in the fall ?

Dr. Riggs. I have raised it so, but I generally turn it in
the spring. I believe fully in the value of the fermentation
of the sod, not only for tobacco but for corn ; and I am led
to that belief by some experiments tried by a neighbor of mine
who is a pretty exact sort of a man. He told me tliat if a
man would plow his fields in the fall for nothing (and his
land is a medium clay loam), and charge him for it in the
spring, he would rather have it done in the spring. He gave
me his reasons, Avhich were these. A neighbor of his bought
a tract of ground and commenced plowing it in the fall. Ho
intended to plant it to corn, and plowed about half of it in
the fall, was taken sick, and died. The former owner
agreed to take it back (as the man had not paid for it entire-
ly), and did so. In the spring he went forward and plowed
the balance of this field, and after he had finished, he treated
the whole field' alike—put his manure on the surface, har-
rowed it, and put the field into corn ; and he says that as far
as any one could see the field, the difference between the por-
tions plowed in the spring and in the fall was plainly visible.
The explanation he gave Avas, that the fermentation after the
spring plowing produced such a warmth for the corn plant,
that it was favorable to its early growth, and it was not

TOBACCO. 185

packed and matted together by the rains and by the surface wa-
ter of the winter, so that the roots of the plants could not
permeate the soil in every direction. He tried the experi-
ment several times, to be sure, and the same result followed.
I have always followed that plan. I never plow in the fall
unless I have very clayey ground, that I want to disintegrate
somewhat, and plow it several times. This is digressing a
little, however.

Mr. Gould. From the time you turn the sod over in the
spring to the time you take the tobacco from the poles, will it
cost you to exceed a hundred dollars an acre for the labor and
manure which you apply to it ?

Dr. Riggs. I should think it would cost more than that.
I should not like to say positively how much it costs, but fully
$200 an acre.

Mr. Gould. Would that surely cover it ?

Dr. Riggs. It would approximate to it.

Mr. Gould. Would $250 he sure to cover it ?

Da. Riggs. That would be sure to cover it, unless your
land is very poor, and you have to put on an immense quan-
tity of manure.

Mr. Gould. In your own practice, will $250 be sure to
cover it ?

Dr. Riggs. Yes, sir, it will. On my land, I suppose I
could raise a reasonably good crop next season without any
manure. I could not get as much after this year.

Mr. Gould. Will the crop sell for 1800, sure ?

Dr. Riggs. I raised last year, on an acre and a half, from
1^ to 1| tons of tobacco.

Mr. Gould. What is it worth a pound ?

Dr. Riggs. I intend to get from 45 to 50 cents a pound for
my tobacco.

Mr. Gould. All round or simply for the wrappers ?

Dr. Riggs. My fillers will not amount to much. I will
give you the figures of some that we had cultivated on shares
last season, which was sold low, because the man was a weak
holder and was anxious to get his money. The land was not
so good as mine, and the crop not as large. There were

186 BOAED OP AGRICULTURE. -

about three acres in the piece. He got of wrappers, 3,739
lbs. ; seconds, 613 lbs. ; fillers, 141 lbs. It was sold at 35
cents per pound, amounting to <fl,377. The seconds sold for
10 cents, and the fillers for 5 cents. The seconds were worth
20 cents, and would bring it. The whole of the tobacco
ought to have brought 45 cents. The difficulty was, he sold
rather early. The tobacco was of good quality but not the
best. When I bought the land upon which that was grown
it would not bear anything.

Mr. Gould. That is a profit of $209 an acre, selling it at
this low price, assuming that it cost |250 an acre. Do you
think it cost that man that amount to make it ?

Dr. Riggs. No, sir, I furnished the manure and furnished
the team. He is a Protestant Irishman, with a family of three
children, struggling to get along, and I always try to help
such men. I could let my land to better advantage, but he
is honest, industrious and energetic, and I like to see such
men helped.

Mr. Low. I move a vote of thanks to the Dr. for the in-
formation he has given us, and for the great patience with
which he has allowed us to pump him. Carried.

Mr. Allen, of East Windsor. I have listened with a great
deal of interest to the remarks which have been made, and
tlie Doctor has saved me the trouble of going over this ground
very minutely. I wish, however, to notice some things which
he has inadvertently, no doubt, passed over.

The first thing of which I would speak is the seed bed or
plant bed. If any one should ask me what I think the most
essential thing in raising a good crop of tobacco, I should
say, early plants. Of course, there are a great many things
that are essential, but I regard that as the most essential. I
do not think it is necessary to start under glass, if you pursue
the right course. Tobacco, you know, is a tropical plant, and
the season in this latitude is not too long to raise and cure a
good crop of tobacco, no matter how early you begin. You
can raise a crop, you can get the full growth of the tobacco,
and hang it up the first day of October or the middle of Octo-
ber, if the frost holds off long enough, but then you have no

TOBACCO.

187

time to cure it. After you get the crop in the shed, if there
comes a cold, freezing night, as is often the case in New Eng-
land, it will freeze. The tobacco crop must be hung up early
enough to be cured before the cold weather in the fall. That
will certainly freeze it, for no tobacco shed was ever built
tight enough to protect it from such freezes as we frequently
have in October and the first of November. So that our sea-
son is none too long, begin as early as you please, to raise and
cure a good crop of tobacco. We must then begin early with
tlie seed bed, and I will describe to you what we, in that por-
tion of the Connecticut valley where I live, consider the proper
way of preparing a seed bed.

We begin this operation in the fall, early enough to be sure
that we can do it. Some of our farmers put it off so long
that the ground freezes before they begin, and then they can-
not do it. We select the best manure that we can find, free
from seed ; one great point in preparing the seed bed, is to
have it so arranged that the weeds will not trouble the plants.
Some gentlemen among us, who have given the most attention
to it, and have beds in which they have raised plants for four,
five or six years, do not spend more than a day in weeding a
bed for five or six acres of tobacco. The beds are perfectly
free from weeds, and when kept for years, and properly man-
aged, the plants will not be troubled with weeds. The custom
of some of our farmers is, not to use any barn-yard manure
on their seed beds ; they use Peruvian guano, sowingit in the
fall and plowing it in, in order that its sharp and caustic na-
ture may be subdued a little, so as not to injure the seed when
it is sown in the spring. It is universal with our best tobacco
raisers to manure in the fall, and plow in. Some use super-
phosphate ; and the best kind of superphosphate is an excel-
lent thing ; and some use fish, which is also an excellent ma-
nure for tobacco plants. The experience of these gentlemen
has taught them, that manure whicli is free from weeds is an
essential thing to use upon a tobacco bed.

In the spring, the bed (unless it is very light soil) is plowed
again thoroughly. Some just harrow it over, sow the seed,
and roll it in ; but I think the general custom is to plow the

188 ' BOARD OP AGRICULTUBE.

seed bed in the spring. The best way is to plow it, level it
off with a rake, sow the seed, and roll it in. Some tread it
in, but the better Avay is to use the roller, for it leaves the
bed more smooth.

Mr. Low. How many square rods are required for one
acre ?

Mr. Allen. I raised five acres this year, and I had a bed
about as long as this room is wide [some forty feet] and eight
feet wide.

Mr. Low. It takes a very small amount of fertilizers for
that small amount of land ?

Mr. Allen. Very small. You can raise an enormous
number of plants from a small bed. Considerable skill is re-
quired is sowing the seed. If it is too thick, the plants will
be worthless, because they will be all crowded together, and
spindle up, and have neither root nor top that is good for any-
thing. You want a tobacco plant with a thick mass of roots
and a stocky top ; not a top that runs up high, but a round,
thick, heavy top. That is tlie kind of plants wanted, and
gentlemen who are accustomed to sow the seed can get it
thick enough. The old-fashioned rule was a thimble full of
tobacco seed to a square x'od. I sow a little more, in order
to be sure to have seed enough, and if it comes up too thick,
I thin out, and leave the plants standing just as thick as I
want them.

I do not know that I need say any thing more in regard to
the seed bed. I think I have heard it said that tobacco plants
will not be injured by frosts. That is an error. Tobacco
plants will be killed by heavy frosts, and it is some times nec-
essary, especially for the first few days, to protect them.
When the seed is sown my plan is to cover the bed with birch
brush, or some fine brush — something that will cover the bed.
I cover it thick, and it serves a double purpose ; first, to keep
the ground moist, and prevent the wind from blowing the seed
off, for it lies very near the surface, and secondly, to protect
it from the frost. I leave that on until the plants come up
and get large. I find that they grow better under this shelter
than they would with the brush off. I take off the brush when
the plants need weeding, and sometimes put it back again.

TOBACCO. 189

It is necessary sometimes to water the bed. In fact, I have
saved my tobacco bed entirely by watering. There will occa-
sionally be a very dry spell about that season of the year,
that will check them very much. My object is to keep them
growing from the time tliey first come out of the ground until
they arc ready to set, and a few days watering will sometimes
keep them growing, when, but for that, they would stop. I
have found sometimes that a weak solution of Peruvian guano
will help them along. Put a handful into a pail of water, —
do not get it too strong, for if you do, it will kill your plants,
— and just sprinkle it over your bed.

Question. AVhat do you think of the drainings of the ma-
nure cellar ?

Mr. Allen. First rate. I have used them, and they are
just as good, perhaps better, than guano.

Question. Do you ever sprout the seeds before you sow
them ?

Mr. Allen. I do not. Some of our people do, but it is a
dangerous operation ; it is not quite safe. If you sprout your
seed, and it comes up quickly after you sow it, and you have
the soil in just the right condition, it does well ; but if you
sow your seed, and it is very dry immediately after, or very
cold, your seed is spoiled, and you lose your plants. It is
rather a critical operation, and I prefer to sow it dry; and I
never fail to get early plants. I sow it just as soon as the
ground can be plowed, no matter if it is in the middle of
March, or first of February.

Question. — Do you mix the seed with plaster or any thing
when you sow it?

Mb. x\_llen. — If I mix it with any thing, it is for the pur-
pose of sowing it a little more conveniently. My plan has
been to mix the seed with ashes or plaster and ashes, which
is a very good application for the bed, a)id then sow it broad-
cast. I can do it more evenly than by taking the seed alone
and sowing it with my thumb and finger.

Question —How large ought the young leaf of the plant to
be when you set it out?

190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Allen. — The largest leaves ought to be as large as the
palm of your hand; but we set them smaller than that, and
set them larger than that. If I could have my choice I would
like to have the largest leaves about as large as the palm of
my hand.

Question. — What time do you want to be ready to com-
mence setting in order to have the best results ?

Mr. Allen. — Before the middle of June, I think, or by the
middle of June. My plants last year were all set before the
10th of June.

Question. — Don't you wait for suitable weather?

Mr. Allen. — It is very mucli better to have moist weather,
but I do not wait for that. When my plants and ground are
ready I begin to set. It takes very little water to water the
plants. If you leave just a little place around the plant for
the reception of water, it does not take a great deal to water
the plants. Once watering is sufficient if your plant is prop-
erly set. Then we sometimes cut a littlQ,grass and cover up
the plants. In that way we save the annoyance and discom-
fort of setting out the tobacco in a rain ; but if you can have
it, that is the right time. I have noticed that from the first to
the middle of June we almost always have three or four days
of lowering, misty, cloudy weather, with just rain enough to
have the plants stay in good shape. Sometimes it comes a
little earlier, and if we can have all things ready, that is the
time to set out the plants. A great many tol)acco raisers make
a mistake in that regard. They put oft" preparing their land
too late. They will have their plants all ready, and their to-.
bacco ground about half or quarter ready, and then comes a
rain, and the hands must hurry into the field and fit up the
tobacco gi'ound, and by the time that is fitted the rain is over,
and they have to set out their plants in the sun. Every foot
of your toljacco ground ought to be prepared by the first of
June, so that when your plants are ready you can take them
up and go into the field, and take advantage of any day that
happens to come along that is favorable for the business.

Question. — What time do you want your plants ready to
hang up ?

TOBACCO. 191

Mr. Allen. — I began to cut this year the 20th of August.
I finished the 10th of Septem!)er. I prefer to have my tobacco
all hung up in the shed before the 10th of September. That
is about late enough to hang up a crop of tobacco in the re-
gion where I live. I can not trust it out much later than that.
Frosts may come and injure it in the field, and if I hang it up
in the shed very much later than that it is likely to be frozen
in the shed, and it does not make any difference where it is
frozen.

Question. — Do you agree with Dr. Riggs in regard to ven-
tilation ?

Mr. Allen. — I think he has given a description of an ad-
mirable shed. I liave one on a somewhat similar plan. I do
not know how it could be bettered.

Mr. Hart. — What are the general characteristics, as to tex-
ture and color, of the best tobacco?

Mr. Allen. — Well, sir, the doctor answered that question
very accurately, I l^ink, whatever may be the fashion with the
cigar makers. We raise the wrapper leaf, and the quality
which is required is a thin, tough, elastic leaf, the thinner the
better, if it is only tough enougii and elastic enough to wrap
the cigar. The reason is this. You can take Havana tobacco
for the filling of a cigar, and use a seed-leaf for the wrapper,
and the wrapper is so tliin that it will not impart any of its
peculiar flavor to the cigar, and you would not know you were
not smoking a pure Havana cigar. This leaf has become so
valuable, on account of its elasticity, that large quantities are
taken to the island of Cuba, wrapped around Havana tobacco,
and the cigars brought, to this country and sold for pure Ha-
vanas, and it would take a very good judge to discover the
difference. I do not know that any one could. Our leaf, by
reason of this peculiarity, has risen in value very materially,
being sought for all over the world. It is carried to Europe,
and the market is extending in every direction ; and that is
the reason why our tobacco is bringing a higher price this
year than formerly. It is not so much because the tobacco
crop is poor, or because the market is bare of the article, as
because of its intrinsic worth as a wrapper leaf.

192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Hart. — Has there been any locality yet found where
they raise the same quality?

Mr. Allen. — There is no locality upon this continent where
they raise so fine a leaf as they do in Connecticut. I do not
wish to say any thing against Massachusetts. The Connecti-
cut seed-leaf raised in Massachusetts is sold in the market as
the Connecticut seed-leaf, and they raise some very good to-
bacco there; but I am told that it will not compare with Con-
necticut tobacco. It has been carried to Ohio and New York,
but they can not produce that peculiar fineness of leaf that
we can pro'duce in the Counecticut valley. There is something
peculiar about that. It is so upon the island of Cuba. There
are only two or three localities there where they raise the very
finest kind of tobacco.

Mr. Gould. — Is not the soil around Northampton geologic-
ally identical with that of the Connecticut valley?

Mr. Allex. I think it is very similar.

Mr. Gould. — Is it not more owing to tfre fact that the Con-
necticut raisers are more accustomed to the manipulations re-
quired for seeding and the planting?

Mr. Allen. — I suppose you have hit the point. If there is
any gentleman here who contemplates going into the raising
of tobacco, I wish to say to him that it is a very nice business.
I do not know any thing that requires such skill, such constant
attention, such perfect acquaintance with the business, from
the time you prepare the seed to the time when you put the
tobacco into the box, as tobacco raising; and if a man is not
thoroughly acquainted with the business, if he is going into it
to the extent of two or three acres, he had better send for
some man wlio does understand it, or he will be likely to lose
all his labor, for one single false step will ruin his crop. If
you cut down your tobacco at the wrong time, tlie wrong hour
of the day, you will lose the whole of it; it will be burnt up,
and not worth a straw. Or, if you take it down a week before
it is cured, you will lose your tobacco. The stems are the in-
dex. The leaf may be perfectly cured, and all but two or
three inches of the stem be full of moisture. If you take it
down in that state you will have to hang it back again, or lose

TOBACCO. • 193

it. It will never dry up any below. The only safe way of
getting out of that scrape is to string it right up again on your
poles. So all the way through, the closest attention is required
in order to secure your tobacco.

My practice, and the practice in the vicinity where I live,
is to allow the buds to appear, and a few of the blossoms, be-
fore topping. We do not let the field blossom out, but the
buds appear, and once in a while you will see a l)lossom formed
as you look through the field. There is one reason for this.
We want to get the field in as uniform a state as possible, that
we may top it all at once. The doctor's plan of tof^ping low
is a good one, but there is one thing which he practices which
we never do; I never saw a man do it in our part of the
county. He says he breaks off the lower leaves. We do not
do any thing of the kind.

Dr. Riggs. — May I inquire what the condition of those bot-
tom leaves is in your fields?

Mr. Allen. — We prepare our land in a way similar to yours.
We do not use a plow, but a " ridger." This instrument is
like an A harrow turned the other way round. It makes a
ridge about six inches high. Then there is a piece of iron
that comes along behind and smooths off" the top, and you
have a ridge all ready for setting. Then we have a reel, made
like the reel of an old-fashioned spinning-wheel, a light thing,
and on the frame of that we nail little pieces of wood, just the
right distances apart, for a man to take hold of and draw
through the field and mark out the hills, just so far apart, and
then your ground is all ready for the plants.

Question. — How close do you set your plants ?

Mr. Allen. Twenty, twenty-two and twenty-four inches.
That depends a great deal upon the kind of tobacco you are
raising, and a great deal upon the character of your soil and
the condition of the land. If your land is prepared as it
ought to be, the plants ought to be set about twenty -two inch-
es apart, I should say.

Question. Tiie rows ?

Mr. Allen. Well, three feet or a little more. The object
in setting so thick is to get a fine leaf. There are half a dozen
13

194 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

kinds of tobacco. The best kind that I know of is the kind
■where the leaves are set near together on the stalk, not very
long but wide, and tapering to a point, and the stems growing
out at right angles with the main stem. The stems are very-
fine, so that when you turn the leaves over on the back those
little stems that run up through will lie almost fiat with the
leaf; and when you stretch out the leaf the back of it will be
almost as smooth as the front. That is what I call a fine
leaf.

Mr. Yeomans. What would be the effect of leaving the
sprouts ? * I understand that in Northampton and Hatfield
they have tried that somewhat, thinking that the tendency
was to make a finer leaf, and perhaps get something more
nearly like the Connecticut leaf.

Mr. Allen. That would be the result, no doubt. It
would take the substance from the leaf and it would be fine.
But I do not think that is necessary. In fact, it would de-
tract largely from the weight of the leaf, and from the quali-
ty of the leaf, I think, ultimately.

The suckering should be done early, before they are large,
and then they can be taken off without any trouble. Last
year the tobacco, as a general thing, got a very rapid growth,
the suckers came out very rapidly, and the tobacco was so
large that it was almost impossible to get into it. My men
went down and began to sucker it, but after they had been
through two or three rows I found they were destroying
so much of the tobacco, that I told them to stop at once.
Tliis year I had to leave the suckers on a whole field. It was
a complete mass of blossoms before I could get at it. It was
a necessity ; I should not have done it if I could have got
into the field.

Question. Would it not be worth while to set the rows
farther apart ?

Mr. Allen. Ordinarilv we do not have that trouble. Tliis
year we had an extraordinary growth. I think perhaps it
would be well enough to put them far enough apart to avoid
that difficulty.

Question. In hoeing your tobacco, how do you manage
it ? Do you put any earth around the plants ?

TOBACCO. 195

Mr. Allen. No ; I never put anything round the plant.
We set out the tobacco in the way we think it ought to be set
out, and then hoe it and keep the ridges in their original po-
sition, in order that the bottom leaves may not rest on the
ground. The ridge protects the bottom leaves. We do not
design to pull any earth away from the plant, but just stir the
ground around it.

Another thing which I deem very essential is this : the
earth around the plants needs to be stirred very soon after
they are set. Just as soon as you are sure they are go-
ing to live, if it is the next day after they are set, you want
to set your hoc going and keep it going. Keep your tobacco
land thorouglily pulverized ; do not allow it to get baked up.
The great secret in raising tobacco is to keep it growing from
the time you put it into tlie ground until you harvest it. Any
check, whether from lack of manure, from< drouth, or from
too much water — any thing, no matter what, that checks the
growth of the plant, injures your leaf, and there is where the
white stem comes from. But if you can keep your crop growing
from the time the plants are set until you hang it up in the
shed, I don't think you will have any trouble. You may have
such a season as they had out west, with no rain at all to
dampen the tobacco, but if you can have a fog once a week
that will come into your shed and dampen your tobacco down
thoroughly, and then the wind blow up and carry it off, you
will have a good quality of tobacco. But if, when you hang
it up, it is a dry time, it will dry up and there will be no
character to the leaf. That is what is the matter with the
Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan tobacco this year. It lias been
dried up so that tlie leaf has no character. That was the trou-
ble a year ago this fall, it was so dry.

Question. Does your tobacco ever burn black ?

Mr. Allen. Not very often, unless it is in clay. A clay
loam is the worst kind of soil to put tobacco on.

Mr. . I am told that Peruvian guano will make it

burn black.

Mr. Allen. I have heard it said that it would, but I do
not use enough on my land to affect it any way.

196 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Question. You prefer barnyard manure ?

Mr. Allen. I do.

Question. You get the best and finest leaf ?

Mr. Allen. I do.

Dr. Riggs. Why do you use barnyard manure exclu-
sively ?

Mr. Allen. I do not use it exclusively. I use phosphates
some and a small quantity of Peruvian guauo. But 1 use
stable manure generally. I think I can get the best quality
of tobacco from that ; I know I can.

Dr. Riggs. You want the leaf-mould or liumiis, and all
the vegetable matter of barnyard manure ?

Mr. Allen. Yes, sir. 1 think tliat is the best preparation
we can find. We cannot get enough of it. So we have to
take something else.

Mr. Yeomans. I was in Hatfield last fall, and liad occa-
sion to travel round a little among tobacco growers, and
came in contact with one or two who had used the Newton
marl as a fertilizer. One gentleman in particular, who had
applied it with other fertilizers, told me that he had found it
superior to any other fertilizer that he had used, and the qual-
ity of the tobacco was very superior. He said that if it was
as cheap this season as it was last, he should put it on at the
rate of two tons to the acre, and thought he should get ex-
cellent tobacco.

I want to say a word as to the effect of tobacco upon the soil.
It has been asserted over and over again, that tobacco is a
great exhauster, leaves the soil in a very poor condition, and
will ruin any farm after it has been raised there a while. I
do not think so. We have raised tobacco in the Connecticut
Valley for sixty or seventy-five years, and our tobacco lands
are the richest we have. The best lands in the Valley to-day
are tobacco lands. Our custom is to raise tobacco on a
field two, three, or four years, then seed it down, and let it lie
in^ grass three or four years, and then put it into tobacco
again ; and these lands are growing rich. They are more
fertile now than when we first began to cultivate them in that
way. You see that in order to raise a good crop of tobacco,

TOBACCO. 197

you must have your land in fine condition ; it must be kept
perfectly free from weeds, and land that has been cultivated
in that way for five years, kept perfectly free from weeds, and
the soil in such condition as is necessary to raise a crop of to-
bacco, is in fine condition for anything. I have never seen
anything refuse to grow on such land. Any crop will grow,
and grow luxuriantly, and the land will grow better all the
time.

I think the theory is all wrong that tobacco is such an ex-
hausting crop. I know the peculiarity of it is tliat the rapid-
ity of its growtli is such tiiat it needs to have the best ingre-
dients in the soil in such a soluble condition that they can be
taken up readily, that the plant may grow right along without
any check. That is the condition in which land must be in
order to raise a good crop of tobacco. It does take up its
food from the soil very rapidly, but I do not think it takes
such a large quantity. I would rather raise a crop of tobacco
than a crop of corn. I think corn will exhaust the soil faster
than tobacco.

Dr. Riggs. The practical value of your manure you con-
sider to be the ammonia and vegetable matter ? If you had
the ammonia and the vegetable matter from any source,
would you not be likely to get good crops of tobacco ?

Mr. Allen. I suppose so. 1 have never gone into these
things much. I keep a large stock of cattle and make a
large quantity of manure, and I use that with such things as
will make the tobacco start — super-phosphate and Peruvian
guano. I use these for the purpose of starting the tobacco,
but the barnyard manure is the staple thing, after all. I have
never failed to get a crop. My crops have averaged over a
ton to the acre. The price has varied a good deal. ■ Very
early in the season some gentlemen came up from New York
city and bought a few crops at what we call a low price, from
twenty-five to thirty cents a pound ; but pretty soon the
farmers began to see the crop was. sought for, and they held
on to it, and within the last two weeks tobacco has been sold
for from thirty-five to .sixty cents a pound all round, and in
one instance a gentleman sold his crop for ninety cents.
That is the highest price that I have heard paid.

198 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Day. I am aware that what was originally the old
town of Windsor has some of the finest land in the state of
Connecticut, and that there is some of the finest tobacco
soil there that there is in the United States, perhaps. I have
heard that there were large quantities of manure taken from
the city of New York and brought up to that town, at an ex-
pense of twenty dollars a cord. Mr. Allen has stated that
his tobacco land invariably produces good crops, and under
this system of heavy manuring, it must ; but I want to in-
quire more particularly what is the character of the outlots
around, and what is the effect upon their farms in the aggre-
gate ?

Mr. Allen. Well, sir, the outlots are no worse than they
were when we began, and some of the farmers are bringing
them up, recuperating them ; they have the means to do it
with. The best tobacco growers, those who have made it their
business and been the most successful, are the best farmers
we have in the county, in all respects. You cannot name a
branch of their business that is not, as a general thing, well
attended to. There is once in a while a man who does not
do anything but raise tobacco, and has only four or five acres
of land ; but I am referring now to large agriculturists, who
have from one to two hundred acres.

Mr. Day. The gentleman has stated that they gel large
crops of grass after tobacco. I want to know from Mr. Allen,
whether he gets as large crops of grass from that land with
the liigh manuring and culture that he gives to it, with the
inducements of a large crop of tolmcco, as he would if he put
it^nto corn or potatoes with the same amount of fertilization,
the same amount of pulverization, &c.

Mr. Allen. I do not know what the result would be if it
was planted with corn instead of tobacco, but I do not see
how it could do any better, for the grass we cut is as heavy
as we can mow with the machine, and if corn would give us
any bigger grass, I don't see how we could cut it. I do not
believe that raising corn would leave the land in any better
condition for grass. In fact, I have found more difficulty in
getting almost any crop, including grass, to grow after corn

TOBACCO. 199

than any other crop. A crop of potatoes prepares the land
admirably for almost anything ; you can get almost anything
to grow after potatoes ; at any rate, it is so with us ; but corn
is the worst crop you can put on a piece of land to prepare it
for tobacco. It takes moi'e of the vitality out of the soil than
anything else I raise.

Mr. Day exhibited a specimen of tobacco, which he said
was raised in Windham county, and inquired if the soil of
that county was adapted to the growth of the plant.

Mr. Allen. I was at Mr. Sumner's a few yeu,rs ago, and
he asked me the same question. I replied that 1 did not see
any thing in the character of the soil about there to prevent
their raising a good quality of tobacco. I am not familiar
with the land of Windham county, and cannot answer your
question very intelligently. I was asked the same question
in Woodstock, and replied that I thought good tobacco could
be raised there. There is good tobacco land there, but liow
it is in otlier towns, I don't know.

Dr. Riggs. I would like to say a word in regard to sowing
the beds. Tlie great difficulty is in getting the seed even.
My mode is to take a common watering pot, with holes large
enough to admit of the passage of the seeds and water freely,
fill it with water, and go over the bed, keeping the water ag-
itated all the time. Covering the bed with brush, I maintain,
not only attracts the sun but retains the heat after it has once
penetrated through the branches.

Mr. Day. There is another question to which I shou'd like
to call Mr. Allen's attention. It is in regard to the cultivation
of tobacco upon comparatively light, worn-out soils, that need
renovating. I know that it requires a large amount of ma-
nure to bring these lands into the high state of cultivation
necessary for the production of tobacco, and what I want to
inquire is, whether it is more profitable to expend a large
amount of money for manure or to sow buckwheat on tliese
lighter lands, and as soon as the buckwheat is sufficiently
matured, before it begins to seed, turn it under, and in the
early part of September, perhaps, put on rye, with some stim-
ulant, like superphosphate, guano, or ashes, and induce an

200 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

abundant crop of lye, and tlien put on tobacco ? Mr. Allen
will notice that the expense of the preparation of the soil in
one instance is very much less than in the other ; and perhaps
the crop of tobacco would be proportionately less. The ques-
tion is, whether a person will make more money by plowing
in green crops successively, or by making this large expendi-
ture for animal manures.

Mr. Allen. My reply to that would be, that I do not think
it would make very much difference. It is a fact in our ex-
perience, that a pretty good application of manure to a worn-
out rye field will produce a good quality of tobacco, if it is
not so very large it is fineness of leaf we are after ; and my
advice to any gentleman who has a field of that kind, and who
is going to raise tobacco, would be, " Put on your manure to
begin with, plow it in, plajitwith tobacco, and you may expect
to get a good quality of tobacco, but perhaps not so large a
growth as you would like. The second year, put on all the
manure you can, and you will get more tobacco, and the third
year, more still. Then lay down to grass."

Mr. Day. It is almost impossible for some farmers to get
a liberal supply of manure. In such cases, would you advise
the course I have suggested ?

Mr. Allen. Undoubtedly, if you have not got the manure
plowing in green crops is a very good thing for tobacco. I
have no doubt of it at all.

Mr. Day. I will ask whether plowing in green crops has
.different effects on different kinds of soil ?

Mr. Allen. Perhaps the same physical effect would be
produced. It has the physical effect of loosening up the soil,
and the decaying vegetable matter furnishes a humus which
will make it more moist. I suppose it will have more effect
on dry land than on wet land.

Mr. Day. I ask the question because I liave several times
plowed in green crops, and never saw any beneficial effects
from it. I have supposed there might be some acidity con-
nected with the green crop that did not agree with my partic-
ular kind of soil. I have always found my land improved by

TOBACCO. 201

a good sod, but I never found any benefit from plowing in a
crop.

Dr. Riggs. There is no question that a crop that is matured
and dry will produce more effect when plowed in than a green
crop. I consider a clover crop that has perfected its seed,
whether the seed be gatliered or not, if the stems are all dry,
a third or a half better than to plow it in perfectly green.
But in the case of the rye crop, I have to plow that in to get
the vegetable matter. I have to raise a crop after my tobacco
and get the land ready for the next crop of tobacco, hence I
cannot let it mature.

W. W. White, of Putnam. I have in mind a piece of sandy
loam on whicii buckwheat was raised for eighteen years. It
■was plowed every June, and whatever grew upon it was
turned in ; it was sowed for eighteen years, and the last buck-
wheat was as good as the first, and rather better. That land,
originally barren, would raise a very nice crop of ordinary
tobacco. It never had received any manure for eigliteen years ;
but we have been plowing turf, as a general thing, for one
crop or two, and never saw any difference. The land was
improved, and the crops improved by that process. One of
my neighbors has a piece of land that is too light to cart ma-
nure upon, and he has invariably sowed clover, turned it over
in August, and. sowed rye, and taken off a crop of rye ; and
he says that in eight years the crop became so heavy that it
lodged. In that case probably part of the clover ripened and
went to seed.

Adjourned to seven o'clock.

202 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Evening Session.

The Evening session convened at the usual hour, a large
audience, very many of whom were ladies, being present.
Hon. E. H. Hyde occupied the chair, and introduced as the
lecturer of the evening, Hon. Francis Gillette. Subject:

THE BIRD IN HIS RELATIONS TO MAN, AND THE
WORM OR THE INSECT WORLD.

At the conclusion of Mr. Gillette's lecture, a vote of thanks
was unanimously passed for his very interesting and beautiful
address.

The President then introduced Mr. J, Stanton Gould, of
New York, who addressed the assembly on " the relations of
Agriculture to Railroads and Common roads."

On motion of Mr. Stewart, a vote of thanks was passed to
Mr. Gould, for his able and eloquent address upon the subject
of railroads.

The meeting then adjourned.

Fourth Day.

The Board met at the usual hour, Vice-President Hyde in
the chair.

Mr. Yeomans, of Columbia, offered the following resolution :

State Board of Agriculture,

Danielsonville, Jan. 12, 1872.
Resolved, That the thanks of this Board be extended to
the several railroad companies of this State for the accommo-

INSECTS. 203

dations and facilities afforded to the members of this Board
and others in attendance upon the meetings of said Board.

Mr. Yeomans. I trust that it is not necessary to say any
thing in support of this resolution. We are well aware that
these facilities have been extended by the several railroad
companies, and the Board is very grateful to them for these
favors.

The resolution was unaniitiously adopted.

Mr, Yeomans also 'presented the following resolution,
which was received with applause, and adopted :

State Board of AcxRiculturb,

Danielsonville, Ja7i. 12, 1872.
Resolved, That the thanks of this Board be extended to
the Press of this and adjoining States, for their efforts in ex-
tending the notice of this meeting, and also for their attend
auce upon and notices of our proceedings.

Mr. Stewart, of Middle Haddara, offered the following
resolutions, which were passed unanimously :

Resolved, That the thanks of this Board be returned to the
citizens of Danielsonville and vicinity for the kind and cor-
dial hospitality extended to the members of the Board, and
others in attendance.

Resolved, That the thanks of this Board be returned to
the members of the Windham County Agricultural Society,
and the Woodstock Agricultural Society for their hearty
welcome and efforts to further the objects of the Board.

Address of the State Entomologist, S. I. Smith, of New
Haven :

Mr. President, Ladies and Crenllemen : — With the advice
of our Secretary, I have thought it best this morning not to
attempt to make a detailed report, but only to present a few

204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

facts showing the importance to all those engaged in agricul-
tural operations, of the study of insects, and, if possible, to
make apparent how necessary to the farmer is a practical
knowledge of their appearances, structure and habits. The
ravages of insects are so familiar and yet so little understood,
that we have come too often to regard them as the result of
direct and unavoidable acts of Providence, no more under our
control than droughts, severe storms, or unseasonable frosts.
We spare no pains to prepare the fields, plant the seed, or de-
stroy the weeds, but when insects appear, we blindly submit.
If insects were as well understood as the weeds, I see no rea-
son wliy we miglit not as successfully combat them. Al-
though there is so much complaint of the ravages of insects,
few people have any adequate idea of the amount of injury
they do annually.

In illustration of the injury done to crops by insects, I need
only allude to the destruction caused by grasshoppers the
past sen son, or to the banishment of the wheat crop from
New England. Undoubtedly many causes have combined to
drive the cultivation of wheat from the Eastern States, but I
think all intelligent farmers will acknowledge that the attacks
of insects have been at least one of the principal causes.
Even at the west the damage done to this crop alone is enor-
mous. According to the estimate of Dr. Schimer, "in the
year 1864, three-fourths of the wheat and one-half of the
corn crop were destroyed by the chinch-bug throughout
many extensive districts, comprising almost the entire North-
west." In the single State of Illinois he estimates the dam-
age done in that year to the wheat and corn crops by this one
species of insect, at over seventy-three millions of dollars.
This, to be sure, is an exceptional case, but it indicates tlie
amount of injury that may be done by a single species of in-
sect; and there are others which are nearly as destructive.
The European cabbage-butterfly, which first made its ap-
pearance at Quebec in 1859, and has now spread over all the
eastern part of tlie country, is stated by Abbe Provancher, a
Canadian entomologist, to have destroyed in one year about
Quebec, cabbages to the value of $250,000. According to Dr.
Fitch, the Hessian fly destroyed, in the State of New York, in

INSECTS. 205

1854, wheat to the value of fifteen millions of dollars. The
array worm of the north, which committed such ravages over a
large part of the country in 1861, is said to have done damage
that year to the extent of half a million of dollars in eastern
Massachusetts alone.

These are all instances of injuries done by single species
of the more destructive insects. When we remember the
vast number of species of insects there are, and how many
species attack each one of our cultivated plants, we begin to
have some idea of the aggregate amount of the injury they
cause. At least a hundred species attack our cultivated ce-
reals and grasses, and probably as many more feed upon our
other field crops. At least seventy-five species attack the ap-
ple alone, and the shade and forest trees fare no better. Dr.
Packard calculates the total annual loss in our country from
noxious animals and the lower forms of plants, such as rust,
smut and mildew, as not far from five hundred million dol-
lars, and considers it a low estimate. I have not alluded in
these remarks to the injuries which insects and closely allied
animals do directly to man himself, and to domestic animals.
Prof. Verrill has given a full account of these in his lectures
on the " Parasites of Man and Domestic Animals," in the Re-
port of the Board for 1869, and has shown to what an extent
we suffer from them.

There is another phase of this subject which I think should
be brought out more clearly than it usually is. We are too
apt to regard insects, if we thinlc of them at all, as wholly
injurious, I wish to correct this idea, which is too often pro-
mulgated. The lecturer last evening fell, unintentionally,
perhaps, into this common error, condemniiig as our enemies
almost the whole class of insects, and in turn exalting into
friends almost all the birds. Practically we can make no
such broad distinctions. Vast numbers, whole groups, in fact,
of insects are entirely beneficial, and many others more
friends than foes ; while the birds, likewise, must be divided
into friends and enemies.

Of those insects which are directly beneficial to man, your
attention need not be called to the silk worms, to the honey-

206 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

bee, to insect product such as cochineal and lac. Medicine
even is indebted to insects for many of its remedies. Not
only, as in most of these instances, by tlieir products are in-
sects directly beneficial — they themselves furnish food for
many useful animals and even for man himself. We are in-
clined to look with distrust upon insects as food, but in other
countries they have and still do afford man great quantities
of food. We arc told in the Bible how John, in the wilder-
ness, lived upon locusts and wild honey — certainly entomologi-
cal food. The Indians west of the Rocky Mountains still use
grasshoppers and other insects as food.

Indirectly, insects confer vastly more important benefits,
some of them all unnoticed by us. First, they act as scaven-
gers, as sanitary agents, removing all sorts of injurious sub-
stances. We have in the house-fly, although it is such a nui-
sance, one of the most important scavengers. The burying-
bcetlcs, also, do good service in this way. If there is a dead
insect, little bird or mouse, in a field or pasture, these beetles dig
under it, it falls into the earth, and is covered up. In this
way, not only is the offensiveness of the decomposing matter
avoided, but all the fertilizing properties are retained in the
soil and made advantageous to the farmer. Insects also do a
great work in destroying and removing large masses of car-
rion. Tlie excrement of many animals constantly falling
upon the ground is attacked, undermined, devoured, scat-
tered abroad by a hoard of insects.

A far greater number of insects are beneficial by destroy-
ing injurious species, which are kept in check more in this
tlian in any other way. Of these beneficial species, there
are two prirtcipal classes. First, those which are predaceous,
preying directly on other species, capturing and devouring
them ; second, the truly parasitic species. In the former
class we have the tiger-beetles, which are destructive in all
the active stages of their existence, the grubs, armed with ira
mense jaws, living in holes in the ground and devouring every
living insect which falls in their way ; the full grown beetle,
like miniature tigers, lie in wait and pounce upon weaker
species. Hundreds of other carnivorous beetles are equally

INSECTS. 207

voracious. The mud-wasps, sand-wasps, and their allies, pro-
vision the nests for their young with other insects, destroying
in this way multitudes of injurious larvaj and winged insects
as well. One of our largest sand-wasps even captures the ci-
cada and stores it up as food for its- young ; another species
captures grasshoppers ; another seams to prefer the canker-
worm, and so on. The sting of all these wasps which store
up insects for their young, has the peculiar property of paral-
yzing the victims without destroying their life, so that they
live a long time, a supply of fresh living food for the young
wasps. All tlie dragon-flies and their allies feed exclusively
on other insects, devouring vast numbers of the smaller
forms.

But the class of parasitic species is, of all, by far the most
beneficial. They attack every injurious species in some or all
its stages of growth. No species is free from their attacks.
The army-worm, for example, is known to be attacked by at
least nine different species of true insect parasites, two species
of two-winged flies, somewhat lilce house flies, and seven ich-
neumon flies, or their allies. Tliere are also large carnivorous
insects which prey upon them. The canker-worm is undoubt-
edly kept in check more by parasites and other insects which
prey upon it than by all its other enemies combined. The
most important of these parasites is a minute four-winged fly,
the little larva, or maggot, of which lives within the canker-
worm's egg. The female of this little fly, no bigger than a
pin's head, goes from egg to egg of the canker-worm, punc-
tures each with iier ovipositor, or sting, and deposits in it one
of her own eggs. From this little parasite's egg, too small to
be noticed by the naked eye, hatches a maggot which lives
within the canker-worm egg, where it finds food sufficient for
its sustenance till it is full grown, when it changes to a chrys-
alis, and finally into an adult which gnaws a hole in the can-
ker-worm egg-case and escapes a little fly like its parent, to
repeat like operations upon a fresh crop of canker-worm eggs.
These little parasites of course prevent the hatching of the
eggs which have served for their snug habitation, and, as
they are very abundant, they do a great service in destroying

208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

this pest 0/f our orchards and shade trees. The canker-worm
is attacked by other parasites, and great numbers are eaten
by caruiverous insects as well as by birds and other animals ;
but our little egg-parasite is undoubtedly their most destruct-
ive enemy. Knowing tile habits of these enemies of the can-
ker-worm, we can readily understand the sudden diminution
and increase in its numbers during a series of years. It may
be well to state in connection with this that they never wholly
disappear ; for, any year, a careful search will reveal a few at
least on almost every tree which they are in the habit of in
festing. These few are so scattered they are not easily found
by parasites and other enemies, and hence these enemies di-
minish very rapidly in numbers, till finally a series of years
happen to be favorable for the increase of the canker-worm
and they multiply enormously and entirely out of proportion
to the numbers of the parasites. Soon the canker-worms
overstock the trees they inhabit and their very abundance gives
plenty of food for the parasites, which increase so rapidly in
consequence as to overcome them in a very few years. I know
the disappearance of the canker-worm is frequently ascribed
to other causes. Their last disappearance in the region of
New Haven, was ascribed by many to the introduction of the
English sparrow. Watching them in the last year of their
abundance, however, it was quite evident that tlie sparrows
were not the most efficient of their enemies. It was not
iincommon to see one of our little parasitic flies close to a
female canker worm, while she was depositing her eggs, and
puncturing every one of them while still freshly laid and soft.
Sometimes several were at work on the same cluster of eggs,
contending for the opportunity of depositing their eggs. Other
enemies of the canker-worm increased in similar proportions.
In the spring and early summer, both while the females were
going up the trees to deposit their eggs, and afterward while
the worms were coming down, a big metallic green beetle,
which in ordinary seasons is very scarce and seldom seen, ap-
peared in great abundance, a dozen being frequently found
about a single tree, devouring the helpless females or worms
as they came along. With such an army of insect destroyers

INSECTS. 209

is it a wonder the canker-worms were scarce for some years
succeeding? /

Many of our most injurious species are imported from
abroad, and it frequently happens, very unfortunately, that
the species come without l)ringing its' parasites with it, or at
least only a part of them. This is undoubtedly the reason
these introduced species frequently spread with such alarming
rapidity, until at last some of the native parasites attack it
and multiply so as to check its increase, or some of its foreign
parasites are brought by chance to the rescue. As yet none
of the old world parasites of the European cabbage butterfly
have been observed to attack it in this country, and native
parasites have thus far almost entirely neglected it. This
destructive butterfly, supposed to have been introduced at
Quebec twelve or fifteen years ago, left thus unresisted, has
already spread over all the eastern part of the country. The
wheat midge when first it appeared in this country is said to
have been free from the attacks of parasites, which accounts
for its rapid diffusion and the great extent of the damage
which it caused.

In addition to these more apparent and familiar ways in
which insects are beneficial toman, great numbers of species
render an essential service — are in fact an absolute necessity
— as pollen bearers. This office which insects perform is, I
fear, almost entirely overlooked by the farmer, while he owes
to its faithful performance the fruitfulness, and in fact the
very existence, of many of the crops he cultivates. You are
aware that our common plants mature no seed unless some
of the pollen, or fecundating dust, is transferred from the
anthers, or pollen-producing organs of the flower, to the stig-
ma, the organ which receives it and transmits the contents
of the grains to the rudimentary little seeds. If this transfer
of pollen does not take place, the rudimentary seeds do not
go on developing, but perish. In some plants this transfer of
pollen is brought about by the wind, but in far the greater
number of flov^ering plants, insects are necessary to its ac-
complishment ; for experiments have shown that flowers can
seldom be fertilized by their own pollen ; they require the pol-
14

210 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,

len of some other flower of the same species. If insects are
excluded from such plants as require their aid, they produce
little or no seed. If the bees and other insects were kept
from the flowering orchards, the autumn would see them
more destitute of fruit than they have ever been from the
' attacks of the curculio. The honey and pollen which the
insects gather, is of course all that attracts them to the flow-
ers ; in fact the special office of the honey is to attract insects
that they may bear away the pollen and fertilize the seed.
As far as we yet know, only those plants which require insects
to fertilize them produce honey. Much yet remains to be
learned of the exact way in which fertilization is accomplished
in many special cases, but all observations go to show that in
the majority of cases insects are necessary to accomplish it.

I trust I have said enough of the beneficial species to prove
that we should by no means condemn all insects alike, that,
while insects do us an enormous amount of damage, many of
them are most useful to the farmer and are even a necessity
to him. It is undoubtedly true that in the natural state of
any region the injurious species would never increase to the
extent to which they do in our cultivated fields. Before man
interferes with the vegetation of the country, a great variety
of plants grow together in the same region, and any insect,
feeding on a particular species of plant, must go about from
place to place in search of its particular food plant ; and
should it increase in numbers, its food plant at once becomes
scarce and it must decrease ; in the same way the insect and
its parasites hold each other in check, and a balance of power
is kept up between the insect, food-plant, and parasites.

Having acknowledged that many insects are beneficial, the
importance of distinguishing between the iiijurious and bene-
ficial species is at once apparent. The importance of the
farmer himself being able to make this distinction is well illus-
trated by the mistakes which are constantly made. The rav-
ages of the plant lice, or aphides, are familiar to all of you.
The rapidity with which they multiply render them most dififi-
cult to combat. They hatch out in the spring from eggs pro-
duced by winged parents of the fall before. The spring brood

INSECTS. 211

IS composed of wingless individuals all alike, and all produc-
ing young like themselves, without the intervention of any
males whatever. This remarkable form of multiplication goes
on all summer, but in autumn a new brood of winged males
and females is produced. When protected from the winter,
however, this asexual reproduction goes on for years, no males
being produced. This mode of reproduction accounts for the
almost incalculable rapidity with which they multiply. Yet
their natural enemies are almost always sufficient to keep
them within bounds. Minute ichneumons prey upon them,
the young of the delicate lace-winged flies devour them, and
many of the lady-birds, or lady-bugs, feed upon nothing else
during their whole lives. Yet Professor Glover,. of the Na-
tional Department of Agriculture, says, that at the south
"Many planters imagine that these lady -birds are in some
mysterious manner connected with the appearance of the cot-
ton louse, or even that tliey are the progenitors of the aphis
itself. This erroneous impression is formed in consequence of
these insects being always found in similar situations at the
same time, and abounding on plants already weakened by the
attacks of the plant louse. The sudden disappearance is also
accounted for, as, with the decrease of their natural food, the
lady-birds also disappear and migrate to neighboring planta-
tions in search of a fresh supply of nutriment. I have actu-^
ally known several planters who have caused them to be de-
stroyed by their field hands, when and wherever found, and
who complained that their plants were still destroyed by the
aphis, or cotton louse. This was only to be expected, as they
had destroyed the natural enerny of the louse, and suffered
the pests themselves to breed in peace and safety."

The lady-birds form a family of beetles by themselves, the
CoccineUidce, which are among the most beneficial of insects.
Most of them feed upon plant lice, but others attack the
chinch bug ; but even in this friendly family there is one inju-
rious species. The squash coccinella, as it has been called,
Epilachna boj-ealis, belonging to a different genus from the car-
nivorous species, feeds, in the young state, upon the leaves of
the pumpkin, squash, etc., and is frequently quite injurious.

212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The beetle resembles the common lady-bh-ds, but is rather
larger than most of them, and the wing covers are light yel-
low, each marked with seven black spots. The larva is yellow,
and armed along the back with rows of branching, thorn-like
spines, tipped with black. Instances of this kind are not at
all uncommon, and the only remedy is a diffusion of some
knowledge of insects among farmers themselves.

A knowledge of insects is also necessary to the farmer for
quite another reason. Take up almost any of our agricultural
journals, and you seldom fail to find prescriptions vouched by
somebody to be unfailing preventives of the ravages of some
particular insect, or even for all the insects which attack a
given plant). All sorts of patent and other machines and nos-
trums are advertised, recommended, and too many, even, sold
through the country. Nine-tenths of these machines, nos-
trums, and prescriptions, are utterly useless and worthless.
Not that tlie correspondents of the journals and the inventors
intentionally falsify; knowing nothing of the structure or
habits of insects, they jump at some conclusion on insufficient
observation, and, having formed an opinion, they hold fast to
it in the face of all reason. In the majority of these cases
even a very rudimentary knowledge of entomology would con-
vince any one of the worthlcssness of the remedies. A crop
rf)f some farmer is attacked by insects, no matter what they
may be or what their habits, he applies lime, salt, ashes,
or saw-dust, and in due time the insects disappear, the natural
time for them to go into the ground to transform having ar-
rived, or some of their natural enemies having swept them off,
and at once he concludes that his remedy has done the work,
and it is heralded abroad as a true specific. I can recall a
dozen of the most absurd remedies for the borers in fruit trees,
most of them the boring in the trees of holes ten times bigger
than the borers themselves ever made, and filling them with
all sorts of substances, no two of the doctors agreeing as to
what.

The female of the canker-worm is wingless, and conse-
quently obliged to crawl up the tree-trunks to deposit her
eggs ; so if any means are taken, by applications to the trunk

INSECTS. 213

or otherwise, to prevent tliem, and the young worms also,
from ascending tlie trees, their ravages are stopped. But, a
few years, ago the same remedies were proposed, and quite
extensively tried, to protect fruit trees from the curculio, the
females of which a moment's observation would have shown to
be flying insects, not to be stopped by any application to the
trunks of the trees.

In 1866 an agricultural paper in Maryland came out with
an editorial calling particular attention to a great discovery
for destroying the Hessian fly, the discoverer proposing to sell
the right of using his method of preventing the attacks of
this insect to each county for $100. The whole theory of the
remedy was based on the false supposition that the Hessian
fly deposits its eggs upon the grain in the ear of the wheat in
midsummer, a time when the Hessian fly never appears in the
winged state. The discoverer makes other statements, show-
ing plainly that he knows nothing of the structure or habits
of the Hessian fly. Mr. Walsh accounts for some of these
statements by supposing, with considerable reason, that the
discoverer of this wonderful remedy has mistaken one of the
parasites of the Hessian fly for that insect itself, thus confus-
ing his best friend with his worst enemy.

Such examples might be recounted by the hundred, all of
them presupposing the densest ignorance of the best known
facts in regard to tlie structure and habits of common insects.
Not only would a rudimentary knowledge of insects save the
farmer money and labor wasted on useless remedies ; it would
frequently show him what the extent of the damage insects
were doing was likely to be, or how long their ravages were
likely to continue, and whether preventive measures would
pay if tried. It would show that when the enemies of the
plant lice, for instance, were getting the better of them, that
interference was unnecessary.

I will occupy but a few moments with suggestions of what
seem to me the best way of directing the efforts of the Board,
and others interested, with reference to this whole sul»ject.
First the agricultural community must be brought to appre-
ciate tlie necessity of a knowledge of insects in general and

214 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

of the importance of minute, careful, and thorough investi-
gation into the sti'ucture, habits, and economy of the common
species. Most investigations in natural history, as in many
other branches of science, are made without any direct ref-
erence to their practical value, and hence we are too apt to
regard tliem as of no importance to the so-called practical
man. Yet if it were not for this groundwork of purely sci-
entific knowledge, the attempts to apply science to agriculture
would be useless. Even the scientific entomologists are ac-
quainted with only a fraction of the species of our New Eng-
land insects, and only the very smallest fraction of these are
known in more than one of their stages. The farmer can aid
these investigations in many ways, by his own observations
and by preserving specimens of those insects which seem
most injurious or beneficial. Insects frequently attack and
severely injure some crop for a whole season, without any
entomologist seeing a specimen or being able to determine
what it is — which of fifty thousand different bugs it may be —
and simply because no one was enough interested or thought
it of enough importance to save specimens for examination.
And specially should children be encouraged to observe and
study insects and other animals. Aside from the knowledge
they acquire, the cultivation of the powers of observation and
discrimination, which are so important in all the practical
operations of life, amply repay all the expenditure of time
and trouble. While the whole study of animals, in all its
departments, is neglected in our schools, and teachers are as
ignorant on the subject as their pupils, we can expect little
knowledge of insects among farmers. Botany is now taught
in many of our schools, and its importance as a branch of
study is beginning to be recognized on every hand. Why
should we neglect the even more important study of animals ?
Most children are naturally inquisitive and at once take an
interest in such things and very little encouragement is
needed. Much also may be done by the distribution of inform-
ation through the published reports of the Board. Some por-
tion of the time of these meetings could be devoted profitably
to discussions in regard to injurious species, and valuable iu-

INSECTS. 215

formation would doubtless be brought out in that way, and
especially if the insects themselves' were brouglit forward for
examination. There is quite as much necessity for the dis-
semination of the knowledge which we already have, as for
tlie acquisition of that wliicli is new — however important
that may be. The want of good works on our common inju-
rious and beneficial insects is one of the principal difficulties
in our way. In Europe, where the country is densely popu-
lated and all the products of the soil higher priced than here,
the ravages of insects are more severely felt, and yet, from
the greater care taken to protect crops, they are not so de-
structive as in this country. But in Europe the application
of entomological knowledge has received far more attention
than here, and many large works, prepared with great labor
and fully illustrated, have been published at government ex-
pense. And in Germany the subject is taught in the schools
and colleges.

In our our own country the best works are Dr. Harris's
" Treatise on some of the Insects Injurious to Vegetation,"
of which three editions have been published by the State of
Massachusetts, the last edition of which is well illustrated ;
and Dr. Packard's "Guide to tlie Study of Insects," the only
general work on insects published in this country, and one
which should be in the hands of every one interested in any
way in the study. Other treatises are scattered through gov-
ernment reports, the publications of agricultural societies, ag-
ricultural journals, etc. The Practical Entomologist, two
volumes published at Philadelphia, 1865 to 1867, and the
American Entomologist, also two volumes, published at St.
Louis, are two small monthly journals, now suspended, which
were devoted exclusively to practical entomology, as it is
called, and which are still valuable, as they contain many
good figures and much information in regard to noxious in-
sects. Dr. Fitch's Reports on the Noxious and Beneficial In-
sects of New York, Mr. Riley's Reports on the Noxious, Ben-
eficial and other Insects of Missouri, and Prof. Glover's papers
in the national agricultural reports, are other works which

216 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

can be consulted to advantage. I mention these works spe-
cially because the literature on this subject in this country is
not well enough known to those interested.

In resisting the attacks of injurious insects, much might
undoubtedly be done by intelligent legislation. Allow me to
quote Dr. Packard on this point. He says : "As illustrated
so well by the history of the incursions of the army-worm
and canker-worm, it is only by a combination between farmers
and orchardists that these and other pests can be kept under.
The matter can be best reached by legislation. We have fish
and game laws, why should we not have an insect law. Why
should we not frame a law providing that farmers, and all
owning a garden or orchard, should co-operate in taking pre-
ventative measures against injurious insects, such as the early
or late planting of cereals, to avert the attacks of the wheat
midge and Hessian fly; the burning of stubble in the autumn
and spring, to destroy the joint-worm ; the combined use of
proper remedies against the canker-worm, the various cut-
worms, and other noxious caterpillers ? " We have already
some laws protecting small birds, but they need to be more
stringent and better enforced. Legislation on the subject can
scarcely be expected and would be perhaps of little use, until
the necessity for it is better appreciated than it is at present.
Having alluded to the usefulness of a knowledge of entomol-
ogy, and, in a general way, to its relation to agriculture, I
wish, in the time which is left us, to call special attention to
three or four injurious insects which have recently appeared
and are likely to do much damage, so that their habits may
be observed the coming summer, and also that any gentleman
present, who have already encountered them, may give us the
results of their observations.

The first of these is the corn weevil (^Sphenoj^liorus Zece
Walsh') which attacks the stalks of young corn in June. It
is a slender, subcylindrical, blackish beetle about three-eighths
of an inch long, excluding the slender snout, or beak, which
is nearly a third as long. The beak is black, curved down-
ward, not .bigger round than the basal part of the legs, and
has at its base a pair of slender antennge which are black.

INSECTS. 217

with the extremity of the knob at the end whitish. Before
the middle of the thorax there is a polished diamond-shaped
space, surrounded by grayish punctures. The wing covers
are marked with longitudinal rows of still larger, grayish
punctures. It seems to have been first described by Mr.
Walsh, in The Practical Entomologist for August and Septem-
ber, 18G7. It has done much injury in New York state, and
has already appeared in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Very
little is positively known of its habits. Mr. Walsh supposes
that in the larva state it lives in moist wood situated in places
where it is constantly washed by water. The specimens
which I exhibit, however, were brought to me by a gentleman
from Guilford, whose corn had been severely injured by them,
and who said the fields attacked were far from any water, but
a part of his own field had been dressed with chip manure in
which the larvae might have lived if they really feed upon de-
caying wood.

It is quite likely, however, that Mr. Walsh was mistaken
in regard to its habits, for there is another species of the same
genus which is said to have a very different habit in tlie larva
state, although the perfect insect attacks corn in much the
same way. Of this last species. Prof. Glover* says that it is
very destructive to corn in many parts of the South and
Southwest, and in regard to its habits, quotes the following
statement of Senator Evans. " The perfect insect eats into
the stalk of the corn, either below or just at the surface of the
ground, where it deposits its egg. After changing into a
grub, the insect remains in the stalk, devouring the substance,
until it transforms into the pupa. state, which occurs in the
same cavity in the stalk occupied by the grub. It makes its
appearance in tlie following spring in the perfect state, again
to deposit its eggs at the foot of the young corn plants. These
insects destroy the main stem, or shoots, thus causing suckers
to spring up, which usually produce no grain, or, if any, of
very inferior quality to that of the general yield. Swamp
land or low grounds are the places most generally attacked."

* Agricultural Report of the XJ. S. Patent Office for 1854, p. 67.

218 BOARD OF AGRICCTLTURE.

It is also said that this insect is very destructive in Alabama,
and on Red River in Arkansas, but that the planters have
greatly diminished its numbers by pulling up the roots of the
corn after the crop has been harvested, piling them in heaps,
and burning the whole mass.

Now does our corn weevil have the same habits in the larva
state as this southern species ? This question must be an-
swered before we can propose any remedy for its attacks.
Tills point is readily determined by watching the weevil wlier-
ever it appears next summer. If it agrees in habits with its
southern relative, it can be destroyed in the same way. If,
on the other hand, it lives in the larva state in chip manure,
or decaying wood, these substances must be removed, or at
least not used for dressing.

The other weevil is a species which attacks the bean. It
closely resembles the pea weevil and might readily be mis-
taken for it, but is really a different species, the Brachus oh-
soletus of Say. This bean weevil probably deposits its eggs in
the pods of the bean while quite young and tender, in the-
same manner as the pea weevil does ; of the pea weevil, how-
ever, there is usually only one grub to a pea so the germ is
not destroyed, while a dozen grubs of the bean weevil are
frequently found in a single boan, so that those attacked are
more than half eaten up and few if any of them can ever ger-
minate. The damage done by the bean weevil is therefore
much greater than that which the pea weevil accomplishes.
This bean weevil was obtained a long time ago by Say from
the seeds of a wild plant allied to the beans and peas, but
was not known to attack • cultivated beans until recently.
Within a few years it has attacked cultivated beans, and has
done much damage in Pennsylvania and New York. This
year it has appeared about New Haven. How long it has
been in this state I am not aware. The same remedies should
be used against this as against the pea weevil. The presence
of the weevil is readily detected by the transparent spots
made by the larvae, and on no account should beans which
contain them be planted.

The other beetles exhibited are two of those which attack

INSECTS. ■ 219

the potato. The smaller one, which is cream color with three
black stripes on the wing covers and looks very much like
the common striped cucumber beetle, but is larger and stouter,
is the species which has been common in New England for
many years but is not usually abundant enougli to destroy
the crop. The larger, short, oval species with ten black lines
placed longitudinally on the wing covers, is the western, or
Colorado potato beetle, which for a few years past has almost
destroyed the potato crop at the west. It is rapidly spreading
eastward and there is no telling how soon it may be among
us. It is important to distinguish between these two beetles?
for it has several times been stated that the western species
was already found in the eastern states, the observers mistak-
ing the common small species for the far more destructive
species of the west.

Dr. Riggs. — I have noticed on my plants, and on the tender
shoots of my apple trees, this green plant louse in quite large
numbers; and I have noticed small, brown-colored ants, run-
*ning around among these lice. Are they destroying the lice,
or do they live on the exudations or secretions of the body of
the louse ?

Mr. Smith. — If you notice these lice, and especially if you
examine them with a magnifying glass, you will see that they
exude, from two little tubes at the posterior part of the body,
a sweetish substance, which is sometimes called "honey dew."
This frequently drops on the leaves. The ants are very fond
of it, and climb up the trees or other plants and feed upon it-
The ants never eat the aphis, that I know of.

Dr. Riggs. — I have seen it stated that the worm which feeds
on potatoes is the same kind that feeds on tobacco.

Mr. Smith. I know that is a very common idea, but prob-
ably erroneous. At least there are two quite similar but dis
tinct species, one of which usually feeds upon the potato and
tomato vines, the other upon tobacco and also on the tomato.
The potato worm has the oblique stripes on the sides of the
body greenish yellow, and the feet and the horn upon the end
of the body black, while in the tobacco worm the oblique
stripes are white, and edged above with bluish and short trans-

220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

verse black lines, and the feet white, ringed with black. The
moths which come from tliese two worms are also different?
though looking much alike. It is possible that both these spe-
cies sometimes feed upon tobacco or upon the potato, as they
both do upon the tomato, but this is not usually the case.

Mr. Robinson. — I wouid like to have the professor describe
the egg of the canker-worm, and tell us whereabouts in a tree
it is generally to be found.

Mr. Smith. — Usually, if the females can get up the trees,
tliey will go up among the branches, but very frequently they
deposit their eggs on the sides of buildings, on fences, and
especially just below any protection that has been put round
the trees to prevent their going up. The eggs are very small,
sliglitly elongated, and are placed close togetlier on end in
little patches, the eggs all glued to each other and to tlie bark,
or whatever they are upon, by a varnish which the mother
moth secretes. If you wish to see tiie eggs, all you have to do
is to catch two or three of tlie females when they are coming
out of the ground, and shut them up in a box, and in the
course of two or three days you will have an abundance of
eggs.

Dr. Riggs. — Ten years ago, on a farm in Bloomfield that I
owned, I had a potato field covered with a most disgusting
sort of bug. I -never had it before, and I have never had it
since. They were absolutely nauseating, tlieir whole bodies
being covered with mucus, and so offensive that I couU not
bear to go through the potato rows. They covered the whole
field, of about an acre, and ate the vines up, so that the crop
was almost a failure. They were about the size of the small
potato-bug which the professor has exhibited, but there was no
shell upon their backs. It was a glutinous mass, that seemed
to have legs sticking out of it, and the exudation from their
body was a jelly-like substance, exceedingly offensive, and dis-
gusting to handle. If you took one in your hand it would
slime it all over.

Mr. White, of Putnam. — I have seen that kind of insect
more or less on my potatoes for ten or fifteen years. They
were quite plenty this year. I have sometimes had a great

INSECTS. 221

many hills nearly eaten up by them. I never handled one.
They looked so nasty that I thought if I took one up it would
come all to pieces.

I have also had on my potatoes, and perhaps more last year
than usual, a bug that is square in shape, with corners stick-
ing out. It is quite impossible to tell which is the front and
which the back side. What those are I do not know.

I also have another bug, which plagues me more than any
thing else, especially on the Davis Seedling. Tiiey eat up the
vines entirely clean if I do not have a large piece. It is a
striped bug, about as heavy again as the common bug that eats
down our cucumbers, and the stripes are of a little darker
color.

Mr. Smith. — This striped beetle is the one that has been
mistaken for the western potato beetle so often, and the dis-
gusting worm or bug is the larva or grub of the same insect.

Mr. White. — I presume so. I get rid of these three bugs
in this way. As soon as I discover them I take plaster of
Paris and go over my field when the dew is on and sprinkle it
on the vines. The application of the plaster once or twice
prevents their doing much injury.

Professor Johnson. — You hatve all read the advertisement
of tlie Grafton fertilizer. Tiie owners of a quarry in New
Hampshire, originally worked as a gold mine, failing to make
their excavation pay by the yield of gold, have found they can
make it pay better by grinding the rock and selling it as a fer-
tilizer. It is carbonate of lime and magnesia chiefly. Ac-
cording to the owners they have certificates of its wonderful
fertilizing effects; and also (what is very remarkable) that it
is a specific against insects of all kinds. I had seen the ad-
vertisement of this fertilizer; it struck me as rather curious,
and it occurred to me that I had met with some facts which
might assist me in finding an explanation. About the time I
thought of it a relative of mine from Northern New York
paid me a visit. I had a few plants in my garden, the tops of
which had been nearly eaten up by these little plant lice. I
rather admire to see them work, especially when I see the ants
come up and milk them. You know entomologists say that

222 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

the ants make butter, and these lice are the ants' cows. I
was in the garden one day with my friend, watching these in-
sects, and lie told me that he had two or three acres of land
in the village where he lived, and one year he set out a lot of
cabbage plants. They grew famously for some time, but one
day he looked at them and saw that they were covered with
lice. The next day he looked at them again, and they were
evidently increasing with marvellous rapidity. " I thought,''
said he, " that my cabbage plants were gone, and I felt so mad
that I took up a handful of dirt and slung it at those things.
It seemed to relieve my feelings, and I went through the whole
row, flinging the dirt upon the plants, and then went into the
house. The next morning I was out looking at them, and I
noticed that where I had slung the dirt they seemed to have
let up a little. That rather encouraged me, and I went
tlirough the whole piece in the same way. I got up every
morning for a week, and went out and sprinkled dirt on the
plants wlien the dew was on them, and I had a splendid lot
of cabbages. My neighbors asked me ' How in wonder did
you get those cabbages ? What have you been doing to kill
those fellows?'" Here we have the explanation of it. You
may take coal aslies, or plaster, or Scotch snuff, or any kind
of dust, and it will have the same effect. I have no doubt
Mr. Smith will tell you that the reason why these things de-
stroy the insects is, that the dust chokes them up.

A neighbor of mine in the city, who had a Jarge garden,
which was the admiration of every body, employed a very skill-
ful gardener, who, in tlie spring, when his cabbage plants got
up to a certain height, would go through the rows and sprin-
kle plaster or ashes upon them, and his plants were not trou-
bled by the aphis. I presume mine would not be if I had
done the same thing, but I like to give the insects a fair
chance on my farm.

Dr. Riggs. The cabbage raisers near me have a remedy
for the green worms that infest the cabbage plant ; it is salt.
One man had set out three-quarters of an acre with cabbage
plants which began to be infested by these green worms, and
he sprinkled a little fine salt on the head of each cabbage, or

INSECTS. 223

on the leaves before they began to gather into heads. He said
it not only killed the worms, but helped the leaves to fold one
upon the other, and make good heads. I suggested to him
that a solution of salt would do better. He seemed to know
nothing about that, but he knew that sprinkling salt over the
heads two or three times in the season would protect them
from worms, and so he applied it in that way. I have never
used it, but I intend to do so.

Mr. Day. I should like to have Prof. Smith give the rea-
son why dust kills these worms, as Prof. Johnson has sug-
gested.

Mr. Gold, And at the same time take some little notice
of that foul-looking worm or bug.

Mr. Smith. This foul-looking worm which several gentlemen
have described in somewhat different ways, is the young of
the striped potato-beetle. Perhaps I should have described its
habits more particularly. The beetle was well described (by
Mr. White) as a little bigger than the cucumber-beetle, and
with the stripes a little darker. The foul-looking worm which
the same gentleman mentioned was the young of the same
insect. The different stages of this beetle are by far the
commonest insects on the potato in New England. The bee-
tles come out of the ground the last of May or early in June
and at once attack the leaves of the potato, usually collecting
among the young leaves at the top of the vines. When taken
between the fingers they make a creaking sound. The fe-
males soon lay their eggs, which are oval, bright yellow, and
glued to the leaves in little clusters of half a dozen or so.
The little grubs, which are soon hatched from these eggs,
grow rapidly and devour the leaves. They are rather short and
thick and have a pair of legs on each of the first three rings of
the body. After eating the leaves they cover themselves with
their own excrement. The anus is on the upper side of the
last ring of the body, and as the excrement is expelled and
falls upon the back of the grub, it is pushed forward by the
motion of the body till the whole back is covered with a filthy
mass, which undoubtedly protects their soft bodies from their
enemies. They always move backward while eating, devour-

224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

ing the edge of the leaf under their heads as they go- When
full grown, they crawl down the plants and go into the
ground, where they change to pupae, and finally to perfect
beetles, which come out in August and produce a second
brood of larvae, which go into the ground for the winter.

In regard to the effect of dust on any insect, it is very im-
portant to know that insects breathe, not through the mouth,
as children think they do, but through openings in the sides
of the body. If you take a tobacco worm, or a grasshopper,
or any large insect, you will notice on each side of most of
the rings of the body, a little spot which is frequently of a
different color from the surrounding parts, and if these spots
are carefully examined, a little hole will be noticed in each.
These holes connect with tubes which branch all through the
body. These different openings along the body are connected
'together inside, so there is a perfect network of air tubes
throughout the interior of an insect, somewhat as the veins
and arteries run through our bodies, but the blood of an in-
sect is not brought round to any special place to be affected
by the air ; the air penetrates all through these tubes to ae-
rate the blood. Any fine powder applied to many kinds of
insects, especially when they or the plants they are on are
wet, may stop up these openings and so suffocate the insects.

If these openings, called breathing-pores, or spiracles, are
stopped up, by touching them with a little oil or varnish, for
instance, tlie insect soon dies. In killing insects with any
liquid, as benzine or chloroform, the application is more ef-
fective if made along the sides of the body than upon the
head, as is frequently done. Fine powder or dust undoubt-
edly acts beneficially quite as often by obstructing the motions
of insects ; they become covered with the substance and roll
off the plants on to the ground.

Capt. Danielson. This is a subject comparatively new to
us. I see the vast importance of it, and am very glad that I
happen to be here. I tliink we have men here who will be
able to give us a great deal of light. I have lived longer
than most men here, and our crops seem to be hifested, es-
pecially our garden crops, with more insects and worms than

INSECTS.

when I was a boy. I want to know whether they are new
creations or a new development of creatures that existed
years ago. We do not know what to make of it, and we get
irritated over the matter. We go into our gardens some-
times in the middle of a very hot day and we find our cu-
cumber plants all cut down and the leaves lying on the
ground and drying up. This ought not so to be. I was con
versing with an aged man a few years since, who said he dis-
tinctly remembered when there was no such thing as a rose
bug; now, they sometimes come in such clouds that we can
hardly see. I should like to know whether entomology can
explain this, or is it because our soil has been worked over so
long that it is bringing up insects that did not exist there
years ago. I see the very great importance of this sub-
ject, and want to get more light upon it. If we can go to
work and kill off these insects by millions, it would be a great
benefit to us.

Mr. Gould. I do not think that there is any evidence of a
new creation of insects. Almost all the insects which have
infested this country have been directly traceable to importa-
tions from abroad. The origin of the Hessian fly is we.ll
known. It was brought over here in straw by the Hessian
troops at the opening of the Revolutionary War. Prof.
Smith has said, very correctly, that four or five years ago
there were no parasites of the wheat midge known in this
country. The history of that insect is exceedingly interest-
ing, and perhaps will illustrate the point which the gentleman
inquires about.

The wheat midge made its first appearance on this side the
ocean in 1830, in Canada, and it was found on investigation,
to have come from the emptying of a straw bed which was
brought over by a Scotch emigrant. From that time it spread
in a circle of about thirty miles a year until it has embraced
nearly the whole of the wheat region. The elderly gentle-
men here will recollect the time when their wives and moth-
ers would ordinarily make rye and Indian bread for the fami-
ly, but when the minister or the schoolmaster was coming to
tea, they felt it to be their duty to have a barrel of Troy City
15

226 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

flour in the house. The old housewives did not believe that
any other bread than that made from Troy City flour was the
thing to entertain great folks with when they came. That
Troy City flour had a reputation all over the country. Its
sale was enormous. The number of mills in Troy was aston-
ishing. It was supposed at the time that the p'osperity of
the city of Troy depended entirely upon those flour mills.
Then, sir, the wheat that supplied the city of Troy was grown
in the counties of Washington, Rensselaer, Albany, Mont-
gomery, Schenectady, Columbia, Green, Schoharie, and some
other counties around them. That was the region where the
principal part of the flour made in the United States at that
time was manufactured. But after the introduction of the
wheat midge the growth of wheat in those counties, once so
celebrated, was utterly and entirely destroyed. In the coun-
ties I have enumerated there is not now raised one-tenth part
of the wheat necessary to supply the inhabitants of those
counties.

The wheat midge is exceedingly small. I was the third
man on the face of the earth, I believe, who ever saw a male
wheat midge. It is the most minute insect that I know of.
The only way to examine it is to hold a candle near it and
allow its shadow to fall ; you can then get some idea of it.
That wheat midge was first seen by a German Entomologist ;
then, for nearly forty years, it was never seen again. Within
a few years. Dr. Fitch found a male wheat midge ; I happened
to visit him the day after he found it, and I was the third man
who ever saw a male wheat midge. I doubt if there are
thirty men who have ever seen a male wheat midge up to
this time. But what I was coming at was this, and it is a
very curious fact. When the British people heard of this
terrible invasion among the wheat crops of this country, an
Order in Council was drawn up and passed by the Privy Coun-
cil of England, ordaining that no American wheat should,
under any circumstances, be imported into any British port.
After the Order had been passed, but before it had been pro-
mulgated, it was submitted to Mr. Curtis, who stands at the
head of the entomologists of Great Britain, and is very well

INSECTS. 227

known to Prof. Smitli, to ascertain whether the technical
terms used in the Order in Council were correct. He replied
that technically, the terms of the Order were all strictly accu-
rate, but he informed the clerk of the Privy Council, wlio
brought him the paper, that it was a perfectly useless piece of
legislation ; tliat the Americans got the wlicat midge from
England, and that there was no more danger from the intro-
duction of American wheat than from the introduction of
Scotch wheat. When that information was given to them,
they repealed the Order, and it was never promulgated ; but
tliat is tlie historical fact. Wliy, then, is the wlieat midge so
destructive in America, when it is not in Great Britain ? It
is because, in Great Britain, there are a great many parasites
that prey upon it ; as soon as one alights, a parasite is ready
to stick in its ovipositor and deposit its egg, which, when it is
hatched, destroys it utterly. Tliat is the reason why it has
never done any damage there. As soon as that Avas known,
efforts were made by Dr. Fitch, especially, to secure some of
these parasites. He wrote to his scientific friends in Europe
to send out to him these parasitic insects which prey upon the
wheat midge, and innumerable bottles of eggs and insects of
every kind were sent out, but it was found utterly impossible
to get them across the ocean alive. But a year or two aji'o,
Dr. Fitcli informed me that he believed the parasites had ar-
rived, for he has found the insects destroyed by something,
and it is believed that in some accidental way the European
parasites have escaped from Great Britain and arrived iii this
country. If so, the ravages of the wheat midge will be pre-
vented.

In Great Britain, and in almost all parts of Europe, there
is a beetle well known as the asparagus beetle. The devas-
tations are so marked, that it is only with the greatest diffi-
culty that European gardeners can raise asparagus. Up to
the year 1863 or '64, it was unknown here. Most of you
know what a great business the raising of asparagus is on
Long Island. Many men have a hundred acres in asparagus,
and nothing else. All at once, to the utter astonishment of
every one, clouds of tiiQse asparaigus beetles made their ap-

228 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

pearance on Long Island, and there was perfect agony on the
part of the Long Islanders. Dr. Fitch was sent for, and upon
making an examination of the ground, he found the remains
of these beetles. Continuing his investigations, he found
that the skunks were eating the asparagus beetles whenever
they found tliem ; there was nothing they seemed to enjoy so
well. He then, from the analogies of the case, suggested
that it was very possible that hens might destroy them, and
by his advice, the gardeners on Long Island turned their hens
into their asparagus fields, and the consequence is, these
beetles do very little damage.

I will state a single other fact, for I will not take up too
much time. There is a sort of aphis which, until some years
ago, was entirely unknown in this country. It is of an orange
color, and much larger than the ordinary green aphis. I had
never seen one in my life, and I do not believe any man in
America had seen one, although I was perfectly familiar with
the insect from the beautifully colored plate of Mr. Curtis,
and recognized it at once when I did see it. I had been in
the Adirondack woods for some time, and knew nothing of
what was going on in this part of the world, and on coming
out of the woods, I spent a few days in North Elba, going
through a field of wheat there, on the farm which belonged
to John Brown, whose soul is now " marching on." I was
impressed with the idea that I had never seen a field that was
so utterly rusted in my life. Drawing one of the heads down,
and examining it through my glass, I found that it was no
rust at all, but it was this identical yellow aphis, that I had
never dreamed was to be found in America. It was a perfect
mystery to me where they came from. I asked the hunters
around North Elba if they had ever seen this aphis ; they
said. No, it was entirely new ; they all thought it was the
rust until I called their attention to it. When I returned
home, I asked if they had seen any strange aphis? Yes,
they said, in 1864, the whole wheat crop had been destroyed.
The next year I watched very carefully, and I found it made
its appearance occasionally, but I found also an enormously
developed red bug, which preyed upon it. There was no

INSECTS. 229

other species of red bug that I saw except this one — a two-
spotted red bug. The second year, there was very little dam-
age done. The third year, these things had entirely disap-
peared. Now, somebody had imported that, and since, as
Prof. Smith says, the mother of one of these lice that is born
in the morning will be a grandmother before night ; you see
how rapidly they increase. A single year was sufficient, not
only to develop them all over the cultivated portion of the
United States, but to send them away up into the farthest re-
cesses of the Adirondacks. This illustrates how easily they
are imported. If the parasite happens to be imported with
them, we see very little of them. Sometimes a peculiar con-
currence of circumstances will take place by which the para-
site is destroyed ; then insects which have not been seen for
years will appear in great numbers, and will be the destruction
of certain kinds of crops upon which they prey.

I do not know whether you have ever investigated a worm
called the forest worm. It resembles the canker worm some-
what, still more the apple worm. The peculiarity of this
forest worm is, that it has notes of exclamation on the back.
Commonly, you will see very little of this worm, but once in
a while, all the maple leaves will be cut off by its operations.
There is a parasite which preys upon it, and when no circum-
stance occurs which destroys tliis parasite, the forest worm is
kept under, and you know nothing about it ; but if the para-
site should be destroyed, you will find no end of maple trees
in the woods killed by the operations of this worm.

Before I sit down, I want to tell a Munchausen story. I
am sure that my credit as a man of veracity will be utterly
destroyed when I give it, but it is well vouched for by official
documents in India. There was at one time a development
of the grasshopper in India that was beyond all calculation
and beyond all belief. Tlie whole heavens were darkened
with it, and so enormously thick was this storm of grasshop-
pers that the sun did not shine through them. Well, a furious
wind occurred very shortly after this, and dashed them against

mountain. An examination by government officers showed
that there was a pile of these grasshoppers seventy miles ^'^

230 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

length, eight feet high, and some forty feet thick at the base.
The putrefaction of this mountain of grasshoppers caused a
terrible visitation of typhoid fever in India. The whole thing
is described in the official documents of India, and I must
confess that I am credulous enough to believe it. You can.
do as you please with regard to it.

One word with regard to the necessity of farmers discrim-
inating, as Prof. Smith has very properly said, between their
enemies and their friends. The value of insects as fertilizers
of plants cannot be overestimated. Those of you who have
never investigated the subject may perhaps be surprised when
I tell you, what is admitted I believe, by all scientific men
who have turned their attention to it, — that our crop of red
clover seed depends upon what, in common language is called
the " bumble bee." If the " bumble-bee" cannot work among
the clover, it is not fertilized, and clover seed cannot be made.
The "bumble-bee" is the very best friend of the farmer,
"where clover is cultivated for its seed. It is astonishing what
Providence has done, in the adaptation of insects and birds
to the exigencies of plants, with reference to their propaga-
tion. There is a beautiful species of orchid growing in a lim-
ited district of South America, the pistils and stamens of
which are separated from each other by a very considerable
interval, and both of them are in the same horizontal line.
Tiie question is, how that pollen shall be scattered so as to
fertilize the pistil, in order to propagate the seeds of the plant.
This orchid is ver}^ peculiar. Tliere is a tube over the pistil
and a tube over the stamen. The tube over the stamen is a
contorted tube, so that you cannot push a straight stick
through it. Now, there is a luimming bird, known only to
South America, known only in the district where this orchid
is cultivated, that has a bill which is contorted, and the con-
tortion is such as exactly to coincide with the contortion of
the tube of the plant. The effect is, that this humming bird
can only obtain its subsistence in the country where this
orchid grows. His crooked bill is inserted into the crooked
tube, and in shaking about the stamen of the orchid, in order
to obtain the honey which lies at its root, he fertilizes the
pistil.

INSECTS. 231

These are merely samples of the great benefit which results
to us from the operations of insects. It seems to me that
there is no duty which should impress itself more strongly
upon farmers than this of learning how to discriminate be-
tween their friends and their foes. I might relate to you
many instances where the greatest injury has been done in
consequence of farmers murdering their friends, simply be-
cause they do not understand tliis distinction, and it is high
time that more attention was paid to this matter.

Dr. Riggs. There is one protection against this red-legged
grasshopper which the Professor did not mention, and that is,
the common domestic turkey. Tiiey will destroy the grass-
hoppers in great numbers. This last season, I experienced
considerable benefit from two flocks of turkeys, owned by
neighbors, that I have generally considered rather as nui-
sances. They devoured immense quantities of grasshoppers
on the edges of my tobacco and corn fields ; in fact, they
lived on them. I intend to raise a large brood of them next
year, in self-defence.

Mr. Smith. Although it is getting late, I would like to
answer two or three questions wliich have been asked. The
question in regard to " new creations of insects," partially
answered by Mr. Gould, perhaps deserves more notice.. There
is not the slightest foundation for the belief that there are
ever at the present time new creations of insects. The talk
about spontaneous generation, protoplasm, the origin of life,
etc., which is so common just now, may help to revive this
old idea of creations of insects, but no one among the scien-
tific men of to day, however strongly he may believe in spon-
taneous generation, or any theory of the origin of life, sup-
poses for a moment that insects ever originate directly in that
way. The organisms which some suppose to be produced in
this way, are far lower in the scale of organized beings than
any insects,— more different from Insects in fact than insects
are from man. Every insect is produced from some other
similar individual of the same species. What I have already
said in regard to the sudden appearance of the canker worm
and other insects will explain many facts of the sudden ap^

232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

pearaiice of species of insects not before known. We should
constantly bear in mind the vast numbers of different kinds
of insects which everywhere exist and yet are almost or quite
unnoticed by most people. Entomologists, are acquainted
with many thousands of different kinds of insects, from our
own country, which are probably never noticed by the farmer,
and yet the entomologists know only a part of the species
"which really exist. If, in the latter part of summer or early
in the autumn, you sweep a deep net made of fine cloth
through tall grass, grain, or any plants, you will be surprised
to see what a vast number of small insects of hundreds of
different kinds will be found in the net, and if the operation
is repeated all day different kinds will constantly be found.

The " bug" which was mentioned as found on potato vines
with the different stages of the little striped beetle, and de-
scribed as having corners sticking out so that it was impossi-
ble to tell which was the front and which the back side, must
be one of the tree-hoppers, which are allied to the Cicadas, or
harvest flies, and have somewhat similar habits. There are a
great many kinds of them ; some of the common ones shaped
like beech nuts, others more slender and without sharp cor-
ners. They all have similar habits in the adult state, pierc-
ing with their beaks the plants upon which they live and
sucking the juices. They are all more or less injurious and
some of them do much damage.

Permit me again to urge the importance of preserving
specimens of insects for examination. I shall always be very
glad to do all I can to give any one information in regard to
the insects which are met with by farmers or other people.
Specimens might be brought to the meetings of the Board,
or still better, sent to me at New Haven. Insects may readily
be sent by mail, putting them in a small paper box, enclosed
in a letter. Any such letters of inquiry I shall be happy to
answer as far as I may be able.

Prop. Johnson. I congratulate the Board of Agriculture
on having gotten Mr. Smith interested in behalf of the far-
mers of Connecticut on this subject. To be sure, he hails
from the same place that I do, and is connected with the same

INSECTS. 233

institution that I am, and therefore you might say that I have
no business to get up here and pra4se him. But I will tell
you one thing, — if he was not a first rate man, I know he
would not hail from there. I want to-tell you another thing:
we have lately had to raise his salary to keep him from accept-
ing a permanent position in another institution, and if he had
not loved us better than he did a more lucrative position he
would have gone. I mention this to show you that the best
authorities in the country understand that he is a very prom-
ising entomologist, a thing we have known down in New Ha-
ven for a number of years, and I want the State Board of
Agriculture, and the farmers of Connecticut to put their fin-
ger down upon this proposition, that neither Massachusetts,
nor any other state shall be able to take Mr. Smith away from
us. If we need any more money to keep him, I w^ant them
to come forward and help us pay him.

There is one other point to which I wish to refer. "We
cannot spread intelligence abroad in the community with ref-
erence to insects unless we will take a little trouble. In the
first place, we must know what insects are. We must learn
that " bug " is not a name which describes all insects. We
must Icarn the different kinds of insects, and their transform-
ations, so that we can talk about them intelligently. Suppose
I talk Greek, and you talk Latin, and my neighbor talks Ger-
man ; if we all got together, we should not make much head-
way, because we could not talk intelligibly. We must know
the language which serves to describe insects, in order to con-
verse together intelligently in regard to them. Now, I want
to suggest, that when your Agricultural Societies offer their
premiums this year, instead of saying " For the best crop of
corn, $2.00; for the second best, $1.00," and so on, they
offer a copy of Harris's " Insects Injurious to Vegetation,"
or, what would perhaps be better. Dr. Packard's " Guide to
the Study of Insects." They are illustrated, they give all
this information with regard to insects, they 'describe, more
or less particularly, the chief injurious and useful insects,
and in that way at the cost of a few dollars, you can scatter
around, in many of your farm houses, the sources of inform-

234 ~ BOARD OF AGRICULTUite-

ation on this subject iii which some bright boy or girl will be
interested, (and girls can do this work just as well as boys,)
and you will have growing up among you persons familiar
with all these things. .

Another point. Offer a premium in money — a good rOund
one — make it twenty-five or fifty dollars — for the best collec-
tion of useful and injurious insects, showing their different
stages, properly labeled, with the scientific and common
names, to become the property of the Society, and you can
put it in some school like this, or in some place where it can
be made serviceable, so that all who get an insect may know
where to come to find the name of it, and to get some notion
in regard to its character. Put that collection in the care of
some school-teacher, or some person, lady or gentleman, girl
or boy, who will take an interest in the subject, so that it will
be a sort of centre of information, and stimulate persons to
cultivate the habit of looking at these things. If you will do
this, in twenty-five years, if they will not do it anywhere else,
you will be the centre of information to all the surrounding
country, and people will come here to learn about these
things. But if you do it, it will be done elsewhere, and we
shall all get along nicely together,

One word more. I will say, that probably the best material
for killing insects is slacked lime, wliicli is not only a very
fine powder, but it is a thing which, if it touches a soft insect,
like a slug, is sure death, because of its caustic property.
That will beat the Grafton fertilizer.

Adjourned to two o'clock,

FARM EXPERIENCE. 235

Afternoon Session.

The closing session of the Board opened soon after two
o'clock, Mr. Geo. Sanger, of Canterbury, in the chair.
Mr. Day, of Brooklyn offered the following :

State Board of Agriculture.
Danielsonville, Jan. 12th, 1872.

Voted, That the members of the Connecticut Board of Ag-
riculture tender tbeir warmest thanks to Prof. S, I. Smith,
for his very instructive and valuable entomological address,
and hope that the farmers of this State will heed his sugges-
tions, and render him every assistance in their power in his
investigations of a subject so intimately connected with their
interest and prosperity.

Carried unanimously.

FARM EXPERIENCE FOR 1871.

Mr. Gold. Every farmer has doubtless observed, during
the year, some facts that would be valuable to others if they
were made known. He has seen some things which he was
unable to explain, and it is desirable, as we are met together
here in conference, that we should bring out from our stores
of experience, such points as may be useful to our brother
farmers. It was with that object in view that this topic was
placed upon the programme. Doubtless some one will be
able to answer, more or less directly, such questions as may
be asked upon the subjects connected with our farming ope-
rations. Nothing connected with our farm management,
either in its successes or failures, can be ruled out of order,
in the discussion which it is expected will take place under
this head.

Mr. White, of Putnam. I wish to make a little statement
of some experiments which I tried la§t year, in counectioa

236 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

with some which I made the year previous. I planted a piece
of corn in 1870, on some yellow, loamy land, and manured
it very well. By the side of this, on the same kind of land,
I had a piece of sowed corn, manured not quite so well ; and
by the side of the sowed corn I had three-quarters of an acre
of Norfolk turnips. Last year, I planted all this ground to
corn, and also broke up a piece of sward land by the side of
it. My object in doing this was to see the effect of preceding
crops upon the following crop?, and I endeavored to manure
the land all alike, except the plaster and the turnips had the
most stable manure. The corn was the lightest on the sward
ground ; the next larger was on the piece where I had corn
the previous year ; the best was on the ground where I had
sowed corn and where I had turnips. I could not see that
there was much difference between these two pioces. Now I
will state the difference in my mode of management. In
1870, 1 sowed plaster where I sowed the corn, and mixed
plaster with green manure for the turnips, which I covered
with the plow before I planted the turnips. Last year, I ma-
nured principally in the hill, with green barn manure, or
green hog manure, but put on a compost of ashes, lime and
plaster, at the rate of about five bushels of ashes to a hund-
red lbs. of plaster and half a bushel of dry slacked lime. I
put about a spoonful of this compost in a hill. I saw no dif-
ference in the crop where I used the different kinds of ma-
mire, but where I used plaster the previous year, the ears
were almost as large again as where I did not use it.

Mr. Gould. I can give an explanation of that. The gen-
eral rule is, that all crops belonging to the family of the cru-
ciferae, — that is to say, having flowers like the radish or turnip
— injure the land. It is an exception to the rule to see a
good crop of corn after cabbages, radishes, or turnips.

Mr. White. That brings to my mind another thing. I
have raised turnips for some thirty years. I generally follow
with oats ; I never followed with corn before. The oats are
smaller and more liable to rust.

Mr. Gould. Always; I never knew an exception.

Mr. White. I want to know if lime and plaster are no

FARM EXPERIENCE. " 237

correctives on that point. That was one reason why I brought
the matter before this meeting. The grasses I have generally
got rather heavier after turnips, after the second year.

Prof. Johnson. There seems to be a question here in re
gard to the action of plaster. All these plants of the radish
and turnip family contain a volatile oil. You know that the
turnip plant itself has an odor which is due to the presence
of the volatile oil. In the case of the horse radish and simi-
lar classes of plants, this has been separated, and found to
contain twice the quantity of sulphur found in other plants,
and all these plants contain rather more sulphur, perhaps,
than other classes of plants ; and a part of the effect of su-
perphosphate of lime, which is almost a specific fertilizer for
turnips, although the phosphoric acid has doubtless something
to do with it, comes from the fact that superphosphate of lime
always contains half or more than half its weight of sulphate
of lime. This class of plants contain a great deal of lime.
You find in the ashes of all large-leaved plants, like turnips,
beets, and tobacco, large quantities of lime. Still, the action
of plaster is not necessarily explained by the effect of its in-
gredients. One of the most interesting points in the action
of fertilizers is their indirect action, and in the case of plaster,
this thing has been studied up, not enough, it is true, to af-
ford a full explanation of the whole matter, but so as to give
us some very useful indications, and show us that we cannot
trace the action of fertilizers to the immediate effect of the
elements which they contain. Plaster, for instance, may pro-
duce a very useful effect upon the soil where it does not sup-
ply the plant with sulphuric acid and lime, which are its in-
gredients. The simple fact is, that the elements of a fertilizer
do not explain, necessarily, the reason of its action. As an
illustration of this, take common salt. You may find hund-
reds of instances in which common salt has produced remark-
able effects upon crops, while, with the exception of plants
of marine origin, like asparagus, if you go through the anal-
yses that chemists have made, you will find that plants contain
very little soda and very little chlorine, which are the elements
of salt. Experiments with almost all kinds of plants show

238 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

that both of these elements can be left out almost entirely,
without making any difference in tlie products. Yet common
salt acts as a fertilizer, not by feeding the plant, but by its
action upon the soil.

Some years ago, two chemists, one in Germany (Baron Lie-
big), and another in France, made some observations, inde-
pendently, which throw light on this question. The French
chemist procured samples of different soils, some of which
were benefited by plaster, and others of which were not
affected by plaster, and treated each of the samples with water,
to see wliat the water would take out of them. He took also
similar samples of each of the soils, and poured-on them the
same amount of water, in which he had dissolved all the
plaster that it would take up. Pure water will dissolve one
part plaster to about four hundred and fifty parts of water.
Almost all hard water contains a little plaster in solution. He
used pure water in one case and a solution of plaster and
water in the other case, and kept the mixture in agitation for
a number of days, and then drew off the liquid and made a
careful analysis of it. He found that those soils which were
not benefited by plaster gave to the pure water the same
quantities of certain elements, principally potash and magne-
sia, which they gave to the water containing plaster ; the plas-
ter made no diflerence in the ability of the water to dissolve
those substances; but on the soil which plaster benefited,
those two materials, potash and magnesia, were taken up by
the plaster water in much greater quantity than by the pure
water.

It is this solvent effect of plaster upon the soil which must
be taken into account in considering its action, and the action
of common salt upon the soil. That is the explanation of the
action of salt upon our ordinary farm crops. All these mate-
rials which enter into the growth of plants have, in addition
to their direct action as feeders of }»huits, this indirect action
upon the soil, and therefore it is impossible to say, in any
given instance, in what way a fertilizer acts, and it is impossi-
ble to say what will be its action without making a trial. All
we can do is, to use these gei^eral facts, as we gather them, in

FARM EXPERIENCE. ' 239

our farm practice. I will imagine, for instance, that my crop
needs more potash. It is not necessary that I bring that pot-
ash from outside and put it on the land ; perhaps it will be
sufficient if I put something into the soil which will set the
potash already there into activity. These fertilizers are not
merely plant feeders, but they act as a means of unlocking
the fixed capital in the soil and setting it afloat. It may be,
in the case to which reference has been made, that the plaster
which was applied previously to the corn crop, had had the
effect to supply something which could not be supplied so well
on the other part of the land ; it may have been the sulphuric
acid, it may have been the lime, which plaster contains, or it
may have been this indirect action upon the soil itself.

There is one other mode in which plaster and other similar
fertilizers may operate, which is a very interesting one. The
first hint we got of it was furnished by Mr. Lawes, the English
gentleman to whose experiments I have referred so often.
Many years ago he conducted some experiments for the pur-
pose of determining how much water entered into and es-
caped from the foliage of his plants. He prepared a number
of boxes, a foot or two deep, in which he placed soil of differ-
ent kinds, and sowed seeds of different kinds, as they would
be planted for agricultural purposes. He put covers upon the
boxes, with holes through them just large enough to admit
tlie stem of the plant, so that the foliage was exposed to the
air, and there was no other chance for evaporation of water
except through the foliage. He also had a hole through which
he could pour water, and he had a large balance constructed,
so that he could weigh the boxes every day during the months
of the growth of the plants. In connection with this experi-
ment he made some observations which enabled him to notice
the effect of various substances applied as fertilizers, and his
observations showed distinctly that in the presence of certain
substances the amount of water which went through the foli-
age was considerably less than in other cases with the same
kind of plants. Mr. Lawes, in stating his results, simply re-
ferred to that point, but paid no particular attention to it, and
the matter rested there for some ten years, when a German

240 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE.

investigator made a series of similar experiments, and he found
that when he incorporated with the soil a small amount of
plaster, common salt, sulphate of soda, or nitrate of soda, the
quantity of water evaporated by the plant was reduced, in
some cases, more than fifty per cent. If he added a free al-
kali, like potash, I think the quantity was very strikingly di-
minished. I do not know the explanation of it, but every one
who has studied the question of the action of plaster has ac-
quired the conviction that plaster attracts moisture. There
must be some mistake about that. Plaster does not absorb
moisture as some other substances do, yet its effect is, when
incorporated with the soil, to hinder the evaporation of water
by the plant, and that amounts to the same thing. It enables
the plant to economize the water in the soil, and the water of
rains and dews, to a greater extent than when the soil is des-
titute of the substance.

Dr. Riggs. — I would like to lay before the meeting some
little difficulties that I have encountered in under-draining, to
see if any one can account for them. I had a field about forty
rods lono- and twenty wide, wliich produced bulrushes and
bull-frogs principally, and was such an eye-sore to me that I
determined to drain it. I laid six under-drains, forty rods
long and ten paces apart, which divided the field into even
portions. I believe in deep drainage rather than shallow, and
these drains were at least three feet deep. The