Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-04-03
Green ManIIriHg.

kIuEs&ftcdno COull1y w - "
{ Juh.11et at the Court House March /,
J. y. auckland in the chair. The ques-
tion continued, from the last meeting, |
was Making and Applying Manure,
but the discussion turned largely on |
green manuring.
VIM. III. Pendry, President OF |
the State Agricultural Society, SAID he
Moved under clover to manure his more |
distant fields. and finds this the most |
way to manure such flelds.
He never fails Of good crop of wheat
when he plows under clover; considers
the tops and roots both valuable. Al
ways seeds his wheat to clover and soWs
plaster; sows about one-fourth as much
timothy as clover. Plaster is of great
benefit to clover; sows a bushel per
acre; clover very seldom fails when 1t
is plastered. Flows under clover when
in the head, short time before 1t is
ready to cut for hay. Draws out his
best manure in tue spring and ploWs IL
under for corn. The coarse manure IS
piled, rotted, and used for top dressing
for wheat in the fall. He spoke very
favorably of this course; thinks the
manure does not lose much IN rottlng,
and that coarse manure needs some sucn
preparation before it is applied to the
land. Is not in favor of drawing ma
nure in the winter.
Hon. A. Hutchinson said fifty years
cultivation has done much to exhaust
our soils, and something should be done
to restore them. Barnyard manure
alone will not be sufficient he makes
scarcely enough to manure his corn ana
orchard Has not used much CONNER
cial manure, and does not like to buy 1t.
Thinks we must look in some other dl-
rection for fertilizers, We have eX-
| hausted the vegetable mould In our SOILS,
| and have no conception of the amount
of manure we need to restore 1t. lie
spoke very favorably of the mechanical
| effects of coarse manures, when Ter
menting in the soil, and said every load
should be saved and applied: Refer
ring to the continual draft of fertilizers
from the farm, the great loss IN the sew
eraoe of cities, and said farmers should
have buildings arranged so as to save all
manurial matters. After barnyard ma
nure, our next resource is plowlng I'M
der green crops. He has shown his high
estimation of clover in former meetings
of the club. Does not know whether 1t
is best to pillow under clover the first or
the second year; the first year there are
the most tops, the second the most roots.
PloWs it under when fit to cut for hay.
Has thought of blowing under corn, but
fears the green crop will not be gooo
fertilizer. Has a favorable opinion OF
rye; it grows late in the fall and early
in the spring, and will produce a large
amount of vegetable matter to pillow UNI
der. Last season plowed under twenty
acres of rye and fifteen acres of clover
for wheat, and the crop so far looks as
well after rye as after clover. Has
twenty acres of rye on the ground tt
pillow under the coming season. Plow:
under rye when in the blossom. Dis
sents from the high value some put OF
clover to cut for hay, and thinks it pays
as well to pillow under. 1t is the cheap
est manure for distant fields. He might
make more manure by feeding it all
but his farthest fields are mile or more
from his barns, and he does not like t.
draw the hay home and the manure
back so far.
Mr.. H. also spoke in favor of the gs,
of plaster; clover and plaster will keel
I'D land. A bushel of plaster is enough
though plaster might be soon too often
and thus iniure the land where plaste
is sown often we should pillow unde
clover. Plaster is good for clover ant
clover is good for wheat. He als'
| thought clover was an exhausting crop
: DR.. Cushing thought Mr.. Hutchinson
remarks needed explanation. He wishet
to know how plaster injured the soil
and what was taken from it. He ais
wished to know what was the chemica
T action of plaster in the soil.
Mr.. Hutchinson could not answe
these questions he is not chemist, an
; cannot tell how plaster acts. In som
places plaster does not always do well
It is not manure, but may be a stimu
! liant
S. w. Smith does not understand hoy
plaster can exhaust the soil if clover is
fertilizer. He does not understand tina
much is lost by gathering clover man
g think the clover roots are the principa
! fertilizers. He referred to two farms
j each had experimental fields which
D though long under cultivation, had neve
, had any other fertilizers but clover an
i plaster, and had always produced heav
D crops. One of these fields had over 4
bushels of wheat per acre last season.
!, Dr. Cushing wished to know what
D is that clover gives the soil, and wher
it gets it.
| In answer to this it was stated tina
: DR.. Voelcker, from repeated analysis G
+. the crop, found clover very rich in n
trogen Sand other fertilizers for graf
. crops, and hence concluded that it wa
I very exhausting to the soil. His idle
! was that if clover took so much fror
the land, it must exhaust it. But Eng
: lish farmers disputed this point. The
l very generally raised good wheat afte
clover, and hence contended that it wa
e not an exhausting crop. This led DIR. Y
g to go into the fields to investigate
7 There he found by Analysing soils wher
! clover had been grown, that instead O
7 exhausting the soil of the fertilizer
I found in the crop the land was AWAY
found much richer after growing a Gro
of clover than before. This he account
ed for by the fact that clover can an
l does absorb nitrogen and ammonia iron
the atmosphere, where the supply i
practically inexhaustible. Leguminou
/, plants alone have this power to any eX
tent, hence the reason that clover, which
contains large amount, is a valuable
/ fertilizer for wheat.
In answer to a question asked by Mr.
Rogers, Mr.. Hutchinson explained tina
clover takes more from the atmosphere
than the other grasses, and that analysis
shows that clover contains more of th,
fertilizers needed for wheat than thes,
grasses, Plaster helps clover more thai
timothy it is good for clover, and Glove
is good for wheat. Still few appeared
to think that timothy might be about a.
good for wheat as clover, and that i
was better tofeed clover and apply The
manure than to plough it under. No one
appeared to doubt the good policy Of
sowing plaster on clover, and there was
scarcely any question as to the advantage
of growing clover largely. Count72
Gentleman.