, 1880-02-28
FARM TALK.
Third Annual Meeting Of the Sugar
Grove Farmers Institute.
The Profits of Sheep-Raising-
Deteriorations of Soil. !:
Best Way to Feed Stotk-A Successful Daryman-
Fatteniug Cattle.
Fro4n Our orr. Correspondent

| commencing yesterday at p. M. Ihe Institute
was organized three years ago fcr the purpo7e
| Of furthering and improving the agricotIuta
| interests of the community q scnool "as u
| started and placed under the charge OF Pro1. r.
q. Hall, for seven years prior to tnat tlme f.ln-
/ cipal Of the West Division Hlgn-oeaool u Au,
rora, and it has gone along sw1mm1ngy un'A'
the present time, the school numbering lo"
over seventy pupils. The method OF instruc.
tion is somewhat Of departure from the olo
prescribed methodical system, and tncludes, 10
gether with tho ordinary branches OF Ensllso
education, such practical arts as lre cohsloefeo
to be most beneficial to tho rising generanon Ii
the pursuit of d livelihood.
L great many visitors from neighboring cities,
towns, and ncighborhoods arrived ut Sugar
Grove in time to be prcsent at tho opening, m
Guiding DR.. Joseph TGfft, Judge ). WILCOX, y. NJ
Mclean, nnd C. H. Lurkin, of Elg1n; Dexter
Judd, Thomas Judd, Lewis Gillett, Henry Chap
man. E. ". Thompson. Mark Seavey, John
Thompson, OF Sugar Grove: Hiram Norris, Of
Blackberry, and other prominent farmers and
dairymeu.
In opening the exercises Of the session, Mr.
Henry Chupman, the President OF the Sug1r
Grove Farmers Club, introduced Dr. Joseph
Tefrt. of Eigin, and invited him to take the chair
and preside. He then delivered q brief address
OF welcome to I'LL The visitors --.
The first exercise on the program was an ex-
animation OF u class. in the elements Of agri-
culture, by Prof. Hall. This examination was
which the pupils were drilled in the agricult-
ur7al branch ut the school.
The subject next taken up was
"uOW SHALL WE PREVENT our SOILS FROM DE-
TER1ORATIEG?"
Mr. Henry Chapman was the first to discuss
tho subject, and he read short paper, In which
he snid he should not ntteHpt to treat the mat
ter scientifically, but entirely from Il practical
EtAn10nfnt \ ttYrft1}tnrn the first principle
of industry. The crops required three essential
clements,-earth, air. and water: Chemistry also
elements entered into the work of creating
vegetable matter. No noxious weeds should 90
allowed to thrive; no violence whascyer should
be done to the soil. He believed in fertiliztng
iy- Every crop taken from the soil took Just so
much vitality from it, He was u strong advo-
cate OF red clover as "a fertilizer. He would
once in few years give field rest, at the
sumo time sowing upon 1t a crop of clover. Red
clover took little from the ground; it grew
luxuriantly, and when it was turned under It
made most excellent top dressing. In making
experiments the speaker hnd found that the
largest species Of red ever was the best Tor
fertiizinY purposes, although tho smaller kinds
were, perhaps, the best for huy. His favorit
plan was to rlse two crops Of corn, one of s1nu1!
grain, and then three, or perhaps four, years Of
clover and pasturage, with all the barn-yard
Mr: D. C. Judd believed it to be his experience
that he could continue to raise clover and cut It
of and sell it for ten years or longer, nnd find
his land in better condition than when he left og
plowing it. However, in this case, he would
never feed or pasture pl the land after taking on
meet the approval .7f u nalorit of those pres
ent, and the subject elicited
coNs1DERABLg DISCUSSION.
Mr.. z. ?. Trask. of iAurora, believed that
crop Of clover should never be allowed to re-
main on lnnd longer thar five years ut one time.
Mr.. Mark Seavey thought the second crop OF
clover would produce all the seed that was nee
ffrfad 41f1f3f
meadow might be moved for ten or fifteen
years provided i was not pastured in the full or
spring. and nd 1t "a did OYER oyer1un with 9ne
have Il ton and Il half to the acre thun two tons
or two tons aud a half, for the reason that it
ons the COM
parAtiye quality Of milk, thickness of cream,
and qunntity,-a practicnl experiment. having
ineans ] Of glass 81 tubes. The % experiments per % Showed
the milk Of tho Jersey Breed 10 be the best, so
fur as quality is concerned, and the natives fol-
lowed next, and the fnll-b!ooded Short~Horns
made the poorest showing Of n.
The subject for discussion in the evening was
''suEEp: BREEDING AND FEEDING.
opened by ". ". Myers, of Big Rock. The
tive as Sheep raising. The Fox River Valley, in
which they lived, had been Justly set down, by
believed that farmers in that section could make
great deal of money out Of those animals.
They were valuable for cnriching the land, and
Mr. Mark Seavey said there had been great
many mistakes nlade BY men who tried to raise
sheep and did not knoM their natu5e
breeds to any. other. Some thought
that sheep needed mo water in summer
pasture: This, he thought, was n mistake. Sheep
required to be we'll fed and well watercd. He
had tried the experiment Of fnttening sheep i'll
tho winter for market. and he had found 1t prof
table. He thought there was no class of stock
f11pir tn which nHf1 hptfpr fh8n Eh0cT3
Mr. G: n. Larkin, prominent far1ner of Egin,
was called upon for his opinion in regard to
eheep-raisnE. He thought sheep could be kept
too close: they should bAve some exercise and
air. But he cautioned Hs neghbors about get
ting the "sheep-feyer. Those changes cost the
the business of shcep-raising, that industry
would be killed. There we're great many
disadvantages, too, in shecp,r1lising; there were
remedy the former evil by liberal use of the
shotgun, but the hitter evil he did not knosT how
to eradicate The discussion brought out the
opinions from several that the sheep was consti-
tutionaly lnzy retiring early ut night and rising
very late in the morning.
Mr. Chapman usually raised Cotswold sheep,
Feeding his sheep until about the lst OF June,
when ne took the clip or and sold the carcass
for mutton: He preferred dry pasture to u
low wet one. In regard to feeding sheep, he
WIS OF the same opinion rs Slr. ScAvey; he
thought that good iock Of sheep was Il good
investment, but poor hock WIS worse than
The subject which was to have been taken up
this morning was '' Draining for Profit whicn
by Il number present. MS it is IL subject which is
attracting great deal OF attention throughout
the country Just now. But the audtene6 which
speaker on tho subject OF drainage appeared.
subject of
"FEED1Sa FOR PROFIT; CATTLE AND HoGs,"
was taken up, and tho discussion was led ty Mr..
Dwight Curtis, Of Fox. who simply related his