Smyrna times., 1890-12-03
Meeting of the Kent Farmers
Institute.

The Kent County Farmers Institute |
met in Grange Hall Milford, Wednesday |
at 3 P. NJ, with the president, r. B. |
COursey in the chair. Among the |
prominent farmers present were J. J.
Rosa, Charles Barker, J. G. Brown, j.
Alexander Fulton, B. F. B. Woodall
S. T. jenkins, A. f. Smith, J. H. Chap
man, T. B. Coursey, w. H. Mason. J.
B. Gilchrist, Thomas Davis, Sr., John
Harrington, J. S. Willis. J. S. Short, NJ.
H. Davis, DIR. Nathan Pratt, J, F. Cub
hage. w. r. Case. I. ID. Alexander,
J. G. Brown, Jr, and Thomas Davis,
Jr
After calling J. Alexander Fulton to
the chair, Mr.. Coursey then read an
essay on the question, Are CONNER
cial maBures of any benefit to farmers"
Chemical analysis points Enthusiastically
to the real value to tie farmers of all
the commercial manures analysed,
which should to some extent, be a
guide to the farmer in his purchases.
Peruvian guanO is about the best fertil-
izer that can be obtained, and a man
can take bag on his shoulder and
carry it to the field, thereby save trans
pOrtatiOn of stable manure. Some
thing must be done to restore to the
land the fertility to the soil taken out
| by its prOductiveness.
An eminent writer says on the sub
! ieCt that when a farmer sells his crops
he is to a certain extent selling his
land" And this is 30 for every bushrl
of grain and every ton of hay sold off
the farm carries with it some Of the
most valuable elements in the soil.
| The question is how are we to restore
| these elements.
J. G.. Brown said for % years he had
been strong advocate of commercial
mannres, but now has changed his
/ opinion and thinks as little now of it
as he used to its good qualities. Under
! the crisis which we are now living we
have struck way very much cheaper.
1t has been proved by an experiment
tai station that fertilizers can be made
worth $24 .65 to the acre at cost of 80
cents by sowing scarlet clover or any
other green grass or two and half
tons of hay valued at $24 IS, and it is
better for the land than any CONNER
Cial manure. Scarlet clover can be
sOwed after the season and grows from
October to May 18th and turned under.
If this is so, what business have we to
buy fertilizers. | at one time used
$1,000 worth of fertilizers to 20 on my
farm, but now use only grass and the
product of my stables. Mr.. Brown
went on to say that if all the unused
land on the Peninsula was put in scar.
let clover what a difference there
would be in the now worthless land
and the quantity of our crops. He
said he knew the value of the grass as
he had used it and now uses it on his
land as a fertilizer, but admitted after
some questioning by the president, T..
b. COursey, that he never could have
obtained such results if he had never
used the commercial fertilizers to start
with. He said, however, he hoped
that the subject of using scarlet clover
would be aeitated in this institute and
that every farmer would give up the
use of commercial fertilizers.
Prof Chester, of Delaware College
experimental station next delivered a
lecture on the pear blight" and the
results of the experiments made at the
station during the past year.
Mr.. Rosa said every farmer could
save his pear trees by using the Bor-
deauX mixture as explained by the
professor, as he had made some ex-
periments and knew the good results.
The next question before the nsti-
tute was put by Mr.. ]. G. Brown,
Are hedge fences or fences of any
kind of any benefit to the farmer"
Mr.. Rosa, by practice has removed
all his fences and adopted the soiling
system. Pastures, he said, could be
fenced in, but as for himself he did not
have any. rs he kept his cattle up and
fed them on alfalfa, scarlet clover and
other green grass and ensilage No
farmer can afford to grow hedges, as
they take up Is feet of land when they
were thoroughly set and they were too
expensive. Removing fences necessi-
tates soiling. Several others express
sed themselves to a like purport.
The meeting then adjourned to meet
in FELTON, the next full moon.
Uncertainty may attend business