Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1891-11-24
SIG Farmerg' InstItute.

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According to previous appointment
the Farmers Institute was held un-
der the auspices of the West Virginia
State Board of Agriculture, in the
Court House. Thursday and Friday.
Nov. 10 and 90. DIR. j. A. Myers,
Director of the Experiment Station
at Morgantown, Col. D. D. johnson
of the Station Staff, Prof. t. C. At
keson, President of the Board of Ag-
riculture, and H. NJ. Turner, Sec
rotary of said Board, were present to
do all in their power to make the in
stitute of practical interest and ben
efitto the farmers of Jefferson county.
The institute was called to order on
Thursday morning by Mr.. H. NJ. Tur-
ner, after which an organization was
affected by the election of Mr.. Geo.
S. Knott as President and Mr.. II. NJ.
Turner Secretary.
At the suggestion of Prof. Atkeson
DIR. Myers made the opening address,
in which the DIR. explained the OBJ
iects for which the institutes were
being held.
AT the afternoon session the follow
ing subject was discussed at great
length: /" How Can we Renew and
Maintain the Fertility of Our Soils"
Col. johnson made a lengthy address,
in which he urged the farmers to pay
more attention to supplying the land
with green and barnyard manures in
stead of spending so much money for
commercial fertilizers, as the former
was much the cheapest and far more
lasting in its effects. DIR. Myers,
Prof. T. C. Atkeson, Mr.. H. NJ. Tur-
ner and others joined in the discus
sion, which was of an interesting
character and continued until the
hour had arrived for adjournment.
At 1880 o'clock Thursday evening
the calcium light exhibition was given
by DR.. Myers and Col. johnson, in
Which they showed the different pho
tographs representing the work of the
station at Morgantown.
Friday morning the chairman an
nounced when the meeting had been
called to order that the first business
was the lecture by DR.. Myers upon
fertilizers. The DR.. exhibited line
of photographs of grasses taken from
experiments made in Germany by the
German government, in which was
shown the effect of fertilizers upon
grasses and grains. DR.. Johnson in
discussing this subject read results of
experiments made at the station of
West Virginia showing the effect of
fertilizers upon potatoes, and showed
that in many cases these fertilizers
net only did not pay but were pos
lively injurious to this crop.
GHon. VIM. L. Wilson being present
at the morning session, was called
upon by Col. Johnson and by the au-
dience and made some remarks. Mr..
Wilson spoke of the great difficulty
the farmers of the east had in COM
peting with the western farmers in
raising grain when the latter had such
cheap freight rates, and by this means
were enabled to ship wheat from Du-
.luth to New York at extremely low
figures. Mr.. Wilson spoke for some
time and was listened to with pleas
IRE by the audience present. \
The session of the afternoon was
largely taken up by the discussion Of
the subject, "Fruit Culture" by Col.
johnson, Messrs. II. NJ. Turner,
Daniel Hefebower and others, after
which Prof. Atkeson spoke of the
course of study prescribed by the
faculty of the West Virginia Uni
versity for the newly established de-
partment of agriculture in that col
Ilege. At the conclusion of Mr.. At
keson's address the institute adj
! journed.