The aegis & intelligencer., 1895-01-18

| yention on Wednesday was sadly marred by
rain as far as attendance was concerned, but
there was no lack of interest shown by those
present. Major w. 2. Trimble was selected
as chairman with George E. Silver secretary
The opening address by President K. w.
Sylvester, of the Maryland Agricultural Col
lege, was listened to with close attention and
was roundly applauded. President Sylvester
rected the history of the college and its
struggles in the past, and dwelt on the good
work it was doing for the farmers of Maryland
He estimated that the saving to the farmers OF
the State under the present system, by which
analyses of fertilizers are made at the college
free of charge to farmers is at least 81 ,000, ,00C
per year. He explained the necessity of in
creased facilities for the college and particu-
larly for buildings and apparatus for conduct
ing experiments and giving instructions in
dairy ing.
professor Patterson, director of the Expert
ment Station, spoke on ''stock- feeding"
His first advice was not to buy heavy cows
| merely because you can get more beef from
them after their profitable milking days are
over cow weighing2O or 800 pounds more
than the average will require in her lifetime
extra feed equivalent to three tons of timothy
hay to support the wear and tear of animal
existence. Different feed is required for diff
ferent kinds of stock. You should not give
a calf you are raising the same feed you
would use to fatten steer, nor should you
use the same feed for fattening cattle as for
dairy purposes. You should use the proper
| proportions of nitrogenous and non-n -nitroge-
nous matters in varying proportions. For
cows this should be in the proportion of /
pounds of the former, to 81 p .unds of the lat
ter; for steers you should use more nitrogen,
commencing with proportions of l to 6
and decreasing gradually to l to g. At this
stage you may reach the point where it is no
longer profitable to feed for fat, and so have
to widen the proportion. For feeding
| cow these feeds should be given to the
amount Of about 25 pounds of dry matter, ex-
elusive OF moisture, per day. 1t must be
borne in mind that corn meal contains about
| 10 per cent. of water, and corn fodder about
| 40 per cent. Ensilage runs from IS to so per
cent. water. Feed should also be palatabe
and in good mechanical condition for diges-
| ton. The feed should be varied and stock
| should never be surfeited. In feeding hogs
| the opposite of the rule for steers should be
| observed. Commence with high proportion
| of nitrogen and decrease it gradually. As to
sheep 1t makes a difference whether you are
feeding for wool OF fat. The after product of
| the feed should also be considered. Corn
meal and hay or corn fodder Is good feed,
| but not high enough in nitrogen, being only
| in the proportions of about to 12. This
| could be remedied by adding pound of cot
| ton-seed meal to every pounds of corn meal.
| mixture of wheat bran, oats and corn is
good but whole wheat is too starchy. Be
kind to animals and do not expose them to
| the weather.
In response to a question Prof. Patterson
stated that one ton Of clover hay selling for
| $S or 50 was worth u tons of cotton seed hulls
costing $29 ton. In answer to question by
the chairman the Professor stated that the
| weight of experience was decidedly against
the theory that the richness of the milk of
any individual COW could be increased by any
system of feeding.
Prof. Robert H. Miller, director of the Ex-
pertinent Station, then gave some practical
suggestions on farm management He said
| we may apply all the commercial fertilizers
we desire, containing all the elements of plant
food in the proper proportions-our system
of tilage may be ever so perfect, but unless
our land is in the proper mechanical condition,
which only vegetable matter or humus will
give it, our return will necessarily be small.
There are three ways in which this humus can
| be gotten first by the plowing under of green
crops, secondly by the use of barnyard ma
nure, and thirdly by the plowing under of
sods as in rotative farming.
If we only had to sow the seed and the
green crops and the sods would follow the
matter would be simple. but there is much OF
| our land that will not bring grass. There
seems to be something wanting in our soil,
| and as a rule believe this want is lime. At
the Experiment Station 20 bushels Of stone
lime to the acre was applied just before
planting corn and it increased the yield IS
per cent. The following crop of wheat was
increased nearly so per cent. The set of clover
| on the land to which no lime was applied is a
| total failure, while on the lined land there
was splendid stand.
Lining is looked upon by most farmers
as a very expensive and laborous undertaking
but this is erroneous ! have seen it demon-
strated time and again that as good results
can be obtained from Is 20 20 bushels evenly
| distributed as from 75 to 100, though, of
course, the larger quantity is more lasting in
| its effects.
1t is important that the lime should be in
good condition for spreading. 1t is best when-
about in the condition of flour. l prefer to
apply it OH land which has been plowed for
corn. In this way it becomes quickly incor-
porated in the SOIL Where rough wood and
oyster shells are convenient, it is cheapest for
farmers to burn their own lime. The land
along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from
Washington to the Point of Rocks is fine il
lustration OF the good effects of lime.
AS to barnyard manure, on many farms the
most economical use to which it can be put is
| as top dressing when new sets of grass are to
be obtained on wheat, rye or oats, or on grass
alone. 1t should be applied as fast as made.
In concluding the speaker deprecated the
practice of "checkering" on hilly lands and
also that of waiting until sod ground was
worn out before plowing under.
Mr.. James s. Robinson then gave very in
| teresting lecture on botany, showing how
blossoms are fertilzed. This lecture was very
! interesting but being illustrated by very COM
plete and complicated set of models it is
impossible to reproduce it in print. His re-
marks were also cut rather short by the near
approach of train time when the assembly ad-
journed.