The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-12-16
County Board of Aoricu1tpre.

! County Board of Agriculture.
Despite the fact that Saturday was
day which invited all, except those will
urgent calls, to remain at home, there
were a number of farmers at the cour
house at the annual meeting of the Bur
lington County Board of Agriculture
The president Howard Taylor, was il
the chair, and he welcomed those who had
braved the storm and had given their time
for this occasion. In his address Mr.
Taylor made extended allusion to the sub
ject of trolleys. He admitted their use
fulness and the benefit they are to the
farming community, but he thought they
could be made of much more value il
steps were taken to enable them to carry
freight.
Secretary Henry l. Budd commented on
the speech of the president He said he
had deprecated the use of the public roads
by trolleys and had tried to secure legisla
tion to that effect. The farmers, how.
ever, had protested on the ground that
trolleys would not be built if compelled
to get private right of way. By the use
of the public highways trolleys have in
terfered with wagon travel if they
have not entirely destroyed it. Farmers
have certainly lost the use of the roads,
but perhaps the benefits conferred by hav-
ing the trolleys near them have been suf-
ficient compensation
| Horace Roberts believes trolleys are a
! good thing, and he advocated the pas
sage of law allowing them to carry
| freight and 10 fix the rates therefor Then
the farmer would be able to load his
! freight and produce right at his door.
Secretary Budd read his annual report
which was accepted.
The first number on the program was
Lessons learned from past years expert
ence in Fruit Growing" This subject
had been assigned to Horace Roberts He
said he had not prepared any speech on
the topic as he had not been notified that
he was to speak until short time before
the meeting. He told of his own expert
ence, and said he saw much to encourage
him in the business of fruit growing in
this county, as our fruit is far ahead of
any that goes to market This condition
he attributed to the fact that fruit growers
are awakening to the necessity of taking
care OF trees and not allowing them to
take care of themselves. Spraying, sort
ing, cold storage and other items are now
closely looked after where heretofore they
have been neglected. 1t cannot be denied
that fruit, like any other crop, needs care
full attention and much time devoted to it
to secure perfection.
Nelson P. Greeley spoke on the same
line. He is an advocate of liberal SPRAY
ing. The man who sprays his fruit always
finds a paying market Those who do not
give time to this important detail take
their fruit to the vinegar press. Mr. Cree
ley gave long and interesting talk on
his method of spraying, giving his for
mula for making lime spray, which he
thought was the best for the purpose.
The man who will give careful attention
to spraying and construe the term to
mean ''drench" would not have any reason
to find fault with the results.
Winter egg production" was the sub
ject assigned to Lloyd " s. Conover, of
Clinton, N. ]. He claimed too little at
tention is paid to the poultry business.
1t is undoubtedly profitable but it must
be learned by experience. One must have
love for the business and learn the
habits of his pets. Too many think any
thing is good enough for poultry. He
had heard a noted dairyman say the dairy
trade is mortgage litter. The same can
be truthfully said of the poultry business.
Nothing but vigorous birds must be kept,
and they must be given the best attention.
Not enough care is taken in selecting
stock The producer should always aim
to have the best. Some get a strain for
laying qualities, then there is dissatisfac-
ton and another strain is introduced with
out considering general results A bust
ness man takes rest in the summer and
the speaker cOntended hen has the same
right to rest, in order to prepare for the
winter campaign of egg laying. He held
there would not be such scarcity of eggs
every winter. Force the hen to rest In
the month of August prepare shady places
for the hen to occupy, then give her some |
thing that will make her shed her plumage !
and get ready to have a winter dress at |
the proper time. When the cold weather
arrives she will be ready for business and |
attention must be paid to the matter of |
egg laying, by feeding with such things |
as will produce eggs. An egg is more than |
half water, so hen must be given plenty |
of pure, fresh water twice a day, taking |
especial care to see that good supply is |
furnished just before the hen goes to |
roost. Exercise is necessary. and a hen |
cooped up should be made to scratch for
living, and should be supplied with
plenty of gravel. Mr.. Conover has had |
much experience in artificial Matching and |
spoke over a half hour on that topic.
Prof. Voorhees,, of the Agricultural Ex-
pertinent Station, was the next speaker. |
His subject was "The most practical and |
economical method of fertilizing the land |
and feeding the animals" He started |
with the assertion that farmers need not |
be scientific to be successful, but they |
should have knowledge of the constitu- |
ent elements of the soil, for farming is
merely che taking of the constituents of |
the soil and converting them into its pro- |
ducts Constant transformation of crops |
makes it possible to remove more potash, |
phosphoric acid and nitrogen from the |
soil than is put on. The lower LAYERS of |
some land afford more of these constitu.
ents than others. BY keeping the soil &C.
cupied organic matters are saved that |
might be otherwise lost and at the same
time fertility is supplied to the dormant
constituents. Dairy farming contributes
to the improvement of the soil In the |
selling of crude products the price should |
be set by the amount of fertility con-
tanned in those products. By taking the |
raw material and converting it into dairy |
products the price of the fertility is |
greatly increased.
In the application of fertilizers it should |
always be considered whether or not the |
amount paid for the nitrogen can be trans |
formed to the soil and will be beneficial in |
the growing of crops. The best thing to
do with the material used in fertilizing is |
to apply it as soon as it is ready and not
after it has been lying around so long as
to lose its valuable qualities, and thus
greatly decrease its virtues. In feeding
cows nothing has been more beneficial
than corn. Alfalfa is one of the best
crops for the feeding of cows, the speaker
believing that it contains great quantity
of the constituent element of nitrogen. |
Crimson clover, known as a snatch crop,
not interfering with the growth of corn, is
most excellent crop. Glover and corn
have been grown together and the only
fertility supplied to the soil was the intro
duction of the clover, the long spreading
roots gathering the potash from the lower