Transactions of the State agricultural society of Michigan; with reports of county agricultural societies, for the year 1849-59. Pub. by order of the Legislature. v. [1]-11.

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ed as excrements, is entirely erroneous. No possible thing can be added to it by such a process, while much that is valuable is taken
away. In a state of decomposition, the same elements appear in
both cases, except that in the excrements, some of ihe elements are
found in far less proportion than in case of decomposition by natural
decay, which makes them, of course, less valuable for manure, than
the entire crop in a state of decay.'lrue, in this process of decay
there is, to some extent, an escape into the atmosphere of the same
elements, though to nothing like the same extent. These have ever
been our views, and we are gratified to find them most ably sustained in an article published in the Transactions of the Scientific and
Agricultural School, Kennington, London, by Sir John O.,kley.
How groundless, then, is the idea, that the clover crop turned under
can, under any circnmstances, sour the land, any more than the stable manure made from it, would!
This being so, we arrive at the conclusion that, turning under a
green crop is a spedier way to manure land, than to feed it out in
hay and return the excrements; th it is, the excrements from the hay
that c,me from the land, and no more; and this is in accordance with
observed fact.
But the excrements returned will enrich a meadow, and make the
next crop superior to the preceeding, and that too, when a portion of
them (more than hillf their weight) have been left behind, and when
the roots are still alive and require feeding, instead of yielding nutriment by decomposition. How much more, then, should the land
be enriched, when an entire crop in a state of decomposition, is given
to it —not only the entire top, but the root. also, the decomposition
of which, some think, adds as much to the soil as that of the top?
In reference to the propriety of seeding to timothy, or timothy and
clover together, instead of clover, we would say that we do not esteem it profitable. Not that we suppose the common objection
against it, that it chokes out the wheat crop, to be incapable of remedy. Deep plowing will, in most cases, obviate that difficulty. We
have met with a number of f rmers who testify from their own experience that they have found that turning timothy sod under deep,
is an effectual cure for the evil.
But timothy does not possess the same power as the clover plant