how would they be supplied? If we don't raise fall pigs where are wo going to get them? We want something on the farm to eat up the waste produce and follow the cattle, or something of that kind, and that is why I said we should have fall pigs.

I spoke of the pig having length. I agree with Mr. Todd that the shorter and broader pig is the better; but I don't think I want him tes short; but still I don't want him too long, but just to keep him in good shape. There is not much danger of getting them too long and plump. There is more to be taken into consideration besides the heart girth—the Hiver and bowels should receive much attention. There is, however, other things he has touched on, but there is no use going any further. The Chair: Any other remarks on this subject?

Mr. Todd: I want to say I meant just what I said; I want the hog longer through here; longer this way (illustrating).

Mr. Hagerty: I am sorry the first gentleman apologized for fall pigs. The way affairs are down in our country, the southern part of this State, we need fall pigs to follow our cattle. There is more profit in the hogs that follow the cattle.

Mr. Coler: I don't know as I just apologized for that. I think there is great profit in fall pigs. I may say that in this section, at least, it depends largely upon the class with which we have to deal. I raise a few fall pigs because I have a demand for them, consequently I spoke of this, and said occasionally I find a litter of fall pigs very profitable. Of course, I also have my spring pigs on in June and May.

The Chair: Any thing further? Is that subject exhausted? [No response.]

Is there any miscellaneous business that you desire to attend to? A Member: Some gentlemen spoke to me about the Horse Breeders' Association not being provided for. It is on the programme, and they expected to meet there at this time. It was suggested that we meet in this hall this evening. I notice that the cattle men have this hall this evening.

Mr. Bonham: I presume we could get either the Senate Chamber or the House of Representatives for to-night, for the meeting of horse breeders; the shorthorn breeders have the use of this hall to-night. Leave the matter until afternoon, and in the meantime I will inquire in regard to the use of the Senate Chamber.

The Chair: If the members of the different associations desire to make any arrangements they can do so. Mr. Bonham will report this afternoon, at the afternoon session as to the place of meeting of the horse breeders. Is there any thing further?

Mr. Gordon: I see there is a mistake in the programme; the Merino sheep breeders are announced to meet to-day; we will meet to-morrow at ten o'clock.

Mr. Bonham: Don't you meet this evening?

Mr. Gordon: No, sir.

Mr. Bonham: I have a letter from Mr. Stanley; it is on his order that I have made this announcement.

Mr. Gordon: It has been made then since I have had information. Mr. Potter: The meeting will be on the 13th. I suppose it was a mistake on the card, because I received a former letter from him saying that it would be this evening.

Mr. Bonham: I received a letter from Stanley and it said this ⚫vening at seven o'clock, and I made the programme accordingly. It is very easy for a man to make a mistake in his calendar. I had it before me when I made this programme. It is too late to give the notice for to-morrow.

The Chair: Is there any thing further before we take a recess? What is the pleasure of the meeting?

A Member: I move that we adjourn. Motion carried.

And thereupon the meeting adjourned to meet at two o'clock, city time, same day.

Convention resumed at 2:30 P. M.

President: It seems to be necessary to make a change in our programme, and as none of our sheep friends are here, we will take up the next subject after that which is The Clover Question. Mr. W. Scott will now entertain you with that paper first.

CLOVER AS A FEED, GREEN AND DRY.

BY WM. SCOTT, COLLINSVILLE, BUTLER COUNTY.

There is a proverbial saying that those who are enjoying great good fortune are "In clover." Knee deep in clover means fat cattle and sheep and thrifty, contented swine. Red clover was known to the Greeks and Romans 2,000 years ago, but was not cultivated till English farmers began to learn something of its value about the year 1633$50 years ago. At the present time Ohio farmers do not fully appreciate its worth either a a fertilizer or a feed. There are many farms, especially those rented, on which clover rarely sown, the owner believing that every dollar possible must be wrung from the soil and nothing returned. These lands soon become exhausted and bring no revenue to the owner, and are neglected by buyers as worn out farms.

Many who grow clover dispose of it for little more than its manurial value. Good elover hay can be bought in the mow within thirty miles of Cincinnati for from four to dx dollars per ton.

Animals require in their feed, the elements of which their bodies are composed and in the right proportion to suit their needs. They can not compound the substances of muscle from its elements; they appropriate from vegetables what they find ready made for their use.

The working machinery of animals, that is, the muscles, tendons, ligaments and all the internal organs are composed of albuminoids, containing 16 per cent. of nitrogen. The carbo-hydrates serve to keep up animal heat and the surplus goes to lay on fat. From this we see that growing animals and those subject to the wear of labor require in a largemeasure, foods that will build up the frame and replace the waste; not foods that are largely fat forming.

Clover as a feed is valuable in that it contains a large per cent. of albuminoids, and is especially adapted to the wants of growing animals.

Green clover as a feed for swine is not excelled by any forage crop. Hogs can be carried through the summer in good condition, without additional feed, as has been done on most farms during the past summer. For fattening hoga during the summer months, a custom that has grown largely in favor during recent years, clover is a most valuable addition to corn.

Grass is the natural food of swine as well as of horses and cattle, and in following nature as closely as possible, the best results are obtained.

Corn, ground or unground, is a strong, highly concentrated food, and to the custom of feeding it alone is no doubt due much of the liability of hogs to cholera. Clover, cut short and mixed with meal, is the most wholesome and gives the greatest gain. The feed goes to the stomach in a porous condition, is readily penetrated by the gastric juices and easily digested.

Hogs kept in a close pen and fed exclusively on corn, as is the usual method, are almost sure to get off their feed. This may be prevented by giving them the run of a alover lot, or if this is not convenient, then mow clover each day and feed as to horses and cattle; the last method is the most economical, as to the feeding of clover, but this comes under the head of soiling. A lot of hogs fed on corn alone and not making a satisfactory gain, were given access to clover, when they made an additional gain of ■ pound a day each with no more corn. I believe there are few farmers, who in feeding large lots of hogs, give any other food than corn. The corn-fed pork in the market is mostly fat. The amount of lard oil used for manufacturing is relatively small. The pork as now produced is unfit for food, and the fat finds too many rivals in the marke iu cotton-seed oil and lard.

The largest part of our pork being made from corn is deficient in the nitrogenous compounds which make blood and bone, muscle and tendons. Among the poor whites of the southern states corn meal and fat pork make up a large part of the food of the people. They are both deficient in albuminoids. The people who live upon them are ill-nourished and suffer physically, intellectually and morally thereby. On the other hand, the Scotchman as shrewd in his diet as in his dealings finds a more economical supply of albuminoids in oat-meal, haddock and herring.

The thrifty inhabitants of New England supplement the fat of their pork with the protein of beans, and corn and wheat flour with cod fish and mackerel. While living upon such a frugal diet they are well nourished, physically strong, and distinguished for their moral and intellectual force.

Pork when made from corn alone has relatively little lean; the fat pork when used for food serves for fuel to keep the body warm and yield muscular energy for work. The fat of beef and other meats, and the cotton seed and olive oils serve the same purpose. Sugar, the starch of wheat and corn, and other grains that make up a large part of the food of mankind serve for fuel, and thus perform the same service in nutrition as fat pork. The use of cotton seed oil and the consumption of sugar has become enormous, while the demand for animal and vegetable fats for other uses than as foods, has been supplied. by petroleum and its products. Now we do not pretend to say that by feeding clover to hogs we can produce pork that is all clear meat, but we do say by a mixed diet the preportion of lean will be greater, the pork more wholesome, the gain in flesh will be more rapid and more economical for the food consumed. Clover which is a good food green, is an equally good feed when well cured. A farmer in southern Ohio finding his

hogs in the mire on the eve of a cold snap, turned them onto his barn floor, and throw them clover hay for bedding; he found in the morning that the hay was gone, the hogs having for a long time fed on corn only, ate the hay with a relish.

Elliott W. Stewart in his work on Feeding Animals gives an experiment with clover in which four pigs of equal age and weight were fed two on corn-meal wet with hot water and allowed to stand 12 hours, the other two were given meal treated in the same way, to which was added two quarts of short cut clover hay mixed with the meal. Each lot were fed all they could eat. The experiment was continued 120 days; those fed on clover hay had the best appetite, ate the most steadily, were the most thrifty. The lot fed on meal alone gained 110 pounds, those on clover hay and meal 143 pounds each, or 30 % more; the result of this experiment leads him to remark that "feeding clover hay in winter may be novel, but why should it not be considered as appropriate to feed pigs on clover hay in winter as to feed horses clover hay in winter?" The pig eats green clover in summer if he can get it, as profitably as the cow or horse, and when farmers understand the true system of feeding, clover hay will generally make part of the ration of the pig. Clover is the richest of artificial grasses in albuminoids, answering as a substitute for oil meal and other nitrogenous foods.

When used for pasture, sheep and swine should not be allowed to feed on it when young; the growth of the roots depends on the green tops, and early pasturing will cut short the growth for the entire summer. Milk and butter from clover, has not the fine flavor of that from blue grass, but natural pastures are limited, both in area and product; an acre of clover is equal to three of grass and is less affected by drought. Cattle should not be first turned on clover when it is wet with dew or rain, and should have easy access to all the salt they want. In fifteen years have had but one case of hoven among cattle running on clover, and that was not serious.

The Agricultural Experiment Station of Wisconsin, has published the results of experiments to test the relative value of clover and corn fodder for producing milk and butter, and also the comparative value of mixed hay and fod ler. These experiments were carefully conducted, each continuing three weeks, one week of preliminary feeding to accustom the cows to the food. The fodder was cut early, well cared, and mature ears husked, the mixed hay was one-third clover and two-thirds timothy; the clover medium red, cut early enough to preserve the leaves and heads. Both fodder and hay were fed full length; these were supplemented with five pounds of corn meal and seven pounds of bran to each cow daily in two feeds; of hay and fodder they had all they would eat. At the end of the first week's test, the feeds were changed about, so that the two cows of each lot were on both sides of the trial. Three weeks were given to each trial. The food required for producing 100 lbs. of milk

From this experiment it was learned that one ton of mixed hay was equal to three tonsof corn fodder and one ton of clover was somewhat more.

Milk is a highly albuminous product and draws strongly on foods rich in albuminoids.

We value horses for their strength, speed and endurance, yet in raising them we are apt to loose sight of the ultimate use for which they are intended, and fail to feed that kind of food which builds up bone and muscle.

Clover is not every thing, but it is rich in muscle forming food, and is well suited for a part of the ration of growing colt. A farmer of large experience in feeding clover to

horses considers it rather better than timothy for all farm feeding, except to horses that are to be driven fast on the road, and might be good for them if given in small quantities at each feed; for work horses he considers it far superior to timothy. A team of horses that had been fed on clover the year round, for six years were always in good condition and ready for work. There are at least two reasons why clover is not more generally used as a feed than it is; first, that farmers do not know or appreciate its real worth and the difficulty of securing it in good condition. For making clover hay fair weather is required, but the opposite is apt to be the case at that time of the year, and the corn requires constant cultivation. Hay cured, then wet with rain has most of its value washed away.

Prof. Beal in his work on "Grasses" says, from analyses made illustrating the changes in composition from the appearance of the leaves, to the maturing of the seed, that the time of bloom, or a very little later, is the time to cut for hay; the amount of water has diminished relatively and there is a proportionately larger amount of nutriment in the material cut, and the weight of the latter will be at its highest point economically considered; later on the amount of fiber becomes too prominent, the stalks become hard, woody and indigestible, and the albuminoids decrease, while the dry seeds are readily detached and lost with their store of nitrogen.

Clover may be secured without regard to the weather, when richest indigestible food by the ensilage process. Corn is, and will no doubt continue to be the great ensilage crop, but corn is not in itself a perfect ration.

Ten tons of green clover is not an unusual crop in a good season, and one ton of clover is equal to two tons of corn silage. The crop can be as profitable ensilaged as corn. The cost of growing clover is nothing against the cost of growing corn, and when fed with corn, it supplies the elements of food in which corn is wanting.

Mr. Coler: I would like to ask the question: If I understand the gentleman, he said, one ton clover cut was equal to two tons of corn. Is this what you said?

Mr. Scott: One ton of clover cut as silage was equal to two tons of corn. Mr. Bonham: He means about one-third of that Yankee Measure. Mr. Coler: I understood him to say that it was some one's experience, its bloom was the best stage to cut clover in. I would like to ask if any body in the house has had that experience? My experience is that that is too soon to cut clover. It is not substantial enough. It may be only prejudice. I would like to hear from somebody that has been in the habit of cutting it about the time the bloom is on. It is my idea it should be cut about the time the bloom is turning.

Mr. McGuire: I would rather cut it than wait until it gets bad weather. My clover crop was a total failure because not cut soon enough; you had best begin to cut it when it is about in bloom. It is just as good cut in the green state as any other.

Mr. Jones: I would like to ask if we could not get along with clover entirely?

The President: I believe Mr. Terry advocates a plan of feeding his horses and cattle on no other kind of food.

A Member: I cut a little every year, and we generally begin pretty early, about the time it is in full bloom; about two-thirds of the bloom