Farmer’s Club (1872)
Farmer’s Club
Cookston’s Creek School House, June 12, 1872
More than a year ago a Farmer’s Club was organized here, holding regular monthly gatherings and discussing agricultural matters. On the 8th inst., a very interesting meeting was held, at which the writer spent a few hours very pleasantly and profitably.
[discussion redacted concerning breeds of hogs]
The next question was: What is the best method of getting a stand of Herds grass? Different members related their experience, some sowing in the fall, others in the spring. the late fall sowing, it seems, froze out frequently,while the spring sowing invariably failed if the spring happened to be a dry one, unless the land was naturally wet. Dr. H.J. COPELAND gave it as his opinion and experience that the best way to get a set was to feed Herds grass hay to stock, haul the manure on the land and turn it under. Mr. R.F. McCLARY expressed his fears that a great deal of that seed would never come up. Here a lively discussion sprung up about the depth of covering seed, whereupon Mr. G.W. CLEMMER said it was a fact, settled by experiments, that the depth of covering should be entirely governed by the size of the seed, larger seeds requiring deeper covering….
After admitting some new members a committee, appointed for the purpose, presented a well selected list of agricultural books to be purchased for the use of the Club Library. Mr. Wm. L. RAHT then made a report about the Knoxville Farmers Convention, where he had been sent as a delegate…. (page 2, col 6)
Source: Cleveland Banner (Cleveland, TN); 21 June 1872. Available online at Google News Archive.