Club Minutes: Enterprise Farmers Club, 1865-1872

8th Would you plant a hedge along the road of this place Ans The most of those present would plant one half of it now and see how it is liked, about hereafter a few years.

9th Is it to[o] soon to put a way corn Ans. no if the house is large lay in a few rails occasionally run[n]ing -- from the out side to the centre.

We had a farmer S. N. Brown from Louden County Va with us whoses [sic] company was very acceptable to us, as was that of our neighbor John Thomas also The order at this meeting was very good, and I am sure if each member will try to pay attention to the business before the meeting we shall all gain more than we can by any other means.

Adjourned to T. J. Lea[']s 11th mo 9th 1872

Wm W Moore, sec

11th mo[nth] 9th 1872 [November 9, 1872] Club met at T. J. Lea's 11 members present when we organised about 4.30 P M.

Charles H Brooke was appointed fore man the minutes of the last meeting at this place read and we started out to looked [sic] around a little. went first to the garden which looked as though it had been well cared for during the summer the hogs rather rough specimen[s] were not yet ready to be butchered we found about 60 barrels of corn in the corn house and saw considerable out in the feild [sic] both husked and unhusked -- some very good stock sheep were seen -- but cows were very scarce. we walked part way across a feild [sic] to see how much the sod was improved by saving a little orchard grass, the difference was very perceptiable [sic]. The set of grass on last year[']s wheat stubble was very poor. a piece of ground adjoining which was set with thimothy [sic] looked firstrate

Qu[e]s 1st Would you substitute sulphat[e] of Potash in the place of soda in the preperation [sic] of I X L Ans Thought best to let good enough alone

Qu[e]s 2 Is it injurious to feed punpkin [sic] seed to milch cows Ans No

Qu[e]s 3 How deep shall I plow for corn, land in fair state of cultivati[o]n Ans 1 says 4 in 6 say 6 in^c 4 s[a]y 5 1/2 ins 2 " 7 " -- I don't know. average 5 2/13

Qu[e]s 4 How much is it worth to winter a cow. Ans 1 says 3.50 . 5 -- 2.50/100 . 3 -- 2 25/100 . 2 -- 2.00 per mo

Qu[e]s 5 How much per mo to winter a hors[e] Ans3 says 12.50 3 -- 15.00. 5 -- 12.00. 1 -- 10 1 -- 8.00. Average p[e]r mo for cow 2.43 horse 12.34

Qu[e]s 6 Is it best to plant an orchard this fall or next spring Ans 9 favor spring planting 4 " fall "

Qu[e]s Would you trim a peach orchard this fall or next sp[r]ing Ans Most of the members would prefer spring though fall would do.

Experiment with 4 kinds of manure, used on Potatoes planted 5th mo 24th 1872 in sod land. -- Experiment made by P. T. stabl[e]r. Length of Row 124 yds Cost of manure . 37 1/2 cts in each case

.	Large lb	Small
Moore's half & half 12 1/2 lbs 500 cwt per Acre	90	25 1/2 = 115 1/2
I. X. L Bond's 11 " " " " "	102	35 = 137
Dugdales Excellenza 15 -- 600 " " "	119	31 1/2 = 150 1/2
Fish Guano 18 3/4 " 750 " "	78 1/2	29 = 107 1/2
Dugdales Excellenza a head	.	12 1/2 bls [sic]
or nearly 9 bus per acre.	.

We had the conpany [sic] of several gentlemen not in membership with us who added much to make the evening pass both agre[e]ably and instructively, the order at this meeting was not quite as good as we would like it to be -- but on the whole we beleive [sic] we are improving in this respect.

Adjourned to meet at Harewood 12th mo 14th

Wm W Moore sec

12th mo[nth] 14th 1872 [December 14, 1872] The Club met at Arthur Stabler[']s 11 members present at 4 P. M. Roger B. Farquhar was appointed foreman the minutes of our last meeting at this place read and we started out to look around a little the first thing examined was some Colts in good condition though small for 2 1/2 years old. the sheep graising [sic] in a lot were said to be in poor condition by those who are consider[ed] good judges, in the barn we found things in good order the Wagon was loaded with wheat, which is now wo[r]th about $2.90 p[e]r bus

The cows in the barn yard look comfortable, and the cold weather which we have just had has frozen the manure sufficiently to keep them from sinking in up to their kneas [sic] -- we were shown a feild - [sic] of rye which looked very fine, the most of the corn was in and the fodder was set up very nicely.

We were shown 2 sow[s] and 14 pigs in fair condition to be butchered which was to have been done in a day or two, the Club put thier [sic] weight at 2,332 6/17 -- actual weight reported 1st mo 11.1873 2524