The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-07-14
FARMAND HOUSEHOLD


CLOVER is great institution, the value
of which is not as fully understood as it
should be. The field for its DEVELOPMENT
is the prairies of the West, where the fer
tility of the soil is annually depreciatlng
for want Of manurial matter to supply
the drain that is made upon it.
When there is but little stock in nro-
portion to the number of acres cultivated.
and that little is not stabbed in winter,
large amount of manure cannot be saved
to enrich the broad fields of corn aud
wheat. What shall be done? Twothirds
OF the fertility, so Tar as wheat is concern
ed, is lost already. Soils that few years
since yielded tbirty-three bushels now
yield eleven. The remedy is forthcoming
just when il is wanted, and experience is
teaching how to use it. It is wonderful
how nature keeps her treasures stored I'D
until the necessities of msn compel him
to seek for them. Coal mas been buried
in the bosom of the earth until man
wants it TO convert water into steam. and
iron ore into rails and ships, aud now he
finds it cropping out all over the earth.
The fertility accumulated in the virgin
soil has sufficed for one generation, and
now the little brown clover seed has teen
given to furnish machinery by which the
elements of fertility may be absorbed
from the atmosphere, and pumped out of
tine earth to supply the wants of another
generation. On most lands four or five
pounds OF clover seed and two or three
hundred pounds OF plaster to an acre,
will in little more than Il year, if the soil
is tolcrably good, be converted into two
tons or the very best hay. This material
hes been Grizzly derived from the atmes
pLcre by the plants which have the DOW
er Oh changing carbon and oxygen into
solid matter III their stems and leaves
This they deposit in the soil when they
have completed their growth and fall and
decay, and thus fcrJilizing matter is drawn
from the atmosphere by the ton, annually,
and placed just where it is wanted for the
next crop.
And the clover roots, yes clover roots
what have they been doing all this
time? Ii not interrupted they work on
two years, and then withdraw from the
field To make room for other workers who
succeed them. We call them bienniaIs,
indicating that they take two years Jobs
But what an amount Of work they do in
this short time. They will push them
selves into the soil, one, two, three four,
and five feet, burrOwing into and loosen
ing 1t, pumping up water from it, and the
various minerals held in solution. and de-
posting them in the stems of the plants,
along with the materials drawn FROM the
atmosphere, and thus we have a compost
OF slick, lime, potash, soda, magnesia
alum, iron, and the rest, mixed with car
bon, oxygen, nit Ogen, etc, as food for the
next crop. These clover roots are grand
workers They are no idlers. They do
not stop when they have worked eight
hours. When one of these little fellows
mus particle of lime or sulphur, away
down three or four feet under ground, he
SEXES 1t as his lawful prey-indeed it is
the very thing he went down after, and
has been hunting after ali summer,-and
now he sucks 1t INTO his open mouth, and
pulls and tugs like boa constructor sWal
loving goat, until he gets it within his
Psophagus, then he pushes IL on and on
through the four or five feet Of his lonci
laue, anu deposits 1t In the stem of the
plant To be used where it is wanted in the
process Of construction. We should ike
10 see all the roots from an acre of thrifty
clover washed and shook out, dried and
thrown into heap. Would there be two
TONS Oh them,-as much as there is Of the
pants above ground? If so, these four
or i've bounds of seed would have drawn
from the air and the ground four tons Of
SOLID matter, ready to be rotted down into
plant food for the crops that are 10 follow
Not only has this amount of manurial
matter been prepared, but the soil has
been bored and lOOsened i'll all directions
so that the air could penetrate it and
warm 1t, and act upon the mineral matter
ii contains. This soil is then in a very
different condition from what it was when
the clover seed was sOwn. It's mcchani-
Cal condition Is greatly changed. The rain
can penetrate it. The roots of wheat can
run down into it. The decaying vcgeta-
pic matter upon the surface, as 1t dlsSOlycs
ny The rain, can accompany the roots into
the earth, anO yield up to them the nour-
lshmcGt 1t contains.
Ii the soil is too poor, or too much ex-
hausted to yi' Id a full crop of clover at the
first sowing, plow it into the ground, and
repeat the process. The crop will be in
creased, and the soil improved by every
repetition, until at length you will get the
thirty bushels of wheat.
But we are impatient. We want to get
The 80 bushels in one year We cannot
walt. but Providence is patient The
mills OF the gods grind slow" We must
wait. GuanO at $50 a ton, and then
transported thousand miles, won't pay,
ana IL IL would pay one year, it will leave
The land in worse condition than it found
It, We must make the manure on the
soil where it IS to be used. We can get
labor when we cannot get manure. We
must put as much labor ON ten acres as
we row put on twenty, and we shall get
more wheat, and more corn, and improve
The soil instead of exhausting it. Wemust
raise cloVer.-Neeo England Farmer.