Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1871-09-08

EPTEMBER 8, 1871.
is that it is probable that the draft on the
soil by the few bushels of clover seed that
will be ripened. is nearly or quite Offset
by the larger amount of leaves, stems and
roots that may thus be grown. But this
advantage may be greater where the Sec
ond crop is allowed to 60 to seed instead
of the fret. But whether growing clover
seed exhausts the soil or not, is Of COM
paratively small Importance compared with
the main question.
Now it is true Mr.. Harris does not say,
in so many words, that clover makes no
addition to the amount of nitrogenous
plant food in the soil, but he assumes this
to be the case, and goes into rather la
bored effort to prove his position, or if
brought to fine point, we may say to
prove that there is no evidence to show
that the growth Of clover does add to the
amount of nitrogen 10 the soil. He quotes
DR.. Voelcker as showing very large a.
mount of nitrogen in the soil where clover
had been grown, but says "there is no
evidence to show that the clover had any
thing more to do in producing this nitro
genous matter in the soil than the rat had
in producing the corn in the crib. We
do not know" he says, ''how much corn
there was in the crib before the rat got
into it; neither do we know how much
nitrogen there was in the soil before the
clover was grown" Here he appears to
argue that there was no addition Of nitro
gen to the soil. and further on, in writing
of an experiment he has described. he
says 1.-THE plant food organized by the
clover was simply taken out Of the soil.
and was merely returned when plowed
under, and goes on to say, in effect, that
he believes that by cultivation and expo
sure to the decomposing influence Of the
atmosphere, more plant food would have
been developed from the soil than on .
similar piece during the same time by the
growth Of clover. This. he says, might
not be the case on poor, sandy land, but
be has mo doubt that clay loans. which
abound in latent plant food. would become
richer from being worked and exposed to
the atmosphere than from the mere growth
of clover. If there is any evidence to tie
contrary; I Chez would like to have it
Now sufficient answer to this might
be found in the fact that, as heterogeneous
manures are of little benefit to clover.
while the plant contains, 4 lareaunnl
nitrogen, II lUIlUws rhaN1,
has a way or means of obt> trogeb
not possessed by most other Ptsaa-. For
example, years growth Of the clover
crop stores up great deal more nitrogen
than years growth of wheat. yet. the
clover leaves much the largest amount of
available nitrogen in the soil. as is proved
by the fact that any crop requiring nitro
genous manures does much better after
clover than after wheat. other things be-
ing equal. This is further and much
palmer shown by the fact that as further
crops of clover are grown the land becomes
still richer in this respect, while each sue
cessive crop Of. wheat leaves it poorer
And this is further and more plainly
shown by the fact that land that is badly
run can be brought up and made rich and
productive by merely blowing under clo-
yer. That this must be due to the clover,
and not to the cultivation of the soil, is
proved by the fact that when clover and
wheat are grown in alternate crops, the
clover seeded with each crop of wheat,
and the next season, as it comes into BIOS
som, plowed under. and the, land again
prepared and sown to wheat say when
this course is followed. the land improves
very fast. giving constantly increasing
crops of wheat, as well'as heavy crops Of
corn and barley when these grains are put
in. But when a system of alternate dry
summer fallows and crops Of wheat with
out clover is practiced. with full as much
and generally more cultivation given, the
land as certainly deteriorates and eventu-
ally runs down.
This system of dry fallow every other
year was very common in Western New
York from twenty to forty years ago. and
probably did more than any other one
course to reduce the land I very dis
tinctly remember how often and decidedly
good farmers condemned this practice,
aud, towards the close of the period NAM
ed, how general the opinion became that
it run the land SO much that it must be
abandoned. This effect was not general
ly due to want of sufficient cultivation,
for as wheat was then the main, indeed
almost the sole crop with which to get
money. the principal part Of the labor of
the farm was applied to the summer fall
lows. The land was often plowed in the
spring. have sometimes seen it done in
the fall beforehand the pillow. harrow and
cultivator kept going the most Of the
time through the season. Seeding down
to clover. as then practiced. by only SOW
ing four or five quarts Of clover seed per
acre, and keeping this fed down close, SO
there was not much growth of either top
or roots to improve the soil, was not suf-
fcient to keep the land from running
down.
But when the system of seeding well to
clover-not less than peck to the acre
was practiced. aud this clover was plowed
under when 10 blossom for wheat, thus
growing alternate crops Of clover and
wheat, the land as certainly improved. I
now have in mind farmer who bought
farm that was run down BY the exhaustive