The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-01-26
Clover as a Fertilizer.

Mr.. Frank Graves of Marcellus-
Falls, New York, writing to the Ger
Dlc5iato1O1s Telegraph, on this subject
says:
Not only should we bring to our as
sistance every available stimulant to
vegetable growth, but also st the same
time that kind should come first
which is the cheapest. A great deal
has been written about composing,
collecting forest leaves, dissolving
bones, and saving rubbish generally,
all good in a measure and adding
their mite to the eLriching OF the
land, but not wholly satisfying the
great craving of the soil for food. 1t
is the deduction our leading farmers
make from years of experience, that
clover is the cheapest manure. A
principal item is the cost of applying
fertilizers. I set q man at work haul
ing barnyard manure. He must have
a team, wagon and fork. He does a
good days work ifhe covers an acre. l
send man to the field with bag of
clOver-seed on his sOulders, and when
night comes he has seeded down ten
acres or more. He has added more
fertility to the soil than is contained in
one hundred loads of common barn
| yard manure. A not very distant
| farmer says: I cannot afford to put
my straw back on my land" so at
| five dollars ton his wheat straw goes
| to the paper-mill and is Immediately
| converted into paper, and he buys
! clover seed with the money. OF course
he can afford to put it back, though
/ the resulting profit would not be near
so great as is commonly estima~
| ted. It seems to me better to grow
| clover-seed and keep the straw too.
| Glover protects the surface, hence it
/ may truly be called q mulch. a thick
| mat of clover prevents the escape from
/ the earth of feTtiiizing properties that
| would otherwise be wasted. Leave z
board on the ground for a few months
| and no matter how barren the soil, g
proper amount of fertilizing material
! will accumulate under the board. Just
| in this way does the clover plant fetch
! up barren, wOrn-Out land to pre-
| ducing state. POsS IDLY as much humC-
| is kept back to the earth in this way
as is drawn from the air by the leaves
| of the plant. Again, clover melloWs
the soil. Land having a natural ten.
dency to become pasty, heavy and
tough, may be converted, with a lib
eral seeding into q mellow, frable,
| seed bed, and when we have got a
mellow soil we have reduced the ex-
| pense of cultivation.
Again a heavy coat of clover keeps
| down many kinds of weeds that would
otherwise spring up abundantly. II
heads them off, just as a tobacco plant
! shading the ground stops effectuaIly
any growth beneath its leaves. Finally
| as fodder it is Indispensable. Sheep
prefer clover hay to the best of tim
| Othy and other fine grasses. Dairy
men rank clover high and seed their
land accordingly. In fact many farm
ers here SOW nothing else. But then
| there are acres and acres of land that
will not unassisted grow q clover plant
| two inches high. For such gypsum is
| the resort, the natural food. We have
| only to come down with this dust and
then leave the rest to nature. The
common course here is to seed down
literally and,top-dress with gypsum in
| the spring, NOV once the next year
more tOp-dressing, and either stock
lightly or NOV again and plOW under
| the afteT-grOwth.