Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-08-20
CI0TeI

1t is an indsSputGbIe TACT that the sue :
ceeding crop Of wheat grown on 4aud
from which heavy crop of clover has
been taken will be much heavier than
if no clover had been there. How Is
this Such eoliid not be the case if all
the food of plants was, derived from the
SOIL for then the soil would, upon the
removal of the clover, be- Tess able 10
produce q crop of wheat titan before
But the fact is that plants do not derive
all their food, nor even the principal
part of it, from the soil. Repeated chem
ical tests have demonstrated the fact
| that from 95 to SO per cent. of the entire
substance of agricultural plants is de
rived directly or Indirectly from the at
mosp here. Not that plants take all the
t95 per cent. through their leaves and
stems above ground, but that the air
contains the elements which principal
| ~ go to bgiid up the structure of plants,
which, being absorbed by the rains and
snow and dew, are washed down into
the soil from whence they are taken up
by the roots of the plant to aid in build
ling up its structure. Pro& Voelcker
(whose authority as q chemist is unohal-
lenged, says 1T isR fact that the
renSeye argo[ eig m aoon. eSop q ths sr yeu
er the amount Of naNeeJfwhich is car
ried Off in the eldGer hayrthe richer the
land becomes aSAnd he accounts for it
thus: ''The clover plants take nitrogen
from the atmosphere and manufacture
it into their own substance. which, on
| decomposition Of the cl0y er-roots and
leaves, produces abundance Of ammo
MIA that in reality the growing of clo-
yer is equivalent to a great extent to
manuring with Peruvian guano." And
he then goes on to show that there Is 9
larger quantity OF real manure in a CROP
OF clover than III the largest dose of Pc
ruvian guano farmer would ever think
of applying.
Now the professor must be either right
or wrong in his proposition. Which is
it? Let Us see No one one doubts the
1act that clover either takes part of its
! food from the Dir Or takes it all from the
soil. If from the air, (as the professor
says,) then clover really adds to the
store of plant food, and Is an improvel
of the soil. But If from the soil, then il
certainly has tendency to impoverish
rather than improve it. We rather
/ think the professor right. and that sci
ence, in this case, is nothing more than
natural law exemplified. And whilst
chemical investigation shows that {
considerable part of the substance founC
in the ashes of plants is derived from
the soil, yet that the main part of The
combustible portions comes from the air
both through the leaves and through The
roots after having been washed down by
rains, &c. Another very important of
flee which clover performs-and will
which it is not usually credited-is tina
when sown thickly it not only smother!
out nearly al the class of annual weed:
the first season, but so weakens or par
TALLY smothers the biennial class tha
they mature little or no seed the frs
season, and almost entirely disappea
the second. And, besides this, it pre-
vents the seeding Of the soil with fresi
stock Of weeds, such as usually follow
ma1uTing with ordinary farmsyard ma
terial, and with which the latter Is NOR
or less fiIled.-BdH. Sun. sra