Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-09-01
Green Manuring.

Unwise farmers too often continue to
crop their fields until, like an utterly
Worn-out and broken-down horse which
falls and dies in the harness, the soil
fails to produce any crop at all. And
then they are led to suppose that green
manuring will restore them. But the
great difficulty is to get anything to
grow on such soil, and poor, light
crop plowed in is of very little benefit,
SO that long course of recuperation is
required, and it necessarily proceeds
very slowly. For nothing can come out
of the soil that is not already in it, and
it is in vain to look to the atmosphere
for any help in fertilizing a poor soil.
The atmosphere contributes carbonic
acid to plants in abundance no doubt,
and even carbonaceOus matter may be
made to undergo process of notification
in the soil and in its decomposition may
act upon inert potash and phosphoric
acid and iberate portion OF them;
but plants can only avail themselves
even of this source of supply in proper
ton to the supply of other elements re-
quired for their growth, and weak
plant has only very small ability to
help itself even to the superabundant
carbon of the air. So that green ma
nuring is very poor resource for poor
land, and, what is lacking in power for
recovery in such case must be made up
in time and labor.
The common opinion that green ma
nurihg is the universal panacea for worn
out land needs to be exploded and its
futility exposed. 1t is questionable it it
can be used in some cases with any good
effect at all without some expenditure
for artificial fertilizer to start it, and If
1t would not be cheaper to borrow mon
ey to start the process of improvement
in this way than to spend weary years
in the slow work of recovering what has
been lost. A course of improvement of
really WORKOUT land that is based wholly
upon green manuring must necessarily
be very slow, because practically moth
ing is added to the soil that is of any
fertilizing value, all that can be done
being to change the condition of what
inert and insoluble matter already ex-
lists in an unavailable state and by the
slow action of tillage, of the atmosphere
and of the action Of the decaying veg
etable matter to gather together some
plant food out of the present useless
elements. It must be obvious to every
thoughtful and considerable farmer that
this can not fail to be an exceedingly
slow operation, and that expectations of
an early and conspicuous result will GER
tainly be disappointed.
But this is no good reason why the
practice should not be made use of for
restoring orn-out lands when there is
no other method available. 1t may be
last resource, and in such a case the
best Judgment needs to be exercised to
prevent loss of time and labor. The
crops chosen should be such as are not
exacting upon the soil and such as can
be most easily grown with the help of
cheap and active fertilizers, such as lime
or plaster. The method of tillage, too,
is of Importance, because this has much
to do with the result. The best crop for
this purpose is buckwheat, which will
grow upon poor soils with far greater
vigor than clover. The blowing and
narrowing should be thorough, and a
summer following and Inning would be
advisable before crop is sown. Then
buckwheat may be sown in May at the
rate of three bushels per acre, which is
four times as thick as for an ordinary
crop, but is requisite for this purpose.
The buckwheat will be in blossom early
in July, and may then be plowed down
in it's turn in September when in bios
som, and the ground seeded orye. The
rye may be plowed down when in full
growth late the next May, and corn may
be sown in drills for fodder, dressing
of 200 pounds of plaster per acre being
given. This crop may be cut when in
blossom, which will be early in August,
~ l,o TO
moth clover with white turnips. The
clover will make a sufficient growth be-
fore winter to escape damage, and the
though the best of them may be pulled
and sold if there is a market for them,
or they may be fed to the stock. With
fair crop of clover success is within
sight, and it only remains to act with
caution to insure it. The clover should
be cut only for seed, and all the refuse
the stubble. The seed will pay more
than the hay would and the land will be
in better condition for the next crop,
which should be corn. The ground may
be sown with turnips to be plowed in in
the spring, or clover may be again sown
with the turnips among the corn, the
turnips being chiefly left as before for
protection and manure, a crop of hay
taken and the sod plowed down the next
spring, when oats may be sown. Rye
may next be sown and plowed in the
next spring for corn, and turnips and
clover again sown with the corn. After
this the land will be in a fair course of
recovery.-N. Y. Times.
Cider Preseryative.