The Portland daily press., 1882-06-27
AGRICULTURAL.
Fallows versus Green CROPS.


A fallow is soil under cultivation, but not
burdened with a crop. 1t may be compared
to a man who has been given a years vaca-
ton with a continuation of the salary. The
soil is plowed, narrowed, replOwed and re-
narrowed, and left bare the whole season to
prepare it for the heavy work of the next
years crop. Inthe case of the business man,
he may return from his rest with renewed
vigor and do an amount of work in the sue
ceeding year that may equal in value the
work he would have done in two if he had
kept at his desk or counter. The effects
which a following will have upon the soil de-
ponds very much upon the character OF the
soil. If it is heavy clay the result will be
the most beneficial There will be loosen
ing up of the texture of the soil-made more
porous so that the air and the soil water can
circulate more freely. This will cause
greater chemical action and the reduction to
a soluble and available form of the various
rock and soil constituents. such as potash,
one of the most essential of all the elements
of plant food. There is also certain guam
tity of food elements that will be absorbed
by the bare and open soil. In this way am
mona and nitric acid, the two leading
sources of the very valuable nitrogen, will
be stored up for any future crop. The
amount of nitric acid found in afallOw soil is
pretty well determined by the experiments
of DIR. Lawes at Rothamsted. As high as 30
pounds have been found per acre in the first
20 inches of the soil. 1t should be stated
that this nitrate is exceedingly soluble, and
is readily washed out of soil by heavy rain.
The Importance of following holds true on
ly with clay soil, and it is seen that with it
the season must be free from heavy rains in
late summer, or much that has been gained
through the chemistry of the year will be
washed waay and lost.
A green crop is general phrase includ-
ing all crops that are grown principally for
their benefit upon the land, or, in other
words, for their influence upon succeeding
crops. They have the same mission as the
fallow in the farm economy, and it is the
further purpose of this article to show the
superiority of the green crop over the fallow
as a conservator of force, or an agent to
accumulate plant food and to render me-
chanical and any other assistance.
An overcropped soil does not need rest in
the sense that an overworked person re-
quires cessation of labor. All that an ex-
hausted soil reqnires is an abundance of
food, and the system of recruiting that will
furnish this in the quickest time. all other
considerations remaining the same, is the
best.
One of the leading substances that a
"hungry'' soil needs is vegetable matter,
from which it can, through the chemistry of
decay, derive the all important compounds of
nitrogen. The fallow yields none of this veg
etable matter, for it is fallow only when the
soil is free from any plant growth. The
green crop may pc plowed under, thus Sc
curing to the land the whole crop; or it may
be fed to live stock, and the manure return
ed, in which case should there be no waste
from drainage from the manure, there would
be only the loss of the small amount of ash
and nitrogen constituents that are retained
by the animal. In this case the land is kept
in profitable work, and no time is lost as in
case of the fallow. 1t has been stated that
large amount of nitric acid is found in the
fallow soil, also that it runs many risks of
being washed out by the Autumn rains.
These very soluble nitrates are formed most
rapidly in the late months of summer, and
if a growing crop is on the land at that time
these nitrates are taken up by the plants
and made insoluble by entering into the sub
stance of the plant. A root crop sown in
early summer will thus catch and hold the
nitrates that might otherwise be washed
away, and they being fed to farm stock have
these same nitrates returned to the soil in
form to furnish the succeeding crop with
continuous supply of nitrogen. This power
of getting hold of the ate-formed nitrates in
the soil, is one of the points of superiority of
the clover crop over that of any of the cereal
grains. For example, barley, oats, wheat
&C., finish their growth before the time for
the most rapid formation of nitrates (nitrifi-
cation) comes, and were they the only crops
to be grown on the land, large quantities of
ntrates would be lost. The clover plant
grows throughout the season, and largely on
this account is renovating or restoring,
crop, instead of an exhausting one. There
are other points in favor of the clover crop
which make it of so great value as green
crop. The clover plant has long and deep
feeding roots, and on this account it reaches
down and seizes upon the partly escaped
food elements, bringing them back to the
surface soil where they are stored up in
the large roots of the clover. All the plants
of the clover sort, peas, beans, sanfoin, &C.,
seem to possess the power of obtaining nj
trogen from sources that are not available
to the cereals. 1t is therefore such crops as
these, that are able to reach out and retain
plant food, that should take the place of fall
lows. Thus the land is kept at work, the
nitrates are not lost by rains, and vegetable
matter is accumulated through direct or in
direct green manuring. There is very little
thu fallow can do that the green crop can
not accomplish with much greater fullness
and despatch.-Cor. Country Gentleman.