Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-05-21
WASTE LANDS.
HOW To REPAIR THEM.


the Fertility OF Kun Down SOIL.
FIX. Moreiand in Country Gentleman.
A muct better result, however. may be
accomplished by crop OF clover. The
roots or clover are more beneficial in re.
the roots Of any other plants with which
am familiar. Any one who knows the
habits of the clover plant, and has ever
taken the pains to examine vigorous Old
clover roots, cannot fail to be surprised =,
the quantity of black vegetable mod
collected near such roots, which Is in ghk
part decayed haulm. This is Av6E tt
case when the crop of clover isAproduced'
for no other purpose than to be converted
into hay. The roots Of clover 20 q long
distance in search of plant food, and veg
etable growth SO promoted always inures
to the benefit of the surface soil. l do
not believe that have ever grown a crop
of clover that impoverished the soil in the
slightest degree and have always some
hopes of field on which can grow clover.
The action of clover being thus beneti-
cial when grown and removed, the much
greeter rexSelIsnce Of q crop grown for the
purpose of being left upon tho ground, can
easily be Understood. Two thousand
pounds of clover Will remove from the soil
about 118 pounds of Inorganic matter, if
the crop itself is removed from an acre of
land, this amount represents 236 pounds
inorganic matter, of which about 63 pounds
is potash, 81 pounds lime, and 20 pounds
phosphoric acid. know of no other crop
which takes from the soil such a large
amount of inorganic matter, and if this
matter were taken from the surface of the
soil Gas is the case with other crops), no
crop would tax the fertility of the soil like
clover. But as the elements of fertility
are taken, not from the surface, but from
. depth reached by no other crop, and as
the mass Of clover roots is left iu the soil,
together with considerable stubblc;; com
posed largely of potash, y lime and phos-
phoric acid taken from depth of soil,
much is done to counteract the impov-
erishing tendency of removing 50 large an
amount Of inorganic matter.
There is no crop that removes so much
inorganic matter per 1000 pounds from
the soil as clover it is therefore a good
crop to precede any white straw crop,
even if this crop is removed entirely from
some other portion of the farm. There is
another direct advantage to be realized
from clOver-the .ameliorating influence
exerted by the roots upon the condition of
the soil. A crop Of clover always leaves
the soil more loose and porous than any
other crop and more easy to cultivate,
and clover sod is in fact not q sod at all.
If clover is given its proper place, the
fertility of the farm will stand repeated
attacks from ignorant husbandry. In
restoring wasted fertility, the true value
of clover can be seen to the best advan
tage whom plowed under and allowed to
decompose. This is a most superior pre-
paration for fall wheat. l never had much
faith in the economy of summer following,
except when necessary to clean land the
practice Of summer following as prepar.
alton for fall wheat, do not approve of.
A crop is lost for the sole purpose of in
creasing by a few bushels the crop of
wheat. and have always thought the
same end could be attained by better til
lage and more generous use of fertilizers.
Of course, under this view of the case,
clover cannot be used, unless a clover sod,
upon which there is good after growth
of clover, is turned under for the benefit
of the ensuing wheat crop. A practice
which have adopted to a limited extent
in wheat culture is as follows:
I seed down with wheat, using a mix
ture. chiefly largo and medium clover.
with a smaller proportion of timothy. |
usually obtain a good catch with wheat
this is tOp-dressed in tho winter, and
generally cut heavy crop of clover be-
fore July 1st. When am ready to fit my
wheat ground. the second crop of clover is
in blossom; this is turned carefully, and
the ground thus prepared is sowed to
wheat, which is again seeded as before.
hope that when l get the land fertile
nn Dt, tfNh haS f,f mt e
clover, may dispense with the top dress
ing every winter, and be able to sustain
its fertility by moderate dressing of
barry ard manure once in two or three
years. The experiment has thus FAX
worked very satisfactorily, and l believe
that can in this manner keep my wheat
land in good condition.
This method of utilizing the fertilizing
properties of clover may, however, in GER
tain cases be too slow as, for instance,
where land has become so impoverished
that it would result in oultivating a great
many crops at loss, In this case it will
be advisable, If a good supply of livery
stable manure cannot be obtained, to re-
sort to green crops plowed under.
When the object is to make q great
advance in fertility in a single |
year, it is evident that no advice can be
given that will apply to all casas. When
access can be had to livery stable manure
or leached ashes, it Is mvch more satisfac !
tory to use these fertilizers generously |
and raise an annual crop of-some sort,
rather than have recourse to green manuc. !
ing or summer following. Again, if no
lcached ashes or stable manure are to be |
had, it is sometimes profitable to uss com.
.nercial manures to promote vegetable
growth. .r.
There is still smother method by which
the most profit can be made out OF poor
farm, provided the farm can be applied to