Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-02-09
The Value Of Green ManureS.

Farmers have an exceedingly made
quatc idea of the value of green ma
nures. Gne who will SOW his seed and
wa t patiently for the crop will be too
impatient to grow a crop Of rye or corn
or clover to be plowed under to enrich
the sol and return its rich harvest an
other year. Another will spend hum
drcdS of dollars for purchased manure
or fertii crs, but will not spend tens in
growing a crop to plOw into the soil for
the same purpose. And there are farm
crS who have determined to plow under
4 clover sod and have top-drcssed in the
fall or winter with this intention, but
who have lost heart when they have
seen Il luXUriant growth on the ground.
viii h seemed to be ga waste of good
fodder aS they have said, and so they
have waited and have either paSturcd it
IT moved it off and rnhh~i ti." coil Of
food which it sO"ely needed. This
would seem quite different if farmers
would think of their soil as sOmcth NJ
to be fed and supported to ENABLE it to
weld its produce, as much as n cow
that yields milk or a sheep that yields
wool. There are some chs analO 1es
nctwccn our fields and our animals. An
an NAL is Il machine-if VIC like to call
t so-hy which we make salahl, prod
hatstihlc for its term of life so lon" as
t is fed; bat it is really inexhau>tib!e in
fact, because, before its useful life ends,
t reprolures itself several times and
SIMPLY becomes a link in Il chain which
we may draw out indefinitely without
reaching the end of it. 50 that in this
view OF it even an animal is inexhau>ti-
bic so long rs it is fed. And so is the
soil, and no more and no longer, and,
indeed. if it is not fed, n field will be
mere dead, useless matter, just as Il
>ta;Nc COW or sheep will be. The
farmer must learn to think of his land
in this way or he gets q wrong idea of
II. He must not neglect to study up
the science of feeding his fields as he
reads up that of feeding his live stock
He must become acquainted with feed
ing tables and rations and kinds of food
for the land as we'll as for animals, and
must provide them literally. And as
clover is accounted an ev, client food
for stock so it is an excellent food for
land. But, at the same time, as there
are other folders which can be used
along with clover, or as substitute
when hel ei out by more stimulating
food, so there are other crops beside
clover which may be made to serve aS
food for the soil. Indeed, the soil is
not very exacting in this respect, al
though it Will never give som thing for
nothing, and always returns freely in
exact proportion to what it receives and
no more: but it is omniverouS and has
an exceedingly strong dige- ton. SO
til at the f:unier can not go astray if he
will always provide something for it.
1t MAY sbe weeds and no more: but it is
better if it is crop of ,btlckw heat, and
=, ctter still if it is rye or corn or even
=turnips or rape, but bestof al! if we can
give Sit rich clover which goes, down
deeply and draws food from the subsoil
and opens it broad leaves to the air and
gathers from that source too. aS well as
Hothers which other plants an not reach.
and so gives to the farmer a hundred
old in return for the seed and labor he
has expended. There are other ways
OF manuring the soil, but among them
blowing in OF green crops has no supe-
rior.-N.- \. ItnscS. "