Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-05-28
The farn1 aud fireside.
THE VALUE OF CLOVER.

1uoTc are, He says, GNLCC eoSduloSOo
first the mechanical effects upon the soil ;
second, the addition of a certain quantity OF
fertilizing matter; and third, the chemical
effects upon the soil.
Just now it is very important to consider
each of these very closely, because there Is
a popular opinion prevalent that the soil
is actually improved by cutting and rernov-
ing this second growth instead of ploWlng
it under. This belief has been taught by
agricultural chemists and by writer's upon
agriculture, and it has been widely adopted
on the siren 9Th Of the authority. But there
are really no facts given to support the prev
alent belief in the effects of clover upon the
soil, while common sense and reason are
opposed to it. This will appear as the three
points above mentioned are made clear.
First. There are some certain mechanical
effects produced upon the soil by the ploW-
ing in of clover sod, and these effects are
greater in proportion to the bulk of the veg
etable matter turned under. quantity OF
green clover which would make ton OF
hay is equal to four tons of the green matter.
The roots and stubble of such growth OF
clover will amount to an equal bulk of four
tons more. Sixteen thousand pounds, or
eight tons of green matter is equivalent to
| 100 pounds upon every square rod ofground.
When this is evenly distributed, as it is by
blowing growing crop under, in alternate
layers of vegetable matter, and four, five or
six inches of soil, as the burrows may be
made, the soil is greatly improved in text
ure; a light, sandy loan is bound together
and consolidated by this fibrous matter in
termingled with it, and heavy clay is
loosened, opened, and made more porous.
Either soil is far better prepared for its
occupation by a mass of roots, and is better
enabled to hold the moisture requisite for
the growth Of crop.
Second. A quantity of clover like that
plowed in contributes to the soil large
ter. The eight tons of clover leaves, stems
and roots contain about 1l2 pounds of nj
trogen, twenty-six pounds of phosphoric
acid, fifteen pounds of sulphuric acid, sixty
pounds of carbonic acid, one hundred
pounds of lime, sixty seven pounds of pot
ash, and sixty pounds of soda, magnesia,
chlorine, iron, etc. A ton of ordinary
farm manure contains nine pounds of nj
trogen, ten pounds Of potash, and four
pounds of phosphoric acid. Therefore the
eight tons of clover add to the soil as much
nitrogen as twelve and one-half tons of
manure. There is considerable balance
in favor of the clover, the greater, as nitro
gen is the most costly and valuable of all
the needed elements of fertility. But there
is a deeper view to be taken of this consid-
erable addition made to the fertility of the
soil by the clover, and that is, it had been
procured from sources where no other
crop could procure it, and that is from a
great depth, comparatively, in the sub-soil.
Glover is deep-rooted plant 1t has a
thick, fusiform tap-root, which penetrates
to a great depth, and then sends out null
titude of feeders, which gather nutriment
from much larger space and depth than
any other plant. Furthermore, it has the
habit of passing through its roots and leav-
es an enormous quantity of water, equal
to 1854 pounds per day for an acre, or in
100 days about no tons. This is seven
times as much space as is required or used
| by wheat crop, whose roots occupy much
less space and remain near the surface.
| There is still another point to be noticed
and which we must not omit This is that
while the clover plant draws up and tran
spires so large a quantity of water, yet the
mineral matter held in solution and upon
which the plant feeds is by no means pro-
portionately large. 1t is, therefore, able
to exisist and grow in poorer soil than any
other crop, and to subsiSt on much weaker
food. 1t is AS though an animal could live
and thrive and grow upon milk diluted
four times with water, and thus exist upon
very poor quality of food; or as though it
could increase and grow fat upon straw, eat
ing and digesting four times as much for the
same effect as another could do with the
best nay and meal. This is the most i'm
portant point to know and consider, why
clover is so beneficial to soils. and why
farmer, by blowing in a clover sod, can
grow good crop of corn and another of
oats, and still leave remainder for the fol-
| lowing small grain crop, or why after q
clover sod ploWed in, in the summer, he
can grow very much larger crop of wheat
than he could in any other way.
These acids are set free and begin to act
upon the soil. And we may also in this
connection take into account the consider
able quantity of deeper roots of the clover,
which are left in the soil to decay below the
reach of the plow. The acids act upon the
The carbonic acid has the property of dis
solving in water and comforting upon it the
ability to dissolve silica, lime, and other
minerals, while sulphuric acid combines
with limeand sets free phosphoricacid which
may have been in combination with it..
Again, the porosity given to the soil by the
mass of clover opens it to the admission of
the air, and in its decay produces heat, and
these influences greatly accelerate and in
tensify whatever chemical action may be
started by the decay of clover.
In summing up the advantages which
may be derived from ploWing in clover
sod-and we may say, at the same time, a
crop of clover grown for this purpose-the
following are the chief points to be noted :
/. Glover, from its habits of growth, may
be produced upon soils too poor for any 9TH
er crop, because it gathers its food from
sources beyond the reach of any other crop.
3. Glover gathers from the soil more pot
ash, lime, phosphoric acid, and other min
eral matters, and also several times more
nitrogen than any other crop. ....
3. Clover in its decay sets free from the
soil considerable quantity ofmineral mat
ter, and also gathers from the atmosphere,
during its growth, a considerable quantity
of nitrogen.
t. All these accumulations are brought to
the surface, where they are made available
for the use of succeeding crops.
5. That in this manner clover effects q
sensible and valuable improvement of the
soil, both directly by its actual contributions
to it, as well as indirectly by its favorable
chemical action upon it.
That these contributions of q clover crop
to the fertility of the soil are not only in an
immediate available form for the use of sue
ceeding crops, but that they are additional
to the very considerable, and indeed equal
ly valuable, contribution in the form Of tod
der for the feeding of stock, which is re-
turned, in great part, to the soil in the form
of manure.
PLASTER IN DRY YSEAsONs.-Plaster is an
excellent agent for giving corn good send
off, and being very cheap (about SS a ton,)
should be kept on hand all the time. 1t at
tracts moisture, and when busted around
plants in dry seasons it keeps the green tinge
on them long after those not so treated have
begun to turn yellow. AS dilutant for
!