The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-10-16
FLOWING UNDER GLOVER.
aIisapprehensions Current Among IntelIi-
gent Agriculturists.


gent Agriculturists.
The extravaganza claims based upon
the estimates made by agricultural
chemists as to the manurial value of
ton of clover lead to misapprehenson
among good many farmers. They
are led to believe that there is feeding
value and a manurial value in addition
ito the clover, and that the farmer who
feeds ton of clover hay to his stock
gets these two values from it. This is
sort of illusory view to take of it,
and, while it is pleasant to think of, it
is of no real value practically, for the
farmer never actually gets the money
in his hands so that he can see it from
these double values of his clover.
Clover is most useful plant, but it is
subject to all the laws of vegetable
growth and alimentation, and nothing
S got out of it that it does not contain,
nor can any of its valuable elements be
used twice over
1t is also common belief that clover
gets most of its valuable qualities from
the atmosphere, and that it is able to
draw the large quantity of nitrogen it
contains from the air, or from a soil in
which so little is contained that no
other crop could extract much. The
result of this is supposed to be that
clover crop plowed under which fur
nishes $50 pounds of nitrogen per acre
IS all gain, and adds to the soil very
liberal free contribution from the air.
These views are not correct and at
times do mischief by misleading farm
ers and causing disappointment tor
clover is often sown on very poor land
in the hope that a good crop of it may
be grown which can be plowed under
and at once restore the soil to condi-
ton of fertility. This hope of course
is never realized, and not only disap-
pointment but loss is the result. The
truth is that clover, no more than any
other plant, can get from the atmos-
phere or any other source than the soil,
any nitrogen beyond the small quantity
which has been traced to this source
and which is from seven to ten pounds
per acre yearly. 1t must therefore
gather from the soil itself all that it
contains save this very meager contri-
button, and consequently can add
nothing to it more than it receives from
it. A crop of clover, then, of any value
can only be produced upon land which
is quite rich in plant food, and to ex-
pect to grow it upon poor land must al
ways lead to disappointment. For this
reason the practice of blowing under
clover is better adapted for preserving
fertile land in good condition than for
restoring poor land which has been
run down and exhausted by overcrop-
ping. This should be clearly under
stood The most that can be expected
of this plant is that its deeper roots are
| able to reach the plant food which lies
below the roots of other plants which
forage nearer the surface, and thus it
can be grown upon soils which will not
produce the other crops.
In regard to its feeding and natural
value some explanation may be useful.
Glover is valuable for the heterogeneous
matter it contains both for food and
manure If it did not yield up its vau-
able food clements in this way there
would be no inducement for the farmer
to use it. The dairyman would have
no use for it and would employ some
other crop. But when it is used for
fatting full-grown animals who do not
take up any of the nitrogen of it, or
but small portion, then this valuable
element of it goes out into the manure
and becomes available in that way.
The manure from fattening animals is
always richer than that from milking
cows, growing young stock, or working
oxen, because the carbonaceous ele-
ments of the food only are used up, and
the others are rejected in the manure
of the former, while the latter con-
sumo nearly all of the nitrogen in the
production of milk or flesh or the re-
pair of the muscular tissue, as the
case may be. This being the case,
then, it appears that the commonly
accepted statement is to be received
with due allowance for these facts,
and that when the improvement of the
soil is the object sought it must be con
sidered that the blowing of clover is
the best practice under certain condi-
tons, because then the surface soil
gains large amount of fertilizing
matter; but this gain is all at the eX-
pense of the deeper soil. The land
itself has gained but very little, it has
simply been benefited as regards the
growth of shallow-rooted crops by the
shifting of a large portion of its plant
food from an inaccessible part of the
land to better and more attainable
position. This is all. When, how
ever, a farmer is feeding cattle for fat
during the winter, clover hay is the
best fodder he can use because il
furnishes an abundance of nitrogen to
balance the abundant carbon of the
corn and so preserves the animals in 9
healthful condition; and as this nitro
gen is not assimilated, but is discarded
as an excess of nutriment, the greater
part of the most valuable constituents
60 out in the manure.-N. Y. Times.
L.