Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1886-12-17
How Clover Improves Land.

or the great value of clover for
improving the soil, says the Bal
timore Sun, there can be no doubt,
but how it does so is not so easily
understood. AS shown by analy-
sis clover is rich in nitrogen, phos-
phoric acid, and potash, the three
most essential elements of plant
food. Now, where does clover get
this superabundance of fertiliz-
ing elements? As to the nitrogen,
it is still an unsettled question
whether the clover absorbs it from
the atmosphere through its leaves
or from the subsoil through its
deeply penetrating roots. But, be
this as it may, repeated analyses
show that the soil upon which a
crop of clover is grown-evena after
it is cut and tak.n off-contains
considerable moro nitrogen than
1t did before the clover was there.
So that if this reinforcement of
nitrogen did not come from the
atmosphere, it certainly must
have come from the subsoil. But,
a. said before, however uncertain
the source from which the nitrogen
il derived, it is admitted that the
potash and phosphoric acid
without which no crop can be
SUCCESSFULLY grown) both come
from the subsoil. The analyzation
of corn on the cob, for instance,
shows its richness in potash-the
eobs particularly, and to such an
extent that, when burned, the
lsachings of the ashes produce a
I've 30 strong that our grandmoth-
srs often made use of it instead of
psarl-ash to tighten their biscuits
and other pastry.
Phosphoric acid, although not
so well known, but eqally as essen
tial to plant growth as potash, is
the other element in which clover
is SO rich. Now, as continual
cropping takes from the soil more
or less of these two essential ele--
ments, it follows as a matter of
course, that unless these two ele-
ments are restored to the soil in
some way, complete depletion
must eventually take place. Turn
ing under clover will do it for
while, but as it returns to the soil
no more than it took from it, we
must complement it from some
other source or complete e1-
haustion is sure to follow.
In this connection it were well
to quote the language of one of
the most scientific farmers, Mechi,
of England, who, in speaking of
the robbery of the land in this
country, said: eve have seen the
the e.rlier-settled portions of
American already exhausted and
impoverished, and now the virgin
soils of the far West are undergo
ing the same depletion" But we
need not go to England for advice
in this matter. We may go farth-
er back, and take lessons of the
heather Chinee. The empire of
China, with its hundreds of mil
lions more of population to sup
port than this country contains,
has done so for more than two
thousand years, from its hand-till-
ed fields alone, without the impo;-
tations, until lately of single
grain of food from any other quar-
ter. The secret of its ability to
accomplish thi. lies in the fact
that not a single element of fertili-
ty which experience has taught
them will aid in maintaining the
fertility of the soil-not even the
clippings of the barber shops-is
allowed to go to waste, but is care
fully saved and applied to the
land. So that with all our vaunt
ed knowledge and improved ma
chinsry, the Chinese are just as
far in advance of US, or the more
skilled cultivators of Europe, as
the latter are the very ranchmen
on our Pacific coast.