Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-12-13
THE FARM.
Tha Profits Of Glover.

II the land Is not in condition to bear
clover, it can readily be made SO at q
trlning cost Of fertilization. Some care
Iul Investigations conducted in the Dest
demonstrate the manurial value OF
clover. The samples in this case were
taken from clover two years from seed
ing, very late in October. The soil was
moderately fertile clay loan. Some
timothy was mixed with this clover, all
was very tai and rank, and the clover
dried was 25 square feet:
Weight of air dried tops per acre. ....--.. 54I7
Weight OF air dried roots per acre. ........ 2G68
The tops were found to contain in an
alysis
PhosphO1ic acid. ............ 4085
The roots contained per acre:
P6fe! 5lollo aelo 2709
The vale of nitrogen, etc, in the roots
and tops would be S3O.61, valuing the
nitrogen at Is cents per pound, phOs-
phOrlc acid cents per pound and pot
ash at cents per pound. The ability
of clover to absorb nitrogen from the
atmosphere is beyond question. A sam
pie of earth was calcined in a porcelain
furnace in order to destroy all nitrogen
lied substances which may have existed
in it. The earth was then mixed with
phosphate of lime and Watered with
pure distilled water. Glover sown in it
grew perfectly well, and the crop being
analysed demonstrated the presence of
a large proportion of nitrogen, evil
IDENTIFY due to the air, since there was
none in the soil
Soils are not exhausted when it is seen
the power a suitable crop has to liberate
and convert the insOluble substances of
the soil and store them in the plant for
future use.
While the great value of clover as a
fertilizer is universally admitted, there
is considerable difference of opinion as
to how the best results may be brought
about. Some hold that the crop, being
biennial, should have possession of the
ground until the second year.
Probably it is more advantageous the
second year to cut the first crop for fod-
der, allow it to grow again, and 90 to
seed which save for future use, and in
addition to the top there is left in the
soil the roots available for crop; and
when the land is plOwed it is clear, light,
retentiYe of moisture and easily titled,
with available constitu ents in the clover
roots and in the soil to produce any crop
probably, and the necessity Of purchas-
ing fertilizers and applying thsm is
saved.
Turning in green crops is returning
only to the soil the salts, silicates
and vegetable matters which the plant
has drawn out of it, together with all
the organic matters of the plant itself
has elaborated from oxygen and hydro
gen, carbon and nitrogen, from what
ever source derived. Ithas decomposed
during the short period of its growth
more silicates and salts than the air
only could effect during the same
period, which, being turned in, restore
to the soil from which they grew salts
and silicates in an improved form, whose
action on vegetation is like that of
alkalies. But powerful as are the eff
fects of green crops plOwed in, it is the
experience of some practical men that
one crop allowed to perfect itself and
die where it grew, and then turned in
green. The whole result is explained by
the fact that dry plants give more vege-
table matter than green, green plants
ferment, dry plants decay. A larger pOr-
tiOn escapes in fern entatiOn as gas, and
more volatile products are formed than
during decay. One is quick, cOnsum-
ing fire; the other is slow, mOuldering
ember, giving of during all its progress
gases which feed plants and decOmpOs
the siIicates Of the soil.