The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-12-14
|FARN FIELDAND GARDEN.
DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS or
FARMERS AND pAiRYMEN.

vxsws In Favor u Green Manurins-Ths /
Crops Msst Probable for This Pur-
poss-How to Keep srnk for Trunspor-
tsfion Sweet
The practice of enriching the soil by
feeding it with green crops has enlisted
the attention Of many Of our best farm
81. The necessity for restoring some |
Of the fertility to our soils, which are
cropped each year, Is apparent There
must be a returning to as well as taxi
ing from it, of the elements of fertility.
Green crop feeding is considered by many
as the most natural, feasible and eco
nomical method by which to return the
plant food that Is taken from our fields
b continual cropping. Barnyard ma
nure win always, of course, remain with
farmers the chief reliance, but that green
manurial crops will be found to be re-
liable and inexpensive adjunct to this is
the belief of New Hampshire corre-
spondent in American Cultivator, who
the crops to be employed:
The green crops most profitable to be
employed for this purpose are those de-
nominated ''air feeders" those possessed
Of power to absorb the elements of or
ganic life from the air, such as clover,
buckwheat, rye, peas, beans, etc. Clover
undoubtedly stands at the head of the
list. 1t contains large proportion Of
potash, lime, magnesia. nitrogen, chic
rine and carbonic, phosphoric and sui
phuric acid. Its great value as n manu-
rial plant lies in the fact that its leaves
and stems absorb the larger part of its
fertilizing gases from the air, and take
only comparatively small portion from
sbe soil. 1t is a voracious "air feeder
Moreover, its long, thick roots draw the
fertilizing saline and mineral elements
of the sub-soil up into the surface soil,
and render them available as plant food.
Buckwheat is also valuable manurial
green crop. 1t is rapid and hardy
grower, and can be successfully grown
on the same plot year after year without
materially exhausting the soil Two
crops of it can be grown and plowed I'M
der on tho same ground in one season,
and the ground seeded down with grass
or grain crop in September. 1t should
be grown far more extensively than it is,
its grain making a complete poultry
food, while its cultivation is strongly
recommended as an eradicator of Canada
thistles, witchgrass and other foul and
| obnoxious weeds.
The pea is of great value as manurial
crop, even after tho fruit has been
gathered and the vines are fully ripened.
They contain a very large proportion of
potash, lime, magnesia, soda, carbonic
acid and chloride of sodium, besides
sulphuric and phosphoric acid, and when
plowed under, it puts the soil in the best
possible condition for other crops. es-
pecially wheat and grass.
Rye is also most valuable manurial
crop, but on the score of economy is not
SO profitably used for this purpose, its
grain being too valuable to be economi.
cally sacrificed as manure
The proper time to pillow down green
crops, to renovate the soil, is in the warm
weather of summer, when they are Just
coming into flower. They then take on
4 quick decay from their immatured con-
lition when the sun has its greatest
power to aid in the process of fermenta-
ton and decay. Let our farmers try the
practice of green manuring, and the re-
suits achieved will be sure to induce them
~ continue it as settled policy in their
iarin operations