The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-21
Green Manurine. byJ.w. moran.

Green Manuring, BY J. W. InGram.
When subject Of great practical i'm
portance 10 farmers is undergoing discus
sion everybody becomes Interested and
wants TO have hand in the talk. says
the Practical Farmer. Green manurinr.
or blowing under green crops, generally
red clover, spurry, sainfoin, cow peas,
etc, 20 improve the soil, is not new
thing. IL was practiced by the ancient
Greeks and Romans before the Christian
era, more than 1000 years ago, as we
learn from the writings Of Xenophon,
PliuY, Cato, Virgil and Others That on
many soils it IS of great benefit, there
cannot be particle of doubt. The evidence
Is so overwhelming that a person who
places any confidence in human testimony
| cannot resist it. That on other soils it
is absolutely injurious (at least to the
first crop after being turned under), the
| evidence is equally strong and convincing
| On page So Prof, Massey saws: "Mr
| Terry can plow under the green clover
with impunity in full bloom. l would
never undertake such a thing south Of
| the Potomac but would wait for matur-
ing and cold weather" | think perhaps
| the professor is mistaken in surprising
| that the Potomac is the line south to
| which green manuring is unsafe. There
must be soils in the south, as elsewhere,
which such treatment would benefit
| Where red clover f1ourishes well, farmers
/ need not seek for anything better, but
where 1t is precarious crop, or the land
becomes clover sick, they should by all
means try some of the other
| highly esteemed in Europe, and may
prove equally seryiceable in this country
| The inhabitants of Flanders now Bel
| glum) many years ago raised green crops
| to be returned into the soil with great
| benefit to their land, and the succeeding
! crops Their soil generally consisted of
loose, white, porous sand, resembling the
sandy districts on the coast of New Jer-
| sey and Maryland. The Flemish sand, to
a great depth, was stored full of the most
| valuable ferJilizing ingredients. which
had been cast up by the sea, and which
only needed humus to retain moisture,
| without which crops cannot thrive.
! BY green manuring this barren
sand was gradually converted into
most fertile loan. Upon all
soils that would produce clover, it
formed part Of their rotation. On very
dry and sandy grounds, where clover fail
ed, they raised spurry. They did not de-
pend entirely on green manuring; they
kept large numbers of cattle lone beast
for every three acres was their rule) and
| they fed them well on turnips potatoes
and carrots, which were chopped up, tops
and all, in a tub, and mixed with hot wa
| ter and rye, or buckwheat meal. In the
report of the agricultural department for
1854, John +. Wolfnger said 'Spurry is
most admirably adapted to san
| dy soils, so much so that it
has been called the clover of
sandy lands. 1t will grow well upon
sandy soils that are two poor, dry and
thin to bear clover, and will also, if sown
in March, and then again in May, and af-
forwards in July, produce three crops
| upon the same field in one season" In
| Flanders ''theSe three crops are success
sively plowed down to the depth of three
or four inches and renovate and
strengthen a poor barren soil to such a
| degree that it will bring clover or a very
good crop of winter grain.
Van VOght, German writer, says of
| Spurry: sit is better than red or white
| clover; the cows give more and better
milk when fed on it, and it improves the
land in an extraordinary degree. The
| blessing of SpurFy, the clover of sandy
lands, is incredible when rightly en-
ployed." Sainfoin belongs to the legu-
minous family of plants, and is extern
| sively used in Europe as a renovating
crop, but the trials which have been made
with it in this country have not gener-
ally been successful.
| WnlJe luplne IS gOOd Iouder plant IoI
farm animals, and particularly sheep, but
| its chief value consists in its excellence as
a manure for the renovation of WORKOUT
soils, and the improvement of those that
are naturally barren. it is regarded in
Italy, Spain, Southern France and parts
| of Germany as being the best of all
| plants for green manuring, being almost
equal to barn yard dung.
The value oflupine was well known to
the ancient Romans. Columelly, one OF
| their agricultural writers, says "Of all
| leguminous vegetables, the lupine is that
which merits most attention, because it
costs least, employs least time, and fur
nisheS an excellent manure"
It's cultivation in the United States has
not usually been successful. 1t has
grown we'll, but insects destroyed the
| seeds. All that is needed is the discovery
of something to destroy the insects.
Bradford county, Pa.