Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-05-25
Good Advice.

mere il plenty Of good advice in the re-
cent farmers bulletin issued ty Assistant
Director Allen. From that we copy the
following:
I) Green manuring improves the ply ST.
cal properties Of the soil by making the
soil more porous and adding to its supply
OF humHs. 1t brings up the dormant plant
food from deep down i'll the soil and depos-
It's 1t near the surface, where it can be used
hy plants feeding near the surface.
(2.> Green manuring With buckwheat,
Hungarian grass, and other non-leguminous
plants. adds practically nothing to the soil
which was not there before, except mass
OF vegetable matter which decays and goes
to form humus.
| 90 Green manuring with clovers, peas
| peans, iupines, ETC., (legumnous crops)
actually enriches the soil in nitrogen drawn
from the air. These plants can grow with
very little soil nitrogen. They store up the
nitrogen OF the air as they grow, and when
plowed under give it up to the soil and to
future crops. 1t is the cheapest means OF
manuriDg the soil with nitrogen.
| a. But animals, as well as plants, re-
qulre nitrogen for fcod. By feeding the
crops of clover, cowpea, etc., only about
one-fourth Of the fertilizing materials OF
the crop is lost if the manure is properly
cared for. As the nitrogen of the air is the
cheapest source of nitrogen for plants, so il
is the cheapest source of protein nitrogen
for animals. The leguminous crop is bes,
utilized when it is fed out ON the farm, and
the manure saved and applied to the soil
The greatest profit is thus secured, and
nearly the same fertility Is maintained as
in green manuring.
t5) For renovating orn or barren soils
and for maintaining the fertility where the
barnyard manure is not properly cared for
green manuring with such leguminous crops
as cowpea, clovers, and lupines is recon-
mended. A dressing of potash and phos
pilates will usually be sufficient for the
green manuring crop.
(G) The practice of green manuring on
medium and better classes of soils is ira.
tional and wasteful. The farmer should
mend his system so that the barnyard ma,
nure will be as well cared for as any othe,
farm product. Loss from surface washiog
leaching, fermentation, and decay should
| be guarded against. Then the feeding OF
| richer food will mean richer manure and
better and cheaper crops.
(7) The system of soiling, or feeding
green crops in the barn in place of past
urage, enables larger number of animals
| to be kept on given area of land, and the
manure to be more completely saved. Fol
this purpose leguminous crops are extreme
| ly valuable.
% Hay from leguminous crops is about
twice as rich in protein as hay from grasses.
In the one case this protein (nitrogen) i:
obtained very largely from the atmosphere
| in the other it is all drawn from the fertii
| ty of the soil. Leguminous crops yield
larger crops of hay to the acre than grasses
Hence the production of food materials or
an acre, especially protein, is several times
| larger with leguminous crops.
(9) If allowed to ripen, the seed of the
cowpea and soja bean furnishes an extreme
| ly rich conc entrated feed which can be
ground and fed in place of expensive com
mercial feeds. The straw remaining may
be fed as coarse fodder, for it is richer thar
ordinary hay.
O0) Grow more leguminous crops
They furnish the cheapest food for stoch
and the cheapest manure for the soil. They
do this because they obtain from the air 9
substance necessary for plants and animals
alike, which costs in the form of fertilizers
and feeding stuffs from Is to 25 cents 8
pound.