Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1894-04-12
Green Crops as Fertilizers

NtOOs St0Po 40 0t lntZ 0I . .
The Sixth Report of the Mississippi
Experiment Station says: No soil can
be made to produce good crops with
out the presence of fair supply of
humus or decayed vegetable matter.
Freshly cleared lands, and lands which
have not been plowed for many years,
usually contain an abundance Of hu-
mus, but when lands have long been
cultivated in hoed crops like corn and
cotton the humus becomes exhausted,
and must be replaced before they can
be made profitable. just how this hu-
mus shall be supplied must depend on
the circumstances of each plantation.
When it can be had in sufficient guam
titv, there is no better material for
tnls purpose than is stable manure,
but as this can seldom be secured in
sufficient amounts recourse must be
had to other materials. Cotton seed
for clay soils. and cotton seed meal for
sandy soils, answer the purpose per-
fectly, but both are expensive and on
nearly all plantations the most eco
nomical method for securing suffi-
clent supply of humus is by the grow
ing and blowing under of some green,
leguminous crop like lespedeza. COW
peas, or red clover On lands where
aithar of thooa oropS hoo bo,,, ,ruoro
there is little trouble in making salts
factory crops of corn or cotton by the
use of moderate amounts of CONNER
cial fertilizers. Lespedeza will grow
| on soil which is too exhausted, dry
and hard Tor either of the others, and
is undoubtedly the best plant for use
where the soil is in a very poor condi-
tion. 1t responds quickly to an appli-
cation OF 200 pounds of cotton seed
meal per acre, and by making such an
application fair crop of lespedeza
can be grown on almost any soil. If
the soil is sufficiently fertile to make
fair crop Of lespedeza without the
use of fertilizer, COW peas will be the
better crop to grow. as they make a
much heavier growth than does the
lespedeza, their roots are larger and
extended more deeply into the ground
and will SO build up the soil more rap
idly.
l'msWhen the soil is rich ia lime. as i'm
/ the entire northwestern prairie region
melilotus is the best fertilizing crop
which can be grown. Its roots are
larger and extend deeper into the
ground than do those of any other re-.
storitive plant which we can grow; the
plants die and the roots decay at the
end Of the second season, ana so the
plant adds more to the valuable plant
food in the soil than does any other OF
the many which we have tested. 1t
will grow we'll on any of the black
prairie soils, even on those which are
too exhausted or in too poor condi-
tion for making good crops of red
clover; it does equally well on white
lime lands, makes good hay and pas
ture, being especially valuable for
winter grazing, and as a restorative
crop for lime lands, is undoubtedly the
most valuable one We haye. Uufor-
tunately it will not grow on soils that
are deficient in lime, as are most Of
those in the pine region, and for that
section OF the state COW peas and les
pedeza are the most satisfactory re-
storative crops.
1t is much easier to keep a field in
| good condition than it is to build it up
when it has become run down and ex-
h1usted. and for maintaining the fel :
tility and productiveness of soils al
ready in good, or even in fair condi-
tion, there is no other plant as valuable
as red clover. 1t requires better sol !,
and one which is in better mechani-
cal condition, than does either OF the
other restorative crops named. but as
| it gives us our most valuable hay crop
in addition tosits action as u restora-
tive crop, it is the best plant we have
maintaining the fertility OF flands which
have never become exhausted. or
which have been renovated by the use
of either lespedeza, COW peas. or meli-
lotus. Having secured good mechani-
cal condition in the soil, together with
an abundant supply OF humus by the
means of green crops, but little ad-
ditional fertilizer will be needed.
| Electric Bltters.
| This remedy is becoming SO well known
| and go lIlar as To need no Rnecial meli-