The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1894-10-04
EsiiAa, ,tc>us pl ANTS.
How They Take Up Nitrogen and Esatss

LEGuM,aous PLANTS.
How they Take III, Nitrogen and EfaH&
the Soil for Crops.
A recent bulletin ISSUED by the de-
|partrnent of agriculture contains "a
portant information on the value and
use of legnminous plants for green
manuring and for feeding. A chapter
If the bulletin entitled How Plants
Get N;trogs N from tn Air. is sspeci-
silly valuable. an. is i, part a follows:
THE air we breathe is noontsf'ur-
'Gfths nitrogen an. cHe-G;th oxygen.
We use oxygen in breathing, but dis
card the nitrogen. 1t has been regarded
merely as a. material for diluting the
|oxygen, which would otherwise be too
strong aor our use. All attempts econ
|onically TO render this nitrogen avail
able for plant food by clerical means
have been unsuccessful. Recently 1T
has been discovered that the so-called
icguminous plants-clover, peas. beans.
luoines, vetches. ctc.--can take up this
nitrogen of the air, and can grow With
out being mauured with nitrogen II
MANFRED with pkosphoric acid and
potash. The manner in which this nj
trogen assimilation takes place has
been carefully and patiently studied by
scientists. and although the details are
not fully understood the primary cau:"
has been found. 1t is believed THAI
plants are enabled to get this nitrogen
through the activity of the lower forms
Of life. bacteria or microbes. These
organizations live in the soil aud are to
be found where leguminons plants haze
been grown. They produce, or cause
the plant to produce, little nodulcs. or
tuberclcs on thcroots. 1t is through these
tuberclcs that the plant gets its atmos-
pharic nitrogen. BY just what phys
Illogical process the nitrogen assin'la-
ton takes place is question still in
dispute among scientists. 1t IS a
peculiar fact that few, if any root
tubercles are formed when lcguminons
plants are manfred with nitrogen; tho
plants must first hunger for nitrogen
before the tuberclcs arc formed. and
the presence of tubcrclcs indicates that
the plant is taking nitrogen from the
air.
"Now, curious as It may seen, there
appear to be different forms OF bacteria
for different kinds of plants. Hence 1T
sometimes becomes necessary TO pro-
vide crops with the Necessary bacteria
before they can use the nitrogen OF the
air. This is done by applying light
dressing of soil in which the kind OF
plants it is wished to grow have been
previously grown. This is called soil
incubation. 1t is sometimes necessary
in growing a crop Oh a piece OF land tor
the first time in several years. Suppose,
for instance, that peas which had been
sown on land MANFRED with phosphatcs
and potash, but without nitrogen,
failed to grow luNuriantly. If the
other conditions were favorable the in
ference would be that bacteria OF the
right kind were lacking in the soil and
a light dressing OF soil in which peas
had previously been successfully grown
might be applied. Such treatment as
this has repeatedly been tried with sue
cess on large scale. These discoveries
throw new !:,ght on green manuring
and on plants best adapted for green
1nanuring They recommend it moro
highly than ever before as soil rem
ovator and cheap means of maintain
ing the fertility of a soil They show
that while both leguminous and non
leguminous plants enrich the soil alike
in Misunderstanding materials, in proper
ton to the eSize of the crop, they differ
in respect to the source OF their nitro
genous materials. While non-lcgumin-
Gus plants derive their nitrogen supply
almost exclusively from the soil, legum-
inous plants may take theirs largely
from the air. Consequently if spurry,
buckwheat, mustard, etc. (HOn-legumlu-
Gus plants), are grown on the soil and
the crop plowed in the soil is not ma
terially enriched in nitrogen, the pro-
CESS Is simply returning TO the soil all
the nitrogen which the crop took from
IT, Bus since leguminous plants may
derive the larger proportion OF their
nitrogen from without the soil; that is,
from the air, their use for green ma
nuring actually enriches the soil in nj
trogenous matter.
ut will thus be seen that by green
manuring with lcguminous crops it is
possible to manure the soil with nitro
gen from the air a free and iDeXhaust-
ible source, and thus avoid buying fcr-
filters containing much nitrogen.
This greatly lessons the expense for
commercial fertilizers, FOR nitrogen is
the most expensive clemsnt the farmer
has to buy 1t costs from fifteen to
twenty cents pound, while potash
and phosphoric acid cost only five to
seven cents. or even less. Although
grains, grasses. corn, cotton. root crops,
tobacco, etc, cannot use the nitrogen
of the air, green manuring enables
them to benefit by it indirectly.-Chi-
cago Tribune.
BRILLIANT COLORS.
Beauties That Meet the Ego on Approach