The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-03-13

luxuriantly. If the other conditions
were favorable, the influence would
be that bacteria of the right kind
would be lacking in the soil, and a
light dressing of soil in which peas
had previously been successfully
grown might be applied. Such treat.
ment as this has been repeatedly tried
with success on large scale.
These discoveries throw a new light
on green manuring and on the plants
best adapted for green manuring.
They recommend it more highly than
ever before as a soil renovator and
a cheap means Of maintaining the fer
tility Of a soil. They show that while
both leguminous and non-leguminous
plants enrich the soil alike in humus-
forming materials, in proportion to
the size of the crop, they differ in res
pect to the source of their nitrogenous
materials. While non-leguminous
plants derive their nitrogen supply al
most exclusively from the soil, legu,
ninous plants may take theirs largely
from the air. Consequently, if spurry,
buckwheat, mustard, ETC., non-legu.
minous plants are grown on the soil
and the crop ploved in, the soil IS not
materially enriched in nitrogen; the
process is simply returning to the soil
all the nitrogen which the crop took
from it. But since leguminous plants
may derive the larger portion of their
nitrogen from without the soil-that
is, from the air-their use for green
manuring actually enriches the soil
in nitrogenous matter.
twill thus be seen that by green
manuring with leguminous crops it Is
possible to manure the soil with nitro,
gen from the air, a free and inexhaus-
tible source. and thus avoid buying
fertilizers containing much nitrogen.
This greatly lessons the expense for
commercial fertilizers, for nitrogen is
the most expensive element the farm
er has to buy. AS stated above, II
costs from 15 to 20 cents per pound,
while potash and phosphoric acid cost
only 5 to Z cents, or less. Although
grains, grasses, corn, cotton, root crops,
tobacco, ETC., cannot use the nitrogen
of the air, green manurlng enables
them to benefit by it indirectly.
Among the leguminous plants more
commonly used for green manuring
in this country and in Europe, are the
cowpea. alfalfa, clovers, melilotus,
serradella. lupines. vetch and horse
bean. Some of these are described be-
low.
The cowpca is swidely used as a green
manure in the Southern States. Ac-
co:ding to the North Carolina EXper-
iment Station, ''the cowpea being a
tender annual, should always be sown
in the Spring. 1t will give a good
weld sown as late as July l.. but the
earlier it is sown after danger of frost
is passed the heavier the yield. The
pea is usually sown broadcast at the
rate of two bushels per acre and plow-
ed or narrowed in. The cowpea is not
affected by heat, and is less sensitive
to drought than any of the clovers.
Experiment have shown that COW
peas respond readily to applications OF
potash and phosphates, and are able to
derive their nitrogen from the air.
InaSmuch as cowpeas are large gather
ers Of nitrogen and also secure consid-
erable amount Of potash and phosphc'
ric acid through their extensive root
system, which reaches down to the
subsoil, they have high fertilizing
volue. How to get the greatest bene-
fit from the fertiliZing constituents OF
cowpeas is one Of the problems on
which the experiment stations are
working. If the cowpeas are plowed
under in the fall and the ground left
bare until Spring, a large share of the
nitrogen will be leached away. By
sowing wheat or rye after the cowpeaS
are plowed under part of this loss may
be avoided. If the vines are cut and
allowed to lie on the ground during
the winter the nitrogen is rapidly lost.
In an experiment at the station in Al
ALBANIA it was found that vines gather.
ed in October had from LAS to 2.6S
per cent. of nitrogen, while if left on
the ground until January, they had
only about 90 per cent. i. e., they
lost two-thirds of their most fertilizing
ingredient.
Experiments at the Louisiana Sta
ton show that one acre of cowpeas
yielding 3,937.3S pounds of organic
matter, turned under, gave to the sol
"a. 96 pounds of nitrogen, 30 80 pounds
of phOsphoric acid and 110.56 pounds
of potash of which at least S. 81 pounds
of nitrogen, 44S pounds of phosphorle
acid and 1S1 pounds of potash were
furnished by the roots. Analysis made
at the South Carolina Station show
that cowpea hay contains 1.42per cent
of potash, 0.39 per cent. OF phosphorlc
acid and 2.71 per cent. of nitrogen
Cowpea roots contained 1.19 per cent
of potash, OBS per cent. of phosphorlt
acid and 0.94 per cent of nitrogen
the root and stubble two months after
the crop was harvested, contained
O.S3 per cent. of potash, 0.26 per cent
of phosphoric acid and 1.335 per cent
of nitrogen Experiments from else
where showed that the vines from
given area weighed SIX times as much
as the roots and were ST times as val
liable for manure.
Cowpeas and melilotus have giver
good results as green manure on the
canebreak lands of Alabama. Before
the land was sowed in melilotus ane
cowpeas. it was not considered wortf
cultivatlng. The season (1S9O) it pro
duced as fine crop as the best land
of the station highly fcrtilized.
Green manuring on medium rlcl
soils has much less to recommend
than on sandy soils Although TIN
green manuring of Light sandy soil
with lupines is often Of very great ad
vantage in enriching the soil in h'
mus, this advantage does not hol(
good in the case of better soils. There
are other plants better adapted thar
lupines to serve as fallow crops OF
these better soils. Serradella does well
bu: as u rule is not to be recommende(
for a principal crop, and when sowll
with rye, giving coed yield, 1t IS OF
ten checked out as to amount to YER,
little. But where ii can be grown t