The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-06-12
What Is the Best Course of Treatment
for Cover sick Soil


and 1874 Laws and Gilbert made an
experiment at Rotham>tcd, England.
| They took a field which had not had
any Application of farm-yarl or other
organic manure for several Years 50
| that there WAS rs far rs possible an
absence of any disturbing manurial
| effect in the soil and in 1873 grew on
o he half barley and Oh the other half
| clover The result WAS Il yield OF 3..3
pounds Of nitrogen per acre III the
barley. and l3l.3 pounds OF nitrogen
per acre in the clover. In 1874 the
next year. they grew barley in both
parts Of the same field with the result
of 39.l pounds of nitrogen in the barley
after barley and ga pounds of nitro
gen in the harley after clover. nearly
| double. The harley Weld SOB pounds
more nitrogen after the removal Of
Isl > pounds in clover than after the
removal of only 1913 ,unl~ in barley.
| The fact is that the clover had not only
/ Weld ii 80 mtl;h more nitrogen in the
removal crops. bat it had ais, Lit the
surface soil consid 'rahl Y rlclrr il nitro
gen.
| In view OF these facts it would seem
to b. Of the great st Importance that
we should secure in our rotations a
fair proportion Of lcguminouS crops.
The question is How can we do it:
We know from experience that year
after year we fail to get a stand of clio
yer. and that even if we do get catch
the changes are that from some cause
or other the pant seems to he dcllcat"
and very susceptible to extremes of
heat or moisture and soon dies out.
We consequently l,Sr our time and i'll
| tcrpSt. our labor and cost DIS 'Hd. Fer
haps a study of tn" following account
of some exparim 'nts mad. ut lsotham-
| sted. will throw some light on the sub
icct. The first experiment was with
beans and covered Il period OF 81 years.
1t was found that on land without ma
nurc the Weld of nitrogen per acre WAS
for the first : wears / p 'I:, Is; - for
the next: Q f,r the third and e pounds
for th, last period of : years. In the
last p,ri II thnrn were only ( crops of
beans. they being alternatcd with tal-
| low The results show that while 1.-THE
cereal crops my he s,lcc 'ss.ully grown
for many Years on tie same land, pro
vided only that mineral AMI nitrogen
Gus manureS are literally supplied, ills
| leguminous crop beans. gradually fails
when so grown. The result is. how
ever. not entirely due to deficiency IN
the supply Of constituents within the
soil. but is also in Il considerable de-
cree dependent on the fact that 10y the
continuous growth of the crop with its
special habit and range of roots. the
surface soil acquires close and ulta-
| vorahlc condition. and Il somewhat i'm
| perviouS pan is formed below. The
improved result in the later years with
| the intervention of tallow further illus
trateS the fact that the previous fail
urcS were not wholly due to eNhauS
ton That is. with the intervention
| Of tallow. we have. though not good
agricultural crops. vet really large
Yields of nitrogen compared with those
| obtained in many of the proceeding
years: and very large yields without
any supply hy manure. compared with
those obtained under the same condi-
lions with any OF the nonleguminouS
crops. 1t would appear probable,
therefore, that if Il suitable mechanical
condition of the land could have been
maintained fair crops and large yields
of nitrogen would also have been main
J tanned. Upon the whole then, although
the crop practically failed when it was
attempted to grow it Scar after year
on the same land. it nevertheless accu-
INFLATED in its abovc-ground produce
much more nitrogen over Il given area
| than the crops of the other orders.
\ still greater failure was made when
it was attempted to grow Red clover
year after year on ordinary arabic land.
The details show that although clover
was sown fifteen times III the 30 years,
in only years was any clover crop
obtained. while about one-fitth of the
| produce of the whole series of Years
was yielded in the first year, 1919.
1T is indeed fully recognized" says
| Professor Gilbert, THAT in our own
country clover will not grow under
|
| t.lal pIt,. in Il certain number of wears
which varies according to soil and 9th
or circumstances. but is seldom so few
as four and frequently as many as. or
more than Years. 1t should he
stated that il regard to the above eX-
pertinent that when tn" clover failed.
sometimes cereal crop, wheat or bar
| 4 1,,,
land was left tallow. 1.-The attempt to
grow clover on this arabic land wear
after year by means of such mineral
manurcS rs increased the Insurance of
growth when there is Il fair plant. or
even hv the addition to these of nitro
gcnouS manurcS. entirely failed
The results of the next experiment
are entirely different. and are very in
tcrc>ting. In 1884 after it seemed
clear that the plant would not continue
to grow on the arabic land. clover WAS
Sown in Il garden only f'w hundred
wards distant from the experimental
field. on soil which had been under or
binary kitchen garden cultivation for
probably two or three centuries. 1t
is remarkable that under these condi-
tions, the crop has grown luNuriantly
almost every year since. this year
| 1899 being the fnrticth season of the
continuous growt h. EXceS Sive
amounts of iarnl-vard manure had been
applied to this garden soil. and 1.-THE
percentage of nitrogen in the surface
soil of the garden WAS four or five times
rs high rs in that of the arabic soil
i'll the field; and it would doubtless be
richer in all other man,rial con>titu-
cnt> ais }. Indeed after the growth of
clover for - Years i'll succession, even
tn second inches of depth WAS found
to he very much richer in nitrogen
than the first 9 inches in the field.
The table of this experiment shows
| that seed WAS Sown , times i'll the first
| 20 wears and II times in the last 20
,l,, Il 1.