The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-04
KEEPING THE SOIL FERTILE.
Sow Legumes, Flow Under, Rotate
 Crops and Cultivate Highly. By Clinton M. Shultz, in Tri-State

Sow Legumes, Flow Under, Rotate
 Crops and Cultivate Highly.
 By Clinton M. Shultz, in Tri-State
 Farmer
 It has taken Uncle James Wilson's department to discover the causes of the inexhaustable fertility of the soil in the valley of the Nile It has all ways been believed that the wonder full powers of the soil in that country was due to some deposit of plant food which was made by the overflow of the river. The agricultural department has discovered that 1t Is due more to the nutrifying powers ia 'egum which resembles clover and alfalfa to some extent.
 Green manuring is one of the oldest means of improving soil fertility but a good many American farmers have not Yet discovered that important fact Green manuring means blowing under green crops raised with special refer ence to their fertilizing value. Land that Is practically barren may be brought to a state of high fertility by this process and 1t is the work of the agricultural colleges to teach this fact to the American farmer. The gospel is being rapidly spread through these agencies but 1t should be taught day in and day out by every agricultural writer and publisher in the country.
 The lesson of the Nile Is to be taught in America. Potash, nitrogen and phos- phorous are the plant foods most nec- essary. Nitrogen is the most expen- sive when bought in commercial form but it can be produced for practical ly nothing by growing clover and oth- CT legumous crops. Legumes have a peculiar way which even the scientists cannot even explain of reaching up in to the air and gathering nitrogen and restoring 1t to the soil through the agency of bacteria. These bacteria cause the production of small nodules on the roots through which nitrogen Is assimilated from the air in contact with the roots. An examination of will show these nodules in large num- bers.
 It is a peculiar fact that few if any noduIes are produced if legumes are manured with nitrogen. The presence of nodules showing that the plant is ob taining nitrogen from the air. Many
 soils are deficient in bacteria neces. sary to grow good crops and the gov ernment has devised a plan by which this bacteria may be supplied to farm CTS whose soil needs 1t. It can be bought from the government in little cakes like the yeast cakes sold al grocery stores. This bacteria dried and compressed in this form is readi- ly dissolved in water and by ths means seed is easily and quickly inoculated with it.
 The discoveries made by agricultur- al scientists in this direction during the past few years show the superiority of leguminous over non-leguminous crops to produce soil fertility. Both enrich the soils with humus and plant food
 but the plant food deposited by tho non-leguminous crop is wholly obtain ed from the soil. while the nitrogen contained in the leguminous is gathered from the ar and costs nothing. In Southern Illinois, Indiana and in some of the eastern states soil which has been worn out" through suc- cessive crops of corn for even thirty years have been brought back to al- most their original fertility in three or four years simply by this system of green maturing. Prof Cyrl G. Hop kins of the Illinois College of Agri-
 culture has produced some remarkabl, results on his own land and that oi
 neighboring farmers in southern Hi nois.