Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-10-06
NITROGEN Capturing Plants.

D. II = - a.
Nitrogen for agricultural fertiliza-
aon is worth from fifteen to twenty
cents. pound, wholesale, so that
when it is known that att he Michigan
Agricultural Experiment Station, on
average ground, 5cowpeas yielded 1Ss
pounds of nitrogen per acre and soy
beans 113 pounds, all CAPTURED from
the air, the money value of the fe-
gume to the farmer may be appre-
ciated. mpilations maGe at tie De-
.partment of Agriculture from various
sources show thatscured hay OF the
various tlegumes contains from forty
to fifty pounds of. nitrogen to the ton.
Land which will proc therefore,
two tons to the acre of Gured clover
or other leguminous hay, yields eigh-
ity to 100 pounds Of nitrogen, and the
best way to. realize this S 15 or $40 of
fertilizing wealth is to feed the hay
right on the farm, conver ting it into
manure and at the same I'll ne securing
in addition its full Il forage value.
Barnyard manure contain, from sew
enty-fYe to ninety per cent. of the
total fertilizing substance In the feeds
useds depending upon the handling
of the manure.
Hundreds Of exact tests have been
made by the Department 3of Agricul-
ture and the State Experiment Sta
tons to show thetvalue of1the legume
as a fertilizer. IN addition, to adding
nitrogen toathe soil it supplies humus
and improves the mechanical texture.
These two features are also accom-
plished by ploWing under or feeding
such green crops asrye, 1ouckwheat,
etc, but these crops put nothing back
into the:soil nat they have not taken
out out: Of f9'l It:
Grain Smuts. (.
a, dangerous parasite OF many OF
the cereal plants is the fungus that
produces In the grain or head what is
known as smut. There are several
we'll known kinds Of smut, each of.
which is caused by distinct species
of the fungus. s,iit
The greatest foes from smuts in
this country is from the stinking
smut Of wheat and the. 1ooEe smut of
oats. A considerable, loss is also due
to the loose smut of barley and wheat,
which are more difficult to control
and prevent. They are widely dis
tributed, and thoughFthey occur usu-
ally in small quantities the, damage
in the aggregate is large. They often
are entirely unnoticedi OF account Of
their earliness and the absence of
any conspicuous sign Of them at har-
vest time.
The sinking smut Of wheat trans
forms only the Kernels into smut
balls, which dognot break until the
wheat is threshed, and often remain
intact in the threshed grain. The
loose smuts of barley, on the other
hand, early discharge their spores,
which are blown OFF by the wind as
soon as the smutted head comes out
of the leaf sheath; they infect the
plant in the Towering stage and enter
the embryo inside the oVary before
the latter ripens into seed. An in
fected seed develops smutted plant
the following year. ia
The most successful method thus
far found for preventing these smuts
is hot water treatment the seed.
This treatment is described in Bureau
Of Plant Industry Bulletin l.52, enti-
tied "The Loose SHUTS of Barley and
Wheat" recently issue by tine U. s.
of Agriculture. The bull
letin is a report of recent researches
into the life histories of these smuts
and the determination of methods for
their. prevention, and is intended for
seed growers and scientific farmers.
Witness.