American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1909-03-13
r MONG the important classes of

"a the legumes. The soil Is to the
farmer what stock OF goods
is to a merchant He cannot keep
drawing on 1t forever without putting
something back. Ordinary crops take
plant food from the store in the soil.
This must be replaced In some way.
Legumes, on the other hand, leave the
soil richer rather than poorer.
IL you will examine the roots Of a
clover plant carefully you will notice
numerous little swellings about the
size of pin heads or a little larger.
These are called nodules and are the
home of certain bacteria. These bac-
terra are minute one celled plants. so
small that thousands of them can hang
on the point of pin. We shall study
some of the different classes of bac-
terra in detail later. The ones that
live on the roots of legumes have the
power of changing the nitrogen of the
air into a form in which 1t can be used
by the plants.
When clover stubble is plowed under
the nitrogen which is contained in the
stems and roots is added to the soil
and can be used by the following crop.
Where the soil is badly lacking in
nitrogen and humus it sometimes pays
to plow under the entire crop of clover.
The nitrogen which leguminous
plants add to the soil is by no means
the only benefit which comes from
| their use. Nearly all of them have a
long taproot, which forces its way
down into the soil far below the depth
reached by the roots Of ordinary crops.
Alfalfa roots sometimes go down as
deep as thirty feet or more. Much of
the plant food used by the crop b
brought up from this lower layer Of
soil, and some of it u left in the upper
soil when the roots and stubbls decay
The passage Of the long roots through.
the soil also loosens II, and when they
decay add to the humus supply. Thus
the physical condition Of the soil Is so
improved that the more tender roots
OF such crops as corn can penetrate
1t readily. Because Of these facts
corn. potatoes and almost any other
crop will grow faster and give a con-
siderably larger yield on a field which
has grown legume the year previous.
The principal legumes are alfalfa,
clover, cowpeas and soy beans AL
falfa IL grown most successfully west
OF the Missouri river although by no
means confined entirely to that local
ity. 1t requires some care to get d
good stand Of alfalfa. 1t does best on
a uNft hu ty knt n,,1
should never be sown on a soil where
the water table Is liable to stand for
any length of time within three feet
from the surface. "Wet feet will kill
alfalfa quicker than anything else.
AS a general rule the best time to
SOW alfalfa Is early In the fall. The
ground should be put in the best pos
stble tilth, and If manured before SOW
ing the seed the chances Of success
are considerably increased. The seed
should be sown at the rate of about
fifteen pounds per acre. A light har-
rowing will cover 1t sufficiently. II
the young plants weather the first
winter successfully, the critical time is
past. The advantages of alfalfa over
clover are its higher feeding value and
greater yields. 1t can often be cut
three or four times in season. with
yield of from one to two tons per
cutting. Alfalfa must always be cut
as soon as about one-tenth of the
plants are in bloom; otherwise the
vitality is weakened and the yield of
the succeeding crops reduced
-, . II.
of which medium red is the most wide