The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-04-01

life needs some ten or eleven ele-
ments of fertility and cannot make
progress If any one of them is missing,
yet we need not be concerned about
only three of them, viz, potash, phos-
phorus and nitrogen. If the potash or
phosphorus is lacking we can buy
these elements cheaply. But in most
of our soils there is said to be
enough of these two minerals to last
many years-some of our experts say
1000 years.
The one ingredient most easily used
up and most expensive to replace is
nitrogen. The vigor of all plant life
is dependent on this one element.
Where nitrogen in the available form
is abundant in the soil all grains,
grasses, shrubs and trees will make a
vigorous growth. Let the supply OF
nitrogen be deficient and all these
forms of vegetable life will grow sick
ly and ultimately die. This use of nj
trogen in vegetable life is a fine illus
trat!on of the old saying poverty in
the midst of plenty" Nitrogen is very
abundant all about us, for almost four
ffths of the air is nitrogen, and yet
plants may die for lack of this very
essential element of fertility with air
a.. around them. The reason for this
is that the nitrogen of the air is not
in the available form. How to get
this free nitrogen, SO abundant in the
atmosphere, changed into the avail
able form is one of the problems that
c%onfronts us. Efforts have been made
to bring about this change by electric
currents, and while successful in a
cnoo11 In0ron tho NOct ic tnn ornot for
practical purposes. 1 might describe
other methods hat are in part sue
c~essful, but will omit these o except
one. Certain plants, it has been dis
covered, can work this .transforma-
ton, or more correctly speaking, the
bacteria that work on the roots of this
class of plants can work this change.
The plants upon whose roots this
change is wrought are called legumes,
or to put it in another form, they bear
their seeds in a pod. l will not at
tempt to nam all the legumes, but
the more common and well-known are
beans, peas, c~lovers, alfalfa, trefoil
and the vetches. Any one of these
pod-bearing vegetables, aided as they
are by different kinds of bacteria, can
take the nitrogen so abundant in the
air and so useless for plant growth,
and work it into nitrates and thus
supply this very valuable element of
fertility. This opens up a great field
of study and experiment.
The Department of Agriculture is
helping in such experiments. The
things to be solved are what legumes
will do this work the best and the
cheapest. In order to be cheap the
legume must reseed itself, for to cOn-
~tinually be buying seed is an expen-
sive business. The Department,
through G. V. Piper, it's agrostologist,
has sent us seeds to be tested. Some
have proven failures, some are under
trial. Hairy vetch has made a tre-
mendous growth, and without a doubt
is a most valuable nitrogen gatherer.
The only question about which we
have had any doubt is will it reseed
itself. Two years ago we sowed rs
pounds of the seed of hairy vetch.
1t came up we'll, and many of the
vines were ten to twelve feet long.
Last spring it made a fine growth and
then died, but left an abundant sup
ply of seed. Now we believe that we
have solved the last point to be set
tied. | will let a letter from my son
tell this part of the story. He writes,
March 16, as follows: 81 was looking
at the hairy vetch, and there is a
heavy stand of it up. The sweet Glow
er seems to be dead, but may be later
in starting. The red clover and ire
foil are starting" 1 am glad to get
this report and | know others will be.
If something unforeseen does not come
up. we shall use the hairy vetch wi