Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been correctedwithout note. Dialect spellings, contractions and discrepancies havebeen retained. 

CROPS AND METHODS FOR SOIL IMPROVEMENT

THE MACMILLAN COMPANYNEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGODALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO. , LimitedLONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTAMELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO

[Illustration: Alfalfa and Corn in Indiana. ]

CROPS AND METHODSFOR SOIL IMPROVEMENT

By

ALVA AGEE, M. S. 

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSIONACTING DEAN AND DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OFAGRICULTURE AND EXPERIMENT STATION OFTHE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE

_ILLUSTRATED_

New YorkTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY1912

_All rights reserved_

Copyright, 1912, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1912. 

Norwood PressJ. S. Cushing Co. --Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass. , U. S. A. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

 PAGES

INTRODUCTION 1-11 In lieu of preface 1 Natural strength of land 2 Plant constituents 2 Organic matter 4 Drainage 6 Lime 7 Crop-rotation 8 Fertilizers 9 Tillage 10 Control of soil moisture 11

CHAPTER II

THE NEED OF LIME 12-22 The unproductive farm 12 Soil acidity 13 The rational use of lime 14 Where clover is not wanted 16 Determining lime requirement 17 The litmus-paper test 19 A practical test 20 Duration of effect 21

CHAPTER III

APPLYING LIME 23-35 Forms of lime 23 Definitions 24 The kind to apply 26 The fineness of limestone 27 Hydrated lime 27 Stone-lime 28 Ashes 30 Marl 31 Magnesian lime 31 Amount per acre 32 Time of application 34

CHAPTER IV

ORGANIC MATTER 36-45 Office of organic matter 36 The legumes 38 Storing nitrogen 39 The right bacteria 41 Soil inoculation 42 Method of inoculation 43

CHAPTER V

THE CLOVERS 46-58 Red clover 46 Clover and acid soils 47 Methods of seeding 48 Fertility value 49 Taking the crops off the land 51 Physical benefit of the roots 52 Used as a green manure 52 When to turn down 53 Mammoth clover 54 Alsike clover 55 Crimson clover 56

CHAPTER VI

ALFALFA 59-70 Adaptation to eastern needs 59 Fertility and feeding value 60 Climate and soil 61 Free use of lime 62 Inoculation 62 Fertilization 63 A clean seed-bed 64 Varieties 65 Clean seed 65 The seeding 66 Seeding in August 67 Subsequent treatment 68

CHAPTER VII

GRASS SODS 71-79 Value of sods 71 Prejudice against timothy 72 Object of sods 74 Seeding with small grain 75 Seeding in rye 76 Good soil conditions 77

CHAPTER VIII

GRASS SODS (_Continued_) 80-89 Seeding in late summer 80 Crops that may precede 81 Preparation 83 The weed seed 84 Summer grasses 85 Sowing the seed 85 Deep covering 86 Seed-mixtures 88

CHAPTER IX

SODS FOR PASTURES 90-97 Permanent pastures 90 Seed-mixtures 91 Blue-grass 91 Timothy 92 Red-top 92 Orchard grass 93 Other seeds 93 Yields and composition of grasses 93 Suggested mixtures for pastures 94 Renewal of permanent pastures 96 Destroying bushes 96 Close grazing 97

CHAPTER X

THE COWPEA 98-107 A southern legume 98 Characteristics 99 Varieties 99 Fertilizing value 100 Affecting physical condition 101 Planting 101 Inoculation 103 Fertilizers 103 Harvesting with livestock 104 The cowpea for hay 104 As a catch crop 106

CHAPTER XI

OTHER LEGUMES AND CEREAL CATCH CROPS 108-119 The soybean 108 Fertility value 109 Feeding value 109 Varieties 110 The planting 111 Harvesting 112 The Canada pea 113 Vetch 113 Sweet clover 115 Rye as a cover crop 116 When to plow down 117 Buckwheat 118 Oats 119

CHAPTER XII

STABLE MANURE 120-128 Livestock farming 120 The place for cattle 121 Sales off the farm 122 The value of manure 124 The content of manure 125 Relative values 126 Amount of manure 127 Analysis of manure 128

CHAPTER XIII

CARE OF STABLE MANURE 129-138 Common source of losses 129 Caring for liquid manure 130 Use of preservatives 131 Spreading as made 132 The covered yard 133 Harmless fermentation 135 Rotted manure 135 Composts 136 Poultry manure 137

CHAPTER XIV

THE USE OF STABLE MANURE 139-148 Controlling factors 139 Direct use for corn 140 Effect upon moisture 141 Manure on grass 142 Manure on potatoes 143 When to plow down 144 Heavy applications 144 Reënforcement with minerals 145 Durability of manure 147

CHAPTER XV

CROP-ROTATIONS 149-158 The farm scheme 149 Value of rotation 150 Selection of crops 151 An old succession of crops 152 Corn two years 153 The oat crop 154 Two crops of wheat 154 The clover and timothy 154 Two legumes in the rotation 155 Potatoes after corn 156 A three-years' rotation 157 Grain and clover 158 Potatoes and crimson clover 158

CHAPTER XVI

THE NEED OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 159-170 Loss of plant-food 159 Prejudice against commercial fertilizers 160 Are fertilizers stimulants? 161 Soil analysis 162 Physical analysis 163 The use of nitrogen 164 Phosphoric-acid requirements 165 The need of potash 166 Fertilizer tests 167 Variation in soil 168

CHAPTER XVII

COMMERCIAL SOURCES OF PLANT-FOOD 171-187 Acquaintance with terms 171 Nitrate of soda 171 Sulphate of ammonia 178 Dried blood 173 Tankage 174 Fish 175 Animal bone 175 Raw bone 177 Steamed bone 178 Rock-phosphate 178 Acid phosphate 180 Basic slag 183 Muriate of potash 184 Sulphate of potash 185 Kainit 185 Wood-ashes 185 Other fertilizers 186 Salt 186 Coal-ashes 187 Muck 187 Sawdust 187

CHAPTER XVIII

PURCHASING PLANT-FOOD 188-197 Necessity of purchase 188 Fertilizer control 189 Brand names 191 Statement of analysis 191 Valuation of fertilizers 193 A bit of arithmetic 194 High-grade fertilizers 196

CHAPTER XIX

HOME-MIXING OF FERTILIZERS 198-208 The practice of home-mixing 198 Effectiveness of home-mixing 198 Criticisms of home-mixing 199 The filler 202 Ingredients in the mixture 203 Materials that should not be combined 207 Making a good mixture 207 Buying unmixed materials 208

CHAPTER XX

MIXTURES FOR CROPS 209-219 Composition of plant not a guide 209 The multiplication of formulas 209 A few combinations are safest 210 Amount of application 211 Similarity of requirements 213 Maintaining fertility 215 Fertilizer for grass 216 All the nitrogen from clover 218 Method of applying fertilizers 218 An excess of nitrogen 219

CHAPTER XXI

TILLAGE 220-229 Desirable physical condition of the soil 220 The breaking-plow 221 Types of plows 221 Subsoiling 223 Time of plowing 223 Method of plowing 224 The disk harrow 225 Cultivation of plants 227 Controlling root-growth 227 Elimination of competition 228 Length of cultivation 229

CHAPTER XXII

CONTROL OF SOIL MOISTURE 230-236 Value of water in the soil 230 The soil a reservoir 231 The land-roller 232 The plank-drag 233 The mulch 233 Mulches of foreign material 234 Plowing straw down 235 The summer-fallow 235 The modern fallow 236

CHAPTER XXIII

DRAINAGE 237-246 Underdrainage 237 Counting the cost 238 Where returns are largest 239 Material for the drains 239 The outlet 240 Locating main and branches 240 The laterals 241 Size of tile 241 Kind of tile 242 The grade 243 Establishing a grade 243 Cutting the trenches 244 Depth of trenches 245 Connections 245 Permanency desired 246

ILLUSTRATIONS

Alfalfa and Corn in Indiana _Frontispiece_

 Facing Page

A Good Crop for a Poor Soil 4

Red Clover on Limed and Unlimed Land 20

Turning down Organic Matter with a Gang Plow 36

Red Clover on the Farm of P. S. Lewis & Son, Pt. Pleasant, W. Va. 51

Alfalfa on the Ohio State University Farm 61

Curing Alfalfa at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station 68

A Heavy Grass Sod in New York 73

Good Pasture Land in Chester County, Pa. 90

Sheep on a New York Farm 96

The Cowpea Seeded at the Last Cultivation of Corn in the Great Kanawha Valley, W. Va. 106

Texas Calves on an Ohio Farm 121

In the Fertile Miami Valley, Ohio 126

Concrete Stable Floors 131

Corn in the Ohio Valley 140

Penn's Valley, Pennsylvania 151

In the Shenandoah Valley 155

Plat Experiments 167

In the Lebanon Valley, Pennsylvania 189

On the Productive Farm of Dr. W. I. Chamberlain in Northwestern Ohio 210

Deep Tillage 222

Making an Earth Mulch in a New York Orchard 233

Drain Tile 239

The Lure of the Country 246

CROPS AND METHODS FOR SOIL IMPROVEMENT

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In Lieu of Preface. --This book is not a technical treatise and isdesigned only to point out the plain, every-day facts in the naturalscheme of making and keeping soils productive. It is concerned with thecrops, methods, and fertilizers that favor the soil. The viewpoint, allthe time, is that of the practical man who wants cash compensation forthe intelligent care he gives to his land. The farming that leads intodebt, and not in the opposite direction, is poor farming, no matter howwell the soil may prosper under such treatment. The maintenance andincrease of soil fertility go hand in hand with permanent income forthe owner when the science that relates to farming is rightly used. Experiment stations and practical farmers have developed a dependablescience within recent years, and there is no jarring of observed factswhen we get hold of the simple philosophy of it all. 

Natural Strength of Land. --Nearly all profitable farming in thiscountry is based upon the fundamental fact that our lands arestorehouses of fertility, and that this reserve of power is essentialto a successful agriculture. Most soils, no matter how unproductivetheir condition to-day, have natural strength that we take intoaccount, either consciously or unconsciously. Some good farm methodscame into use thousands of years ago. Experience led to theiracceptance. They were adequate only because there was natural strengthin the land. Nature stored plant-food in more or less inert form and, as availability has been gained, plants have grown. Our dependencecontinues. 

Plant Constituents. --There are a few technical terms whose use cannotbe evaded in the few chapters on the use of lime and fertilizers. Aplant will not come to maturity unless it can obtain for its usecombinations of ten chemical elements. Agricultural land and the airprovide all these elements. If they were in abundance in availableforms, there would be no serious soil fertility problem. Some of theirnames may not interest us. Six or seven of these elements are in suchabundance that we do not consider them. A farmer may say that when adairy cow has luxuriant blue-grass in June, and an abundance of purewater, her wants are fully met. He omits mention of the air because itis never lacking in the field. In the same way the land-owner mayforget the necessity of any kind of plant-food in the soil exceptnitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and lime. Probably the lime is veryrarely deficient as a food for plants, and will be considered lateronly as a means of making soils friendly to plant life. 

Nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash are the three substances that maynot be in available form in sufficient amount for a growing crop. Thelack may be in all three, or in any two, or in any one, of these plantconstituents. The natural strength of the soil includes the smallpercentage of these materials that may be available, and the relativelylarge stores that nature has placed in the land in inert form as aprovision against waste. 

The thin covering of the earth that is known as the soil isdisintegrated rock, combined with organic matter. The original rock"weathered, " undergoing physical and chemical change. A long period oftime was required for this work, and for the mixing and shifting fromplace to place that have occurred. Organic matter has been a factor inthe making of soils, and is in high degree a controlling one in theirproduction of food. 

Organic Matter. --Nature is resourceful and is constantly alert torepair the wastes and mistakes of man. We may gain fundamental truthabout soil fertility through observance of her methods in restoringland to a fertile condition. Our best success comes only when we workwith her. When a soil has been robbed by man, and has been abandoned onaccount of inability to produce a profitable crop, the first thingnature does is to produce a growth of weeds, bushes, briers, or aughtelse of which the soil chances to have the seeds. It is nature's effortto restore some organic matter--some humus-making material--to thenearly helpless land. Vegetable matter, rotting on and in the soil, isthe life-giving principle. It unlocks a bit of the great store of inertmineral plant-food during its growth and its decay. It is a solvent. The mulch it provides favors the holding of moisture in the soil, andit promotes friendly bacterial action. The productive power of mostfarming land is proportionate to the amount of organic matter in it. The casual observer, passing by farms, notes the presence or absence ofhumus-making material by the color and structure of the soil, andsafely infers corresponding fertility or poverty. Organic matter is thelife of the soil. 

[Illustration: A good crop for a poor soil. ]

A great percentage of the food consumed by Europe and the Americascontinues to come out of nature's own stores in the soil, organic andinorganic, without any assistance by man except in respect to selectionof seeds, planting, and tillage. The percentage grows less as the storeof original supplies grows less and population increases. Our sciencehas broadened as the need has grown greater. We have relatively fewacres remaining in the United States that do not require intelligenttreatment to insure an adequate supply of available plant-food. Thetotal area that has fallen below the line of profitable productivenessis large. Other areas that never were highly productive must supplementthe lands originally fertile in order that human needs may be met. 

When soils have been robbed through the greed of man, nature ishandicapped in her effort to restore fertility by the absence of thebest seeds. Man's intelligent assistance is a necessity. Successfulfarming involves such assistance of nature that the percentage ofvegetable matter in the soil shall be made high and kept high. Theremust be such selection of plants for this purpose that the organicmatter will be rich in fertility, and at the same time their growthmust fit into a scheme of crop production that can yield profit to thefarmer. Soils produce plants primarily for their own needs. It is aprovision of nature to maintain and increase their productive power. The land's share of its products is that part which is necessary tothis purpose. Skill in farming provides for this demand of the soilwhile permitting the removal of a large amount of animal food withinthe crop-rotation. Lack of skill is responsible for the depletedcondition of soils on a majority of our farms. The land's share of thevegetation it has produced has been taken from it in large measure, andno other organic matter has been given it in return. Its mineral storeis left inert, and the moisture supply is left uncontrolled. Helplessness results. 

Drainage. --Productive soils are in a condition to admit air freely. Thepresence of air in the soil is as necessary to the changes producingavailability of plant-food as it is to the changes essential to life inthe human body. A water-logged soil is a worthless one in respect tothe production of most valuable plants. The well-being of soil andplants requires that the level of dead water be a considerable distancebelow the surface. 

When a soil has recently grown trees, the rotting stump roots leavecavities in the subsoil that permit the removal of some surplus water, and the rotted wood and leaves that give distinctive character to newland are absorbents of such water. As land becomes older, losingnatural means of drainage and the excellent physical condition due tovegetable matter in it, the need of drainage grows greater. Thetramping of horses in the bottoms of furrows made by breaking-plowsoften makes matters worse. The prompt removal of excessive moisture bydrains, and preferably by underdrains, is essential to profitablefarming in the case of most wet lands. The only exception is the landon which may be grown the grasses that thrive fairly well under moistconditions. 

Lime. --The stores of lime in the soil are not stable. The tendency oflime in most of the states between the Missouri River and the Atlanticseaboard is to get out of the soil. There is no evidence that lime isnot in sufficient quantity in most soils to feed crops adequately, butwithin recent years we have learned that vast areas do not containenough lime in available form to keep the soil from becoming acid. Somesoils never were rich in lime, and these are the first to show evidenceof acidity. In our limestone areas, however, acid soil conditions aredeveloping year by year, limiting the growth of clover and affectingthe yields of other crops. 

The situation is a serious one just in so far as men refuse torecognize the facts as they exist, and permit the limiting of cropyields, and consequently of incomes, through the presence of harmfulacids. The natural corrective is lime, which combines with the acid andleaves the soil friendly to all plant life and especially to theclovers and other legumes that are necessary to profitable farming. Nature is largely dependent upon man's assistance in the correction ofsoil acidity. 

Crop-rotation. --A good crop-rotation favors high productiveness. Onekind of crop paves the way nicely for some other one. The land can beoccupied by living plants without any long intermissions. Organicmatter can be supplied without the use of an undue portion of the time. The stores of plant-food throughout all the soil are more surelyreached by a variety of plants, differing in their habits ofroot-growth. The injury from disease and insects is kept down to aminimum. There is better distribution of the labor required by thefarm, and neglect of crops at critical times is escaped. Themaintenance of fertility is dependent much upon the use of a legumethat will furnish nitrogen from the air. A permanently successfulagriculture in our country must be based upon the use of legumes, andcrop-rotations would be demanded for this reason alone if none otherexisted. 

Fertilizers. --When a crop is fed to livestock, and all the manure isreturned to the land that produced the crop without loss by leaching orfermentation, there is a return to the land of four fifths of thefertility, and a good form of organic matter is supplied. A portion ofthe crops cannot be fed upon the farm, or otherwise the human racewould have only animal products for food. The welfare of the peopledemands that a vast amount of the soil's crops be sold from the farmsproducing them. This brings about a dependence upon the natural storesof plant-food in the soil, which become available slowly, and uponcommercial fertilizers. 

There has been a disposition on the part of many farmers to regardfertilizers only as stimulants, due to the irrational use of certainmaterials, but a good commercial fertilizer is a carrier of some or allof the necessary elements that we find in stable manures. They maycarry nitrogen, phosphoric acid, or potash, --any one or two or thethree, --and the three are the constituents that usually are lacking inavailable forms in our soils. Examples of the best modern skill infarming may be found in the rational selection and use of commercialfertilizers. 

Tillage. --Man's ability to assist nature in the work of productionfinds a notable illustration in the matter of tillage. Its purpose isto provide right physical condition of the soil for the particularclass of plants that should be produced, while destroying thecompetition of other plants that are for the time only weeds. Mostsoils become too compact when left unstirred. The air cannot enterfreely, plant-roots cannot extend in every direction for food, thewater from rains cannot enter easily, there is escape of the moisturein the ground, and weathering of the soil proceeds too slowly. Themethods used in plowing, harrowing, and later cultivations fix theproductive power of a soil for the season in large measure. 

Control of Soil Moisture. --The water in the soil is a considerationthat has priority over plant-food in the case of agricultural land. Thenatural strength of the soil is sufficient to give some return to thefarmer in crops if the moisture content is right throughout the season. The plant cannot feed unless water is present; the process of growthceases in the absence of moisture. One purpose of plowing is toseparate the particles of soil to a good depth so that water-holdingcapacity may be increased. When the soil is compact, it will absorb andhold only a very limited amount of moisture. We harrow deeply tocomplete the work of the plow, and the roller is used to destroy allcavities of undue size that would admit air too freely and thus rob theland of its water. Later cultivations may be given to continue theeffect of the plow in preventing the soil from becoming too compact, but usually should be required only to make a loose mulch that willhold moisture in the ground, and to destroy the weeds that wouldcompete with the planted crop for water, food, and sunshine. 

CHAPTER II

THE NEED OF LIME

The Unproductive Farm. --When a soil expert visits an unproductive farmto determine its needs, he gives his chief attention to four possiblefactors in his problem: lack of drainage, of lime, of organic matter, and of available plant-food. His first concern regards drainage. If thewater from rains is held in the surface by an impervious stratumbeneath, it is idle to spend money in other amendments until thedifficulty respecting drainage has been overcome. A water-logged soilis helpless. It cannot provide available plant-food, air, and warmth toplants. Under-drainage is urgently demanded when the level of deadwater in the soil is near the surface. The area needing drainage islarger than most land-owners believe, and it increases as soils becomeolder. On the other hand, the requirements of lime, organic matter, andavailable plant-food are so nearly universal, in the case ofunproductive land in the eastern half of the United States, that theyare here given prior consideration, and drainage is discussed inanother place when methods of controlling soil moisture are described. The production of organic matter is so important to depleted soils, andis so dependent upon the absence of soil acidity, that the right use oflime on land claims our first interest. 

Soil Acidity. --Lime performs various offices in the soil, but farmersshould be concerned chiefly about only one, and that is the destructionof acids and poisons that make the soil unfriendly to most forms ofplant life, including the clovers, alfalfa, and other legumes. Lime wasput into all soils by nature. Large areas were originally very rich inlime, while other areas of the eastern half of the United States neverwere well supplied. Within the last ten years it has been definitelydetermined that a large part of this vast territory has an actual limedeficiency, as measured by its inability to remain alkaline or "sweet. "Many of the noted limestone valleys show marked soil acidity. There hasbeen exhaustion of the lime that was in a state available for unionwith the acids that constantly form in various ways. The area of soilthus deficient grows greater year by year, and it can be only a matterof time when nearly all of the eastern half of this country will haveproduction limited by this deficiency unless applications of lime insome form are made. When owners of soil that remains rich in lime donot accept this statement, no harm results, as their land does not needlime. On the other hand are tens of thousands of land-owners who do notrecognize the need of lime that now exists in their soils, and suffer aloss of income which they would attribute to other causes. 

Irrational Use of Lime. --Some refusal to accept the facts respectingsoil acidity and its means of correction is due to a prejudice that wascreated by an unwise use of lime in the past. Owners of stiff limestonesoils learned in an early day that a heavy application of caustic limewould increase crop production. It caused such flocculation of the fineparticles in their stiff soils that physical condition was improved, and it made the organic matter in the soil quickly available asplant-food. The immediate result was greater crop-producing power inthe soil, and dependence upon lime as a fertilizer resulted. Thevegetable matter was used up, some of the more available mineralplant-food was changed into soluble forms, and in the course of yearspartial soil exhaustion resulted. The heavy applications of lime, unattended by additions of organic matter in the form of clover sodsand stable manure, produced a natural result, but one that was notanticipated by the farmers. The prejudice against the use of lime onland was based on the effects of this irrational practice. 

There are land-owners who are not concerned with present-day knowledgeregarding soil acidity because they cannot believe that it has anybearing upon the state of their soils. They know that clover sods wereeasily produced on their land within their remembrance, and that theirsoils are of limestone origin. As the clovers demand lime, these twofacts appear to them final. The failures of the clovers in the last tenor twenty years they incline to attribute to adverse seasons, poorseed, or the prevalence of weed pests. They do not realize that muchland passes out of the alkaline class into the acid one every year. Theloss of lime is continuous. Exhaustion of the supply capable ofcombining with the harmful acids finally results, and with theaccumulation of acid comes partial clover failure, a deficiency in richorganic matter, a limiting of all crop yields, and an inability toremain in a state of profitable production. 

Lime deficiency and its resulting ills would not exist as generally asis now the case if the application of lime to land were not expensiveand disagreeable. These are deterrent features of wide influence. Therecontinues hope that the clover will grow successfully, as occasionallyoccurs in a favorable season, despite the presence of some acid. Thelimitation of yields of other staple crops is not attributed to thelack of lime, and the proper soil amendment is not given to the land. 

Where Clover is not Wanted. --The ability to grow heavy red clover is apractical assurance that the soil's content of lime is sufficientlyhigh. When clover fails on account of a lime deficiency, the work ofapplying lime may not be escaped by a shift in the farm scheme thatpermits the elimination of clover. The clover failure is an index of acondition that limits the yields of all staple crops. The lack of limechecks the activity of bacteria whose office it is to prepareplant-food for use. The stable manure or sods decompose less readilyand give smaller results. Soil poisons accumulate. Mineral plant-foodin the soils becomes available more slowly. Physical condition growsworse. 

The limitations of the value of manure and commercial fertilizersapplied to land that has a lime deficiency have illustration in anexperiment reported by the Cornell station:

The soil was once a fertile loam that had become very poor. A part wasgiven an application of lime, and similar land at its side was leftunlimed. The land without lime and fertilizer of any kind made a yieldof 1824 pounds of clover hay per acre. A complete fertilizer on theunlimed land made the yield 2235 pounds, and 15 tons of manure on theunlimed land made the yield 2091 pounds. 

Where lime had been applied, the unfertilized land yielded 3852 poundsper acre, the fertilized, 4085 pounds, and the manured, 4976 pounds. The manure and fertilizer were nearly inactive in the acid soil. Thelime enabled the plants to obtain benefit from the plant-food. 

Determining Lime Requirement. --It is wasteful to apply lime on landthat does not need it. As has been said, the man who can grow heavyclover sods has assurance that the lime content of his soil issatisfactory. This is a test that has as much practical value as theanalysis of a skillful chemist. The owner of such land may dismiss thematter of liming from his attention so far as acidity is concerned, though it is a reasonable expectation that a deficiency will appear atsome time in the future. Experience is the basis of such a forecast. Just as coal was stored for the benefit of human beings, so was limeplaced in store as a supply for soils when their unstable content wouldbe gone. 

The only ones that need be concerned with the question of lime forsoils are those who cannot secure good growths of the clovers and otherlegumes. Putting aside past experience, they should learn whether theirsoils are now acid. Practical farmers may judge by the character of thevegetation and not fail to be right nine times out of ten. Where landhas drainage, and a fairly good amount of available fertility, asevidenced by growths of grass, a failure of red clover leadsimmediately to a strong suspicion that lime is lacking. If alsikeclover grows more readily than the red clover, the probability ofacidity grows stronger because the alsike can thrive under more acidsoil conditions than can the red. Acid soils favor red-top grass ratherthan timothy. Sorrel is a weed that thrives in both alkaline and acidsoils, and its presence would not be an index if it could standcompetition with clover in an alkaline soil. The clover can crowd itout if the ground is not too badly infested with seed, and even thenthe sorrel must finally give way. Where sorrel and plantain cover theground that has been seeded to clover and grass, the evidence is strongthat the soil conditions are unfriendly to the better plants on accountof a lime deficiency. The experienced farmer who notes the inclinationof his soil to favor alsike clover, red-top, sorrel, and plantainshould infer that lime is lacking. If doubt continues, he should make atest. 

The Litmus-paper Test. --A test of fair reliability may be made withlitmus paper. A package of blue litmus paper can be bought for a fewcents at any drug store. This paper will turn pink when brought intocontact with an acid, and will return to a blue if placed inlime-water. A drop of vinegar on a sheet of the paper will bring animmediate change to pink. If the pink sheet be placed in lime-water, the effect of the lime in correcting the acidity will be evidenced bythe return in color to blue. 

To test the soil, a sample of it may be put into a basin and moistenedwith rain-water. Several sheets of the blue litmus paper should beburied in the mud, care being used that the hands are clean and dry. When one sheet is removed within a few seconds and rinsed withrain-water, if any pink shows, there is free acid present. Anothersheet should be taken out in five minutes. The rapidity with which thecolor changes, and the intensity of the color, are indicative of thedegree of acidity, and aid the judgment in determining how much limeshould be used. If a sheet of the paper retains its blue color in thesoil for twenty minutes, there probably is no lime deficiency. The testshould be made with samples of soil from various parts of the field, and they should be taken beneath the surface. One just criticism ofthis test is that while no acidity may be shown, the lime content maybe too low for safety. 

[Illustration: Red clover on limed and unlimed land. ]

A Practical Test. --The importance of alkalinity in soils is so great, and the prevalence of acidity has such wide-spread influence to-day, limiting the value of the clovers on a majority of our farms, that asimple and more convincing test is suggested here. Every owner of landthat is not satisfactorily productive may learn the state of his soilrespecting lime requirement at small expense. When a field is beingprepared for seeding to the grain crop with which clover will be sown, a plat containing four square rods should be measured off, andpreferably this should be away from the border to insure even soilconditions. A bushel of lump-lime, weighing eighty pounds, should beslaked and evenly distributed over the surface of the plat of ground. It can be broadcasted by hand if a spreader is not available, and mixedwith the surface soil while in a powdered state. The plat of groundshould be left as firm as the remainder of the field, so that allconditions may be even for the test. The appearance of the clover thefollowing year will determine whether lime was needed or not. There isno reason why any one should remain in doubt regarding the limerequirement of his fields. If income is limited by such a cause, thefact should be known as soon as possible. 

Duration of Effect. --Soil acidity is not permanently corrected by alime application. The original supply failed to prove lasting, and therelatively small amount given the land in an application will becomeexhausted. The duration depends upon the degree of acidity, the natureof the soil and its crops, and the size of the application. Experimentsat the Pennsylvania experiment station have shown that an applicationonly in sufficient amount to correct the existing acidity at the timeof application will not maintain an alkaline condition in the soil, even for a few months. There must be some excess at hand to unite withacids as formed later in the crop-rotation, or limings must be given atshort intervals of time to maintain alkaline conditions. 

Experience causes us to assume that enough lime should be applied atone time to meet all requirements for a single crop-rotation of four, five, or six years, and, wherever lime is cheap, the unpleasantcharacter of the labor inclines one to make the application insufficient amount to last through two such rotations. It is areasonable assumption, however, that more waste results from theheavier applications at long intervals than from light applications atshort intervals. In any event need will return, and soil acidity willagain limit income if applications do not continue to be made. 

CHAPTER III

APPLYING LIME

Forms of Lime. --There is unnecessary confusion in the mind of thepublic regarding the forms of lime that should be used. If amountsgreatly in excess of needs were being applied, the form would be amatter of concern. There would arise the question of soil injury thatmight result from the use of the lime in caustic form. Again, ifpulverized limestone were used, a very heavy application would bring upthe question of coarseness in order that waste by leaching might beescaped. Most farms needing lime do not have cheap supplies, and theconsideration is to secure soil alkalinity at a cost that will not beexcessive. Freight rates and the cost of hauling to the fields, addedto first cost of the lime, limit applications on most farms to thenecessities of a single crop-rotation which includes clover, or, at themost, to two crop-rotations. Under these circumstances it is best tolet cost of correction of soil acidity determine the form of lime to beused. 

The material that will render the soil friendly to clover for the leastmoney is the right one to select. We need to be concerned only with therelative efficiencies of the various forms of lime, as measured interms of money. That which will most cheaply restore heavy clovergrowths to the land is the form of lime to be desired. The contentionsof salesmen may well be disregarded as they produce confusion and delaya work that is important to the farmer. 

Definitions. --The use of the various forms of lime will become general, and the terms employed to designate them should be understood. Theyvary in their content of acid-correcting material, and their correctnames should be used with accuracy. 

_Stone-lime_, often called lump-lime or unslaked lime, or calcium oxideor CaO, is a form widely known, and may be taken as a standard. It isthe ordinary lime of commerce, and is obtained by the burning oflimestone. One hundred pounds of pure limestone will produce 56 poundsof stone-lime (CaO). 

_Pulverized lime_, often called ground lime, is stone-lime after beingpulverized to permit even distribution. When it is fully exposed to theair or moisture, it slakes and doubles in volume. 

_Hydrated lime_, often called slaked lime, is a combination ofstone-lime and water. The water causes an increase in weight of 32 percent, 56 pounds of stone-lime becoming 74 pounds of the hydrate. 

_Pulverized limestone_, often called carbonate of lime, is the unburnedlimestone made fine so that good distribution may be possible. 

_Air-slaked lime_, often called carbonate of lime, is stone-lime orhydrated lime combined with carbonic acid from the air, and therebyincreased in weight. Fifty-six pounds of stone-lime, or 74 pounds ofhydrated lime, become 100 pounds of air-slaked lime. 

_Agricultural lime_, or land-lime, may embrace anything that themanufacturer of lime chooses to market. It may be reasonably pureunslaked lime, or it may have less value than a finely pulverized purelimestone. There is a custom of grinding the core, or partially burnedlimestone of the kiln, together with impurities removed from builders'lime, and with this may be put some air-slaked lime. Some manufacturersmarket under this name a lime of excellent value. There is no standard, and one should not pay more than a finely pulverized pure limestonewould cost unless he knows that the content of fresh burned lime ishigh. 

The element with which we are concerned in any of these forms of limeis calcium. It is the base whose union with the acids destroys thelatter. It should be obvious that the addition of water to stone-lime, which adds weight and causes 56 pounds of the stone-lime to become 74pounds of hydrated lime, adds no calcium. Likewise the change to theair-slaked condition adds no calcium, but again adds weight. 

The Kind to Apply. --If a soil contains free acid, the amount of calciumneeded is definite. The form of lime that can supply the need in thatparticular field at least expenditure of money and trouble is the oneto be selected. A ton of stone-lime, or pulverized lime, can correct asmuch acid as 2640 pounds of hydrated lime or 3570 pounds of pulverizedlimestone, if all the original material was pure. 

In other words, if the value of a given weight of pulverized limestoneis placed at 100, the value of the same weight of hydrated lime wouldbe 132 and the value of stone-lime would be 180, when each was finelydivided and distributed throughout the surface soil. 

The Fineness of Limestone. --Experiments at the Pennsylvania experimentstation have shown that limestone has practically immediateavailability in an acid soil if all of it has ability to pass through ascreen having 60 meshes to the linear inch. Much of the limestonemeeting this test doubtless is fine enough to pass through an 100-meshscreen. The requirement that a 60-mesh screen be used in testing is asatisfactory one to the buyer that wants immediate results in thefield. A coarser product must be used in larger amount per acre, asonly the fine particles are available at once, and the object of theapplication is to correct all the acidity. Where a coarse product, containing some fine particles, can be used at such a low price per tonthat the application may consist of a large number of tons per acre, the practice may be commended, but the essential thing is immediateresults, and only finely divided limestone can give them. Any longrailway or wagon haul makes a heavy application of coarsely pulverizedlimestone inexpedient. 

Hydrated Lime. --Many salesmen are too enthusiastic in their claims forhydrated lime. It has advantages over pulverized limestone, stone-lime, and pulverized lime, and there are disadvantages. The buyer ofpulverized limestone pays for the haul on 100 pounds of material to getthe 56 pounds of lime carried, while 74 pounds of the hydrate furnishthe same amount of actual lime, if all of it is a hydrate. While thehydrate contains less strength than the stone-lime, it is in goodphysical condition for distribution, and the stone-lime must be slaked. The buyer will bear in mind, moreover, that much of the stone-limewhich is burned on farms comes from limestone that is not very pure, and all impurity is waste. Most manufacturers of the hydrate locatetheir costly plants where the limestone is relatively pure. Prudentbusiness reasons dictate such a course. A careful manufacturer ofhydrated lime takes out imperfectly burned and other faulty materialwith screens. These advantages have some weight, but the fact remainsthat a ton of pure stone-lime has considerably more acid-correctingpower than a ton of the hydrate. 

Stone-lime. --Stone or lump-lime is composed of the 56 per cent of apure limestone that gives value to the limestone. Forty-four pounds ofwaste material were driven off in the burning. Where railway or wagonhauls are costly, the purchase of stone-lime is indicated. There isadvantage in getting this lime in pulverized form, provided it can bedistributed in the soil before moisture from the air induces slakingand consequent bursting of the packages. The necessity of rapidhandling has limited the popularity of pulverized unslaked lime, but noother form is equal to it when it is wholly unslaked. Somemanufacturers grind the partially burned limestone often found inkilns, and furnish goods little better than pulverized limestone. 

The slaking of stone-lime should be done in a large pile, and thedistribution may be made with lime-spreaders. When the application isfairly heavy, a manure-spreader does satisfactory work. A goodlime-spreader is to be desired, but care must be used to remove anystones or similar impurities in the slaked lime when filling it. Suchspreaders are on the market. 

The practice of slaking lime in small piles in the field is wasteful. It is difficult to reduce all the lime to a fine powder and to makeeven distribution over the surface. Any excess of water from rainspuddles some of the lime, destroying practically all its immediateeffectiveness. Distribution with shovels is necessarily imperfect. 

The labor of slaking stone-lime and the difficulty in distribution aretwo factors to be considered when selecting the form of lime to beused. They may counter-balance in some instances the higher percentageof actual lime when comparison is made with the hydrate. That is aquestion to be decided by the buyer. He must be willing to use methodsthat will secure even distribution. The prevailing practice, however, of marketing the hydrate at a much higher price per ton than thestone-lime should prevent sales to farmers. The price paid for ease ofhandling is too great when purchase of the hydrate is made under suchcircumstances. It is better to do the slaking at home, furnishing theadded weight of 32 per cent in water on the farm. 

Ashes. --Hard-wood ashes have ceased to have much importance as a sourceof lime for land, but their use is held in high esteem even by thosewho regard fertilizers as mere stimulants and doubt the efficiency oflime. Hard-wood ashes, unleached, clean and dry, are valuable for acidsoils. Their content of potash, which is variable and averages about 4per cent, formerly was given all the credit for the soil improvementand increased clover growth that resulted from their use. Tests withother carriers of potash have shown that the potash probably producedonly a small part of the effect noted, and the benefit is attributableto the lime in the ashes which exists in an effective form. The contentof lime is variable, and largely so on account of the percentage ofmoisture and dirt that may be found in most ashes, and when no analysishas been made, the estimate of value should not be based on more than30 to 40 per cent of carbonate of lime. The price of ashes runs sohigh, as a result of prejudice in favor of this well-known kind of soilamendment, that it rarely is advisable to buy them. Pure lime is acheaper means of correcting the soil acidity, and the sulphate or themuriate of potash is by far the cheaper source of potash. 

Marl. --Marls vary widely in composition. When quite pure, they contain90 or more per cent of carbonate of lime, and have a value per tonabout equal to finely pulverized limestone, and near half the value perton of stone-lime. There are marls that are carriers of potash andphosphoric acid, and are to be valued accordingly as fertilizers. 

Magnesian Lime. --Some limestone is a nearly pure calcium compound, andyields a pure lime, while much limestone contains a high percentage ofmagnesia. The latter is preferred by manufacturers who furnishpulverized lime because it does not slake readily, and is less liableto burst the packages before required for use. A pound of magnesianlime will correct a little more acid than a pound of pure lime, and nopreference may be shown the latter on that score. There are soils inwhich the proportion of magnesia to pure lime is too great for bestresults with some plants, as plant biologists assure us, but there istoo little definite information respecting these soils to justify onein paying more for a high calcium lime than for a magnesian lime whenit is to be used on acid land. The day may come when more will beknown, but the rational selection to-day is the material that will dothe required work in the soil for the least money. 

Amount per Acre. --The amount of lime that should be applied to an acreof land depends upon the degree of its acidity, the nature of the soil, the cheapness of the lime, and the character of the crops to be grown. The actual requirement for the moment could be determined by a chemicaltest, but the application should carry to the soil an amount in excessof immediate requirement. When clover has ceased to grow within recentyears, it is a fair inference that the deficiency, if it exists, hasnot become great. When sorrel and plantain have gained a strongfoothold, indicating that good grasses are unable to replace clover, the degree of acidity probably is higher. The results of tests atexperiment stations and on farms show that 1000 pounds of pulverizedlime, or one ton of pulverized limestone, evenly distributed throughoutthe surface soil, can restore clover to the crop-rotation on much land. This is an application so light that a state of alkalinity cannot belong retained. It is better to apply the equivalent of a ton ofstone-lime in the case of all heavy soils that have shown any acidity. Where lime is low in price, 3000 pounds of stone-lime, or itsequivalent in any other form of lime, is advised, the belief being thatsuch an application will maintain good soil conditions through twocrop-rotations, or eight to ten years. This amount can be applied quitesuccessfully with a manure-spreader, and meets the convenience of theman who burns his own lime and does not want to screen it for use in alime-spreader. The man who must buy his lime, and pay a freight chargeupon it, will find it better to use only a ton per acre. This adviceapplies to heavy soils. A light, sandy soil should be given only asmall application, as otherwise physical condition may be injured. Thelime, used in excess, has an undue binding effect upon the sand. Anapplication of 1000 pounds of stone-lime per acre can be made withsafety. 

Time of Application. --The use of lime on land should be associated inthe land-owner's thoughts with the growing of clover. It does help soilconditions so that more grain can be produced, but if it is permittedto displace the use of fertilizers, and does not lead to the growth oforganic matter, harm will result in the end. Lime should be applied tosecure clover, and therefore it should be mixed with the soil beforethe clover is sown. The application may be made when fitting theseed-bed for the grain with which clover usually is seeded, or may begiven a year or two years previous to that time. The important point isto have the soil friendly to plant life when a sod is to be made. 

Lime should be put on ground always after the plowing, and it should bewell mixed with the surface soil. Even distribution is just asimportant in its case as in that of fertilizers. A good practice is tobreak a sod for corn, harrowing and rolling once, and then to put onthe lime. A cut-away or disk harrow should be used to mix the lime withthe soil before any moisture causes it to cake. When large crumbs form, immediate efficiency is lost. 

If the application is light, and may barely be equal to immediatedemand, it is better practice to put on the lime when preparing theseed-bed for the wheat or other small grain in which the clover will besown. It should never be mixed with the fertilizer nor applied with theseed. The lime should go into the soil a few days, or more, prior tothe seeding. The soil having been put into a condition favorable toplant life, the seeding and the use of commercial fertilizers shouldproceed as usual. 

Lime should never be mixed with manure in the open air, but it is goodpractice to plow manure down, and then to use lime as indicated above, if needed. If manure and lime must be used after the land has beenplowed, the lime should be disked well into the soil before the manureis applied, and it is advisable that the interval between the twoapplications be made as long as possible. 

CHAPTER IV

ORGANIC MATTER

Office of Organic Matter. --The restoration of an impoverished soil to aproductive state usually is a simple matter so far as method isconcerned. It may be a difficult problem for the individual owner onaccount of expense or time involved, but he has only a few factors inhis problem. Assuming that there is good drainage, and that the limerequirement has been met, the most important consideration is organicmatter. A profitable agriculture is dependent upon a high percentage ofhumus in the soil. Average yields of crops are low in this countrychiefly because the humus-content has been greatly reduced by badfarming methods. 

[Illustration: Turning down organic matter with a gang plow. ]

Nature uses organic matter in the following ways:

 1. To give good physical condition to the soil. The practical farmer appreciates the importance of this quality in a soil. Clayey soils are composed of fine particles that adhere to each other. They are compact, excluding air and failing to absorb the water that should be held in them. The excess of water finally is lost by evaporation, and the sticky mass becomes dry and hard. The incorporation of organic matter with clay or silt changes the character of such land, breaking up the mass, and giving it the porous condition so essential to productiveness. Improved physical condition is likewise given to a sandy soil, the humus binding the particles together. 

 2. To make the soil retentive of moisture. Yields of crops are limited more by lack of a constant and adequate supply of moisture throughout the growing season than by any other one factor. Decayed organic matter has great capacity for holding moisture, and in some measure should supply the water needed during periods of light rainfall. 

 3. To serve, directly and indirectly, as a solvent of the inert plant-food in the soil that is known as the "natural strength" of the land. Its acids do this work directly, and by its presence it makes possible the work of the friendly bacteria that are man's chief allies in maintaining soil fertility. 

 4. To furnish plant-food directly to growing plants. Even when it has been produced from the soil supplies alone, there is great gain because the growing crop must have immediately available supplies. Many of the plants used in providing humus for the soil are better foragers for fertility than other plants that follow, sending their roots deeper into the subsoil or using more inert forms of fertility. 

The Legumes. --Any plant that grows and rots in the soil adds to theproductive power of the land if lime is present, but plants differ invalue as makers of humus. There are only ten essential constituents ofplant-food, and the soil contains only four that concern us because theothers are always present in abundance. If lime has been applied togive to the soil a condition friendly to plant life, we are concernedwith three constituents only, viz. Nitrogen, phosphoric acid, andpotash. The last two are minerals and cannot come from the air. Theymust be drawn from original stores in the soil or be obtained fromoutside sources in the form of fertilizers. The nitrogen is in the airin abundance, but plants cannot draw directly from this store in anyappreciable amount. The soil supply is usually light because nitrogenis unstable in character and has escaped from all agricultural land invast amounts during past ages. 

Profitable farming is based upon the great fact that we have one classof plants which can use bacteria to work over the nitrogen of the airinto a form available for their use, and the store of nitrogen thusgained can be added to the soil's supply for future crops. Theseplants, known as legumes, embrace the clovers, alfalfa, the vetches, peas, beans, and many others of less value. They provide not only theorganic matter so much needed by all thin soils, but at the same timethey are the means of adding to the soil large amounts of the oneelement of plant-food that is most costly, most unstable, and mostdeficient in poor soils. Their ability to secure nitrogen for their owngrowth in poor land also is a prime consideration in their selectionfor soil improvement, assuring a supply of organic matter whereotherwise partial failure would occur. 

Storing Nitrogen. --Man needs protection from his own greed, andnature's checks are his salvation. An illustration is afforded in thecase of legumes grown for the maintenance of soil fertility. Theclovers and some other legumes are seeded primarily for the benefit ofthe soil. The need of organic matter is recognized, and a cheap supplyof nitrogen is wanted for other crops in the rotation. The purpose ofthe seeding is praiseworthy, but if all of the product were availablefor use off the land, observation teaches that the soil producing thecrop probably would fare badly. The crops grown prior to the seasondevoted to legumes proclaim their need of better soil conditions, moreorganic matter, and more nitrogen, but the legumes, appropriatingnitrogen for themselves, give to the land a more prosperous appearance, and the disposition to harvest everything that is in sight prevails. 

There is the excusing intention to return to the soil the residue fromfeeding, which should be nearly as valuable as the original material, while the fact usually is that faulty handling of the manure results inheavy loss, and the distribution of the remainder is imperfect. Thereis no happier provision of nature for the guarding of the soil'sinterests than the unavailability for man's direct use of aconsiderable part of most plants, thus saving to the land a portion ofits share of its products. The humus obtained from plant-roots, stubble, and fallen leaves forms a large percentage of all the humusobtained by land whose fertility is not well guarded by owners. Thisproportion is large in some legumes, amounting to 30 or 40 per cent inthe case of red and mammoth clover. 

The Right Bacteria. --The word "bacteria" has had a grudging admissionto the vocabulary of practical farmers, and the reason is easilystated. The knowledge of bacteria and their work is recent and limited. They are many in kind, and scientists are only in the midst of theirdiscoveries. The practical farmer does well to let bacteriologistsmonopolize interest in the whole subject except in so far as he canprovide some conditions that have been demonstrated to be profitable. The work of bacteria must come more and more into consideration by thefarmer because nature uses them to produce a vast amount of the changethat is going on around us. 

In consideration of the value of legumes we must take into account thebacteria which they have associated with them, and through which theyobtain the atmospheric nitrogen. This would be a negligible matter, itmay be, if all legumes made use of the same kind of bacteria. It istrue that the bacteria must have favorable soil conditions, but theyare the same favorable conditions that our plants require. A fact ofimportance to the farmer is that the bacteria which thrive on the rootsof some legumes will not serve other legumes. This is a reason for manyfailures of alfalfa, crimson clover, the soybean, the cowpea, hairyvetch, and other legumes new to the region. 

Soil Inoculation. --The belief that the right kind of bacteria may beabsent from the soil when a new legume is seeded, and that they shouldbe supplied directly to the soil, has failed in ready acceptancebecause examples of success without such inoculation are not uncommon. Even if the explanation of such success is not easy, the fact remainsthat legumes new to a region usually fail to find and develop a supplyof bacteria adequate for a full yield, and some of these legumes, ofwhich alfalfa is an example, make a nearly total failure when seededfor the first time without soil inoculation. Experiment stations andthousands of practical farmers have learned by field tests that thedifference between success and failure under otherwise similarconditions often has been due to the introduction of the right bacteriainto the soil before the seeding was made. 

Explanations offered for any phenomenon may later become embarrassingin the light of new knowledge. We do not really need to know why anoccasional soil is supplied with the bacteria of a legume new to it. Wehave learned that the bacteria of sweet clover serve alfalfa, and thisaccounts for the inoculation of some regions in the east. We believethat some bacteria are carried in the dust on the seed, and producepartial inoculation. Other causes are more obscure. The cowpea trailson the ground, and carries its bacteria more successfully than thesoybean. Most legumes require a soil artificially inoculated whenbrought into a new region, failing otherwise in some degree to makefull growth. 

Method of Inoculation. --The bacteria can be transferred to a new fieldby spreading soil taken from a field that has been growing the legumesuccessfully. The surface soil is removed to a depth of three inches, and the next layer of soil is taken, as it contains the highestpercentage of bacteria. They develop in the nodules found on thefeeding roots of the plants. The soil is pulverized and applied at therate of 200 pounds per acre broadcast. If the inoculated soil is nearat hand and inexpensive, 500 pounds should be used in order that thechance of quick inoculation may be increased. The soil should be spreadwhen the sun's rays are not hot, and covered at once with a harrow, asdrying injures vitality. The soil may be broadcasted by hand or appliedwith a fertilizer distributer. The work may be done at any time whilepreparing the seed-bed. The bacteria will quickly begin to develop onthe roots of the young plants, and nodules may be seen in someinstances before the plants are four weeks old. 

Pure cultures may be used for inoculation. Some commercial concernsmade failures and brought the use of pure cultures into disrepute a fewyears ago, but methods now are more nearly perfect, and it is possibleto buy the cultures of all the legumes and to use them with success. 

Prices continue too high to make the pure cultures attractive to thosewho can obtain inoculated soil with ease. If land has been producingvigorous plants, and if it contains no weeds or disease new to the landto be seeded, its soil offers the most desirable means of transferringthe bacteria. 

The claim is made by some producers of pure cultures that theirbacteria are selected for virility, and should be used to displacethose found in the farmer's fields. The chances are that, if soilconditions are good, the bacteria present in the soil are virile, andif the conditions are bad, the pure cultures will not thrive. Alleastern land is supplied with red clover bacteria, just as some westernland possesses alfalfa bacteria, and partial clover failure has causeswholly apart from the character of its bacteria. 

We do not have definite knowledge concerning duration of inoculationnor the manner in which it is maintained when legumes are not growing, but we do know that when a legume has once made vigorous growth in afield, the soil will remain inoculated for a long term of years. 

CHAPTER V

THE CLOVERS

Red Clover. --Wherever red clover thrives there is no more valuableplant than this legume for making and keeping soils productive underordinary crop-rotations. The tyro in farming finds his neighborsconservative in thought and method, and may rightly see room forimprovement. He naturally turns to new crops that are receiving muchexploitation, but should bear in mind that the world nowhere has founda superior to red clover as a combined fertilizing and forage crop foruse in short rotations. Farmers turn aside from it because it turnsaside from them. There has been increasing clover failure in our olderstates for a long term of years. It has become the rule to seed totimothy with the clover in the short crop-rotations as well as in thelonger ones, and chiefly for the reason that clover seeding has becomeno longer dependable. In many regions the proportion of timothy seedused per acre has been made large because the clover would not surelygrow. In the winter-wheat belt, where the custom has been to make suchseedings with wheat, timothy being sown in the fall and clover the nextspring, this increase in the timothy has made matters worse for theclover, but it has helped to insure a sod and a hay crop. "Cloversickness, " supposedly resulting from close clover rotations, and theprevalence of plantain and other weeds, have been assigned as a partialcause of clover failure. It is only within recent years that the truecause of much failure has been recognized. 

Clover and Acid Soils. --There are limited areas in which some cloverdisease has flourished, and in some years insect attacks are serious. Barring these factors which have relatively small importance when theentire clover area is taken into account, the causes of clover failureare under the farmer's control. The need of drainage increases, and thedeficiency in organic matter becomes more marked. The sale of hay andstraw, and especially the loss of liquid manures in stables, haverobbed many farms. These are adverse influences upon clover seedings, but the most important handicap to clover is soil acidity. There is sadwaste when high-priced clover seed is put into land so sour that cloverbacteria cannot thrive, and there is ten-fold more waste in lettingland fail to obtain the organic matter and nitrogen clover shouldsupply. When land-owners refuse to let their soils remain deficient inlime, clover will come into a prominence in our agriculture that itnever previously has known. 

Methods of Seeding. --It is a common practice to sow clover in thespring, either with spring grain or with wheat or rye previously seededin the fall. This method has much to commend it. The cost of making theseed-bed is transferred to the grain crop, and there is little outlayother than the cost of seed. Wheat and rye offer better chances to theyoung clover plants than do the oat crop which shades the soil denselyand ripens later in the summer. The amount of seed that should be useddepends upon the soil, the length of time the sod will stand, and thepurpose in growing the clover. When soil fertility is the oneconsideration, 12 to 15 pounds of bright, plump medium red clover seedper acre should be sown. A fuller discussion of the principles involvedin making a sod and of seed mixtures is given in Chapters VII and VIII. 

Fertility Value. --Attempts have been made to express the actual valueof a good clover crop to the soil in terms of money. The number ofpounds of matter in the roots and stubble has been determined, andanalyses show the percentage of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potashcontained. The two crops harvested in the second year of its growthlikewise have their content of plant-food determined. If the totalamounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash have their valuesfixed by multiplying the number of pounds of each ingredient ofplant-food by their respective market values, as is the practice in thecase of commercial fertilizers, a total valuation may be placed uponthe clover, roots and top, as a fertilizer. Such valuation is somisleading that it affords no true guidance to the farmer. In the firstplace, the phosphoric acid and potash were taken out of the soil, andwhile some part of these materials may have been without immediatevalue to another crop until used by the clover, no one knows how muchvalue was given to them by the action of the clover. Again, no oneknows what percentage of the nitrogen in the clover came from the air, and how much was drawn from the soil's stores. The proportion varieswith the fertility of the land, the percentage of nitrogen taken fromthe air being greater in the case of badly depleted soils. 

A big factor of error is found in the valuations of the ingredientsfound in the crop. All plant-food is worth to the farmer only what hecan get out of it. He may be able to use 50 pounds of nitrogen per acrein the form of nitrate of soda, at 18 cents a pound, when growing acertain crop, but could not afford to buy, at market price of organicnitrogen, all the nitrogen found in the clover crop, and therefore itdoes not have that value to him. 

On the other hand, these estimates do not embrace the great benefit tothe physical condition of the soil that results from the incorporationof a large amount of vegetable matter. 

Discussion has been given to this phase of the question in the interestof accuracy. Values are only relative. The practical farmer candetermine the estimate he should put upon clover only by noting itseffect upon yields in the crop-rotation upon his own farm. It is ourbest means of getting nitrogen from the air, it provides a large amountof organic matter, it feeds in subsoil as well as in top soil, bringingup fertility and filling all the soil with roots that affect physicalcondition favorably, and it provides a feed for livestock that gives arich manure. 

[Illustration: Red clover on the farm of P. S. Lewis and Sons, PointPleasant, W. Va. ]

Taking the Crops off the Land. --The feeding value of clover hay is sogreat that the livestock farmer cannot afford to leave a crop of cloveron the ground as a fertilizer. The second crop of red clover producesthe seed, and, if the yield is good, is very profitable at the pricesfor seed prevailing within recent years. The amount of plant-food takenoff in the hay and seed crops would have relatively small importance ifmanure and haulm were returned without unnecessary waste. Van Slykestates that about one third of the entire plant-food value is containedin the roots, while 35 to 40 per cent of the nitrogen is found in theroots and stubble. Hall instances one experiment at Rothamstead inwhich the removal of 151 pounds of nitrogen in the clover hay in oneyear left the soil enough richer than land by its side to produce 50per cent more grain the next year. He cites another experiment in whichthe removal of three tons of clover hay left the soil so well suppliedwith nitrogen that its crop of Swede turnips two years later was overone third better than that of land which had not grown clover, theapplication of phosphoric acid and potash being the same. When two tonsof well-cured clover hay are harvested in June, removing about 80pounds of nitrogen, 45 to 50 pounds are left for the soil. The amountsof potash are about the same, while phosphoric acid is much less inamount. 

Physical Benefit of the Roots. --While the roots and stubble containless than two fifths of the total plant-food in a clover crop, one maynot safely infer that the removal of the crop for hay reduces thebeneficial effect of the clover to the soil fully 60 per cent, or more. The roots break up the soil in a way not possible to a mass of topsplowed down. They improve the physical condition of the subsoil as wellas the top soil. The amount of the benefit depends in part upon thenature of the land. Its value cannot be surely determined, but thefacts are called to mind as an aid to judgment in deciding upon themethod of handling the clover crop. 

Used as a Green Manure. --Where dependence must be placed upon clover asa fertilizer, little or no manure being returned to the land, at leastone of the two clover crops within the year should be left on the land. The maximum benefit from clover, when left on the land, can be obtainedby clipping it before it is sufficiently heavy to smother the plants, leaving it as a mulch. When the cutter-bar of the mower is tiltedupward, the danger of smothering is reduced. Truckers, remote fromsupplies of manure, have found it profitable to make two such clippingsjust prior to blossoming stage, securing a third heavy growth. Theamount of humus thus obtained is large, and the benefit of the mulch isan important item. 

Some growers clip the first crop for a mulch, and later secure a seedcrop. The early clipping and the mulch cause increase in yield of seed. 

A common practice is to take one crop off for hay, and to leave thesecond for plowing down the following spring. Early harvesting of theclover for hay favors the second crop. 

When to turn Down. --When the maximum benefit is desired for the soilfrom a crop of clover, the first growth should not be plowed down. Itsoffice should be that of a mulch. In its decay all the mineralplant-food and most of the nitrogen go into the soil. The second cropshould come to maturity, or near it. As a rule, there is gain, and notloss, by letting the second crop lie on the ground until spring if aspring-planted crop is to follow. Some fall growth, and the protectionfrom leaching, should equal any advantage arising from rotting thebulky growth in the soil. In some regions it is not good practice toplow down a heavy green crop on account of the excessive amount of acidproduced. When this has been done, the only corrective is a liberalapplication of lime. 

Mammoth Clover. --When clover is grown with timothy for hay, somefarmers prefer to use mammoth clover in place of the medium red. It maybe known as sapling clover, and is accounted a perennial, though it islittle more so than the red. It is a strong grower and makes a coarsestalk but, when grown with timothy, it has the advantage over the redin that the period of ripening is more nearly that of the timothy. Itinclines to lodge badly, and should be seeded thinly with timothy whenwanted for hay. The roots run deep into the soil, and this variety ofclover compares favorably with the medium red in point of fertilizingpower, the total root-growth being heavier. While its yield of hay, when seeded alone, is greater than the first crop of the red, itsinclination to lodge and its coarseness are offsets. It produces itsseed in the first crop, and the after-growth is small, while red clovermay make a heavy second crop. Its use should become more general onthin soils, its strong root-growth enabling it to thrive better thanthe red, and the lack of fertility preventing the stalks from becomingunduly coarse for hay. The amount of seed used per acre, when grown byitself, should be the same as that of red clover. 

Alsike Clover. --A variety of clover that may have gained morepopularity than its merit warrants is alsike clover. It is more nearlyperennial than the mammoth. The roots do not go deep into the subsoillike those of the red or the mammoth, and therefore it is betteradapted to wet land. It remains several years in the ground whengrazed, and is usually found in seed mixtures for pastures. It isdecumbent, and difficult to harvest for hay when seeded alone. It iscredited with higher yields than the red by most authorities, but thisis not in accord with observation in some regions, and it is markedlyinferior to the red in the organic matter and the nitrogen supplied thesoil in the roots. 

The popularity of this clover is due to its ability to withstand somesoil acidity and bad physical conditions. In regions where red cloveris declining on account of lack of lime, one may see some alsike. Therule is to mix alsike with the red at the rate of one or two bushels ofthe former to six bushels of the latter. As the seed of the alsike ishardly half as large as that of the red, the proportion in the mixtureis greater than some farmers realize. The practice is an excellent onewhere the red will not grow, and the alsike adds fertility, but whenthe soil has been made alkaline, the red clover should have nearly allthe room. Alsike is a heavy producer of seed. 

Crimson Clover. --Wherever crimson clover is sufficiently hardy towithstand the winter, as in Delaware and New Jersey, it is a valuableaid in maintaining and increasing soil fertility. It is a winterannual, like winter wheat, and should be seeded in the latter half ofsummer, according to latitude. It comes into bloom in late spring. Theplant has a tap-root of good length, but in total weight of roots ismuch inferior to the red. This clover, however, compares favorably withred clover in the total amount of nitrogen added to the soil by theentire plant when grown under favorable conditions. It is peculiarlyfitted for a cover crop in orchards and wherever spring crops areremoved as early as August, or a seeding can be made in them, as is thecase with corn. Even when winter kills the plants, a successful fallgrowth is highly profitable, adding more nitrogen before winter thanred clover seeded at the same time. Where the plants do notwinter-kill, they are plowed down for green manure when in bloom inMay, or earlier in the spring to save soil moisture and permit earlyplanting, although a good hay for livestock can be made, and the yieldis about the same as that of the first crop of red clover. 

In the northern states a large amount of money has been wasted inexperimental seedings with crimson clover, and it is only inexceptional cases that it continues to be grown. There is reason tobelieve that many of these failures were due to lack of soilinoculation. The Pennsylvania experiment station is located in amountain valley where winters are severe. Crimson clover is under testwith other cover crops for an experimental orchard, and success with ithas increased as the soil has become fully inoculated. This view issupported by the experience of various growers in the North, and whilecrimson clover can never make the success in a cold climate that itdoes in Delaware, there is a much wider field of usefulness for it thanis now occupied. Experiments should be made with it under favorableconditions respecting moisture and soil tilth. Fifteen pounds of seedshould be used, and the seed should be well covered, as is the casewith all seeds sown in mid-summer. 

CHAPTER VI

ALFALFA

Adaptation to Eastern Needs. --The introduction of alfalfa into theeastern half of the United States will prove a boon to its depletedsoils, encouraging the feeding of livestock and adding to the value ofmanures. It will affect soils directly, as does red clover, whenfarmers appreciate the fact that its rightful place on their farms isin rotation with grain. Under western conditions, where no other cropcan compete with it in value, as is the case in semi-arid belts, itsability to produce crops for a long term of years adds much to itsvalue, but in eastern agriculture this characteristic is not needed. Onmost soils of the east it will not remain productive for more than fourto six years, and that fact detracts little from its value. It shouldfit into crop-rotations, adding fertility for grain crops. When grownin a six-years rotation with corn and oats or other small grain, itfurnishes a rich sod for the corn, and the manure made from the hayhelps to solve the farmer's fertility problem. 

Fertility and Feeding Value. --Vivian says that "the problem of theprofitable maintenance of fertility is largely a question of aneconomic method of supplying plants with nitrogen. " The greatest valueof alfalfa to eastern farming lies in its ability to convertatmospheric nitrogen into organic nitrogen. It has no equal in thisrespect for relatively long crop-rotations, storing in its roots andsuccessive growths of top far more nitrogen within three or four yearsthan is possible to any other of our legumes. A good stand of alfalfa, producing nine crops of hay in the three years following the season ofseeding, will produce from nine to twelve tons of hay. Good fields, under the best conditions, have produced far more, but the amountsnamed are within reach of most growers on land adapted to the plant. Aton of hay, on the average, contains as much nitrogen as five or sixtons of fresh stable manure. Thus there comes to the farm a greatamount of plant-food, to be given the land in the manure, and inaddition the roots and stubble have stored in the ground enoughnitrogen to feed a successive corn crop, and a small grain crop whichmay follow the corn. Moreover, the roots have filled the soil withorganic matter, improving the physical condition of the soil andsubsoil. 

[Illustration: Alfalfa on the Ohio State University Farm. ]

Another gain is found in the content of phosphoric acid and potash inthe manure, much of which was drawn from soil supplies out of reach ofthe other farm crops. The profit from introduction of alfalfa into aregion's agriculture is very great. 

Alfalfa makes a nutritious and palatable feed for livestock. A toncontains as much digestible protein as 1600 pounds of wheat bran. 

Climate and Soil. --The experimentation with alfalfa by farmers has beenwide-spread, and the percentage of failure has been so large that manyhave believed this legume was unfitted to the climate and soil of thecountry east of the Missouri River. Successful experience has shownthat it can be made to take a considerable place in easterncrop-schemes. The climate is not unfavorable, as is evidenced by largeareas of good alfalfa sods on thousands of farms. The abundant rainfallbrings various weeds and grasses into competition with it, and thatwill remain a serious drawback until growers learn to clean theirsurface soils by good tillage before seeding. 

Any land that is sufficiently well drained to produce a good corn cropin a wet summer can grow alfalfa if the seed-bed is rightly made. Theloose soils are more difficult to seed successfully than is the landhaving enough clay to give itself body, although most experimentersselect their most porous soils. All farms having good tilth can bringalfalfa into their crop-rotations. 

Free Use of Lime. --The conditions requisite to success inalfalfa-growing are not numerous, but none can be neglected. Alfalfashould be given a calcareous soil when possible, but an acid soil canbe made favorable to alfalfa by the free use of lime. There must remaina liberal amount after the soil deficiency has been met, and when theuse of lime is on a liberal scale, the pulverized limestone makes thesafest carrier. However, 50 bushels of stone-lime per acre can be usedsafely on any land that is not distinctly sandy, and that amount isadequate in most instances. 

Inoculation. --The necessity of inoculation has been discussed inChapter IV. Eastern land would become inoculated for alfalfa if farmerswould adopt the practice of mixing a little alfalfa with red cloverwhenever making seedings. Some alfalfa plants usually make growth, securing the bacteria in the dust of the seed, presumably. The additionof one pound of alfalfa seed per acre would assist materially insecuring a good stand when the day came that an alfalfa seeding wasdesired. 

Fertilization. --The ability of alfalfa to add fertility to the farm, and directly to the field producing it when all the crops are removedas hay, does not preclude the necessity of having the soil fertile whenthe seeding is made. The plants find competition with grass and otherweeds keen under eastern skies where moisture favors plant-life. Intheir first season this is markedly true. There should be plenty ofavailable plant-food for the young plants. Stable manure that is freefrom the seeds of pernicious weeds makes an excellent dressing. It isgood practice to plow down a heavy coat of manure for corn and then toreplow the land for alfalfa the next season. A top-dressing of manureis good, affording excellent physical condition of the surface forstarting the plants. Eight tons per acre make a good dressing. 

If land is not naturally fertile, mineral fertilizers should beapplied. A mixture of 350 pounds of 14 per cent acid phosphate and 50pounds of muriate of potash is excellent for an acre of manured land. In the absence of manure, 100 pounds of nitrate of soda and 50 poundsof muriate of potash should be added to the mixture. If the materialsare wet, a drier must be used. The fertilizer should be drilled intothe ground prior to the seeding. 

A Clean Seed-bed. --Much failure with alfalfa is due to summer grassesand other weeds. The moisture in our eastern states favors plant-life, and most soils are thoroughly stocked with the seeds of a large numberof weeds. The value of blue-grass and timothy would be comparativelysmall if they were not capable of monopolizing the ground when wellstarted and given fertility. Alfalfa plants are less capable ofcrowding out other plants, and especially in their first season. Theirhabit of growth is unlike that of grass. Rational treatment of alfalfademands that the surface soil be made fairly clean of weed seed, andthis applies with peculiar force to annual grasses, like fox-tail. Ifattention were paid to this point, failures would be far less numerous. 

Old grass land should not be seeded until a cultivated crop hasfollowed the plowing. The land should be in good tilth, and capable ofproducing a good crop of any sort. Alfalfa is not a plant for poorland, although it does add organic matter and nitrogen. 

Varieties. --There is only one variety of alfalfa in common use in thiscountry, and the western-grown seed sold upon the market is knownsimply as alfalfa. Bound up in this one so-called variety are manystrains differing in habit of growth, and their differentiation willoccur, just as it has in the case of wheat, and is now proceedingslowly with timothy. The eastern grower at present should use thevariety of the west that is furnishing nearly all the seed produced inthis country. There is a variety known as Sand Lucerne that has shownvalue for the light, sandy soils of Michigan. The Turkestan variety wasintroduced for dry, cold regions, but does not produce much seed. 

Clean Seed. --Care should be exercised to secure seed free fromimpurities. If one is not a competent judge, he should send a sample tohis state experiment station for examination. The practice ofadulteration is decreasing, but the seed may have been taken from landinfested with pernicious weeds. 

The impurity most to be feared is dodder. There are several varieties, the seeds varying in size and color. The same pest may be found inclover fields, but the injury is less because the clover stands onlytwo years. The dodder seed germinates in the soil, and the plantattaches itself to the alfalfa, losing its connection with the soil andforming a mass of very fine vines that reach out to other alfalfaplants. In this way it spreads, feeding on the sap of the host plantsand killing them. 

When the infestation is in only a few spots in the field, the remedy isto cover with straw, soak with kerosene oil, and burn. All theinfestation at the edges of these spots must be destroyed. 

When the dodder is too widely distributed throughout the field topermit of this treatment, the only course is to plow the field at once, and to grow cultivated crops for two or three years. It is believedthat no variety of dodder produces seed freely in the eastern states, and that the hay made from the first crop of alfalfa or red clover willnot contain any seed of this pernicious plant. 

The Seeding. --When alfalfa has become established on eastern farms, thedifficulties in making new seedings will be smaller. The experience ofgrowers will save from mistakes in selection of soils and preparationof the ground, and the thorough inoculation with the right bacteriathat can come only with time will do much to insure success. Theunwisdom of making seedings in ground filled with grass and other weedseeds will be appreciated. It is quite probable that much successfulseeding will be made in wheat and oats, where the alfalfa is to standonly one or two years. These practices are not for the beginner. Hisland is not thoroughly supplied with bacteria, and every chance shouldbe given the alfalfa. 

If there are no annual grasses, such as appear so freely in someregions in mid-summer, spring seeding is excellent. A cover crop isthen desirable, and nothing is better for this purpose than barley atthe rate of 4 pecks of seed per acre. In all experimental work 25pounds of bright, plump alfalfa seed per acre should be sown. Theseeding should be made as soon as spring comes, the barley beingdrilled in, and the seed-spouts of the drill thrown forward so that thealfalfa will fall ahead of the hoes and be covered by them. 

Seeding in August. --Much land is infested with annual grasses and otherweeds, and in such case seedings should be made in August, as describedin Chapter VIII. 

Subsequent Treatment. --If the alfalfa plants find the bacteria at hand, they will begin to profit from them within the first month of theirlives. A large percentage of the plants may fail to obtain this aid inland which has not previously grown alfalfa, and within a few monthsthey indicate the failure by their light color, while the plantsliberally supplied with nitrogen through bacteria become dark green. Where there are no bacteria, the plants turn yellow and die. 

There are diseases that attack alfalfa, causing the leaves to turnyellow, and when they appear, the only known treatment of value is toclip the plants with a mower without delay. The next growth may notshow any mark of the diseases. 

[Illustration: Curing alfalfa at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station. ]

When alfalfa is seeded in the spring on rich land, a hay crop may betaken off the same season. If the plants do not make a strong growth, they should be clipped, and the tops should be left as a mulch. Theclipping and all future harvestings are made when the stalks start budsfrom their sides near the ground. This ordinarily occurs about the timesome flowers show, and is the warning that the old top should be cutoff, no matter how small and unprofitable for harvesting it may be. Theexception to this rule is found only in the fall. An August seeding maymake such growth in a warm and late autumn that flowering will occur, and lateral buds start, but the growth should not be clipped unlessthere remains time to secure a new growth large enough to afford winterprotection. This is likewise true of a late growth in an old alfalfafield. 

Owners of soils that are not well adapted to the alfalfa plant willfind top-dressing with manure helpful to alfalfa fields when made inthe fall. The severity of winters in a moist climate is responsible forsome failures. If the soil is not porous, heaving will occur. Adressing of manure, given late in the fall, and preferably during thefirst hard freeze, will prevent alternate thawings and freezings insome degree. The manure should have been made from feed containing noseeds of annual grasses or other weed pests. 

Rolling in the spring does not serve to settle heaved alfalfa plants. The tap-roots are long, and when they have been lifted by action offrost, they cannot be driven back into place. 

It is believed that the permanence of an alfalfa seeding may beincreased by the use of mineral fertilizers in the early spring. In thecase of one alfalfa field of fifteen years' standing in the east, thefertilizers were applied immediately after the first hay crop of theyear was removed. Three hundred and fifty pounds of acid phosphate and50 pounds of muriate of potash per acre is the mixture recommended. When old alfalfa plants do not stand thickly enough on the ground, grasses and other weeds come in readily. They can be kept under partialcontrol by use of a spring-tooth harrow, the points being made narrowso that no ridging will occur. The harrow should be used immediatelyafter the harvest, and will not injure the alfalfa. 

It does not pay to use alfalfa for pasturage in our eastern statesbecause the practice shortens the life of the seeding. 

Alfalfa makes a seed crop in profitable amount only in our semi-aridregions. No attempt to produce a seed crop in the east should be made. 

CHAPTER VII

GRASS SODS

Value of Sods. --The character of the sods is a faithful index of thecondition of the soil in any region adapted to grass. The value ofheavy sods to a soil cannot be overestimated. They not only give to afarm a prosperous appearance, but our country's agriculture would be ona much safer basis if heavy coverings of grass were more universal. Wedo not hold the legumes in too high esteem, but the emphasis placedupon their ability to appropriate nitrogen from the air has caused someland-owners to fail in appreciation of the aid to soil fertility thatmay be rendered by the grasses. One often hears the statement that theycan add nothing to the soil, and this is serious error. They add allthat may be given in the clovers, excepting nitrogen only, and that isonly one element of plant-food, important though it be. A great part ofthe value of clover lies in its ability to supply organic matter to thesoil and to improve physical condition by its net-work of roots. Heavygrass sods furnish a vast amount of organic matter which not onlysupplies available plant-food to succeeding crops, but in its decayaffects the availability of some part of the stores of potentialfertility in the land. 

[Illustration: A Heavy Grass Sod in New York. ]

Prejudice against Timothy. --Timothy, among the grasses, is especiallyin disrepute as a soil-builder, and yet its value is great. The beliefthat timothy is hard on land is based upon observation of bad treatmentof this grass. There is a common custom of seeding land down to timothywhen it ceases to have sufficient available plant-food for a profitabletilled crop, and usually this is the third year after a sod has beenbroken. The seeding is made with a grain crop that needs all thecommercial fertilizer that may chance to be used. Clover may be seededalso, and on a majority of farms it fails to thrive when sown. Ifclover does grow, the succeeding crop of timothy may be heavy. Ifclover does not grow, the timothy is not so heavy. The seeding to grassis made partly because a tilled crop would not pay, and partly becausea hay crop is needed. It comes in where other crops cannot come withprofit, and it produces fairly well, or very well, the first year itoccupies the ground by itself. With little or no aid from manure orcommercial fertilizer, it adds much to the supply of organic matter inthe soil, and it produces a hay crop that may be made into manure orconverted into cash. 

If the sod were broken the following spring, giving to the soil all theafter-math and the mass of roots, its reputation with us would be farbetter than it is. This would be true even if it had received littlefertilizer when seeded or during its existence as a sod, not takinginto account any manure spread upon it during the winter previous toits breaking for corn. But the rule is not to break a grass sod when itis fairly heavy. The years of mowing are arranged in the crop-rotationto provide for as many harvests as promise immediate profit. On someland this is two years, and not infrequently it is three. Where farmsare difficult of tillage, it is a common practice to let timothy standuntil the sod is so thin that the yield of hay is hardly worth the costof harvesting. Then the thin remnant of sod is broken for corn or othergrain, and the poor physical condition of the soil and the low state ofavailable fertility lead to the assertion that timothy is hard on thesoil. This is a fair statement of the treatment of this plant on mostfarms. 

Object of Sods. --The land's share of its products cannot be disregardedwithout loss. The legumes and grasses come into the crop-rotationprimarily to raise the percentage of organic matter that the land mayappropriate to itself within the rotation. Some of the crops usuallyare for sale from the farm. Most of the crops require tillage, and thatis exhaustive of the store of humus. A portion of the time within therotation belongs to a crop that increases the supply of vegetablematter, unless manure is brought from an outside source. Sods lendthemselves well to this purpose because they afford some income, inpasturage or hay, while filling the soil with vegetation. The tendencyis to forget the primary purpose of sods in the scheme, and to ignorethe requirement of land respecting a due share of what it produces. Attention centers upon the product that may be removed. The portion ofthe farm reduced in productive power for the moment goes to grass, while the labor and fertilizers are concentrated upon the fields thatare broken for grain and vegetables. The removal of all the crop atharvest, and probably the pasturing of after-math, are the only mattersof interest that the fields, depleted by cultivation and seeded down tograss, have for the owner until the poor hay yield and the need of asod for corn draw attention again to them. 

Seeding with Small Grain. --The usual custom is to sow grasses withsmall grain, and there is much to commend it. The cost of preparing theseed-bed rests upon the grain crop, and the conditions are favorable tofall growth and winter protection, if the seeding is made in the fall. Wheat and rye are good crops with which to seed. In the case of fertileland there is the danger that the timothy will establish itself toowell in a warm, moist autumn to permit clover to get a foothold thefollowing spring, and clover should always be seeded for the sake offertility. In northern latitudes clover cannot be seeded successfullyas late in the season as wheat should be sown, as it fails to becomewell rooted for winter. The overcrowding of clover by timothy is met inpart by reduction in amount of timothy seed sown with the wheat. 

The oat crop is less satisfactory for seedings to grass and clover. Theleaves near the ground are too thick, shading the young plants unduly, and the late harvest exposes the grass and clover when the season ishot, and usually dry. Some reduction in the amount of seed oats usedper acre helps to save from injury. 

Seeding in Rye. --When thin land is desired for pasture, and availablefertility cannot well be applied, a sod may be formed more surely byseeding with rye, using the rye for pasture and a mulch, than, probably, in any other way. The ground should have good tillage andthen be seeded to rye in September at the rate of six pecks of seed peracre. Timothy and red-top should be seeded with it, and in the springred and alsike clover should be added. Whenever the ground is dryenough in the spring to permit the tramping of cattle without injury, the rye should be pastured, and preferably by a sufficient number ofanimals to hold the rye well in check. When the usual time for headingcomes, all stock should be removed, and when heads do appear, thegrowth should be clipped with a mower and left as a mulch on thesurface. A second clipping will be required later, with cutter-bartilted well upward. When the usual summer drouth is past, livestock canagain be turned into the field. This method is suggested only for thinfields that have failed to make catches of grass, and that for somereason cannot well be given the fertility that all thin soils need. Theapplication of lime before seeding to the rye is an expense thatusually must be met in the case of such fields, and fertilizers shouldbe used. 

Good Soil Conditions. --When the grasses and clovers desired for a sodare sown with small grain, there is competition between them and thegrain crop for fertility, moisture, and light. The grain crop is theone that will produce the income the following summer, and naturally isgiven right of way. The amount of seed is used that experience teachesis best for a maximum yield of grain. Usually this gives a thickerstand of plants than is best for the tiny grass and clover plants thatoften are struggling for existence down under the taller grain. If thefarmer could see his way clear to cut down the quantity of seed wheator oats used on a fertile soil, the catch of grass would be better, butthe small-grain crop is not very profitable at the best, and the ownerdoes not like deliberately to limit it. 

A greater amount of failure is due to an inadequate supply offertility. The grass does not suffer so much from over-shading as itdoes from starvation, both during the growth of the grain and afterharvest. The stronger grain plants appropriate the scanty stock ofavailable fertility, and leave the grass and clover nearly helpless. This condition is especially noticeable in dry seasons when there isless opportunity to obtain food in solution. Plants which are expectedin another season to fill the ground with vegetable matter are starvedin the beginning and die. Plant-food is needed, and should be mixedwith the soil when the seeding is made. The fertilizer needs arediscussed in another chapter. 

When manure is available, it should be spread on the plowed ground andmixed with the surface soil. If a soil is thin, or heavy, or light, theuse of a ton of manure in this way can bring greater returns than underany other circumstances in general farming. It supplies some fertility, and it puts the surface soil into good physical condition for youngplants. Land deficient in humus forms a crust after a rain, and a tinyplant suffers. A light dressing of manure, well mixed with the soil, tends to prevent this hardening of the surface and loss of water. Thereis no other form of fertility that can fully replace manure, for eithercompact or leachy land. 

The probable need of lime has been discussed in other chapters. Cloversand the grasses want an alkaline soil, and there is waste of money andtime in seeding acid land. The lime and the manure must not be mixedtogether in the air, but both can be used when fitting land forseeding, and both should be used if the need exists. One should beapplied early and be well disked into the soil, and then the otherapplication may be made and covered with the harrow. The soil is anabsorbent, and the contact of manure and lime within the soil onlyleads to immediate availability, which is desirable in giving the grassa start. 

CHAPTER VIII

GRASS SODS--(_Continued_)

Seeding in Late Summer. --The natural time of beginning life, in thecase of timothy, blue-grass, red-top, red clover, and alfalfa is in thesummer or autumn. The best conditions of growth are given where nostronger plants take the plant-food and moisture. Wherever there is anydifficulty in getting heavy grass and clover sods after the limedeficiency has been met, and wherever a hay crop has more value than asmall-grain crop, the method of seeding alone in August should beemployed. In warmer latitudes the date may be a little later, but inthe northern states it should be in the first half of August for bestresults. Seeding alone offers opportunity to make conditions right forthe seeds which are to be used, and in view of the importance of heavysods to our agriculture, this reason alone is sufficient. In someregions the ability to substitute a good hay crop for a cereal thatbrings small net income is an item of value, adding to the proportionof feeding-stuff produced in the rotation and to the resulting supplyof manure. The practice of making seedings to grass and clover alone isgrowing, and it is based on sound reasoning. 

Crops that may Precede. --Farms that are under common crop-rotations mayadopt the practice of August seeding. The winter wheat comes off intime for preparation, and this is true of an early variety of oats, andof rye and barley. Early crops of vegetables get out of the way nicely. There is a vast total area of thin soil that may be brought up to aproductive stage rapidly by the growth of a green-manuring crop toprecede the grass and clover. Rye may be sown in the fall and ploweddown in May, and cowpeas planted to be disked into the soil. Oats andCanada peas add organic matter with nitrogen when plowed down. Thesummer fallow, which deservedly has fallen into general disuse, maywell be employed when a soil is in an inert state, provided grass andclover be permitted to appropriate the plant-food made soluble by thefallowing. The catch crops add organic matter while cleansing the landof weeds; the fallowing releases plant-food and is peculiarly efficientin killing out weeds. 

Care must be exercised about preserving moisture in the ground, andtherefore a green crop should not be plowed under immediately beforeseeding time. When a soil is thin, there may be no better preparatorycrop than the cowpea, which will not make too rank a growth in thenorth to prevent its handling with a weighted disk harrow. By thismeans the soil below is left firm, and the rich vines are mixed withthe surface soil, where most needed. It is always a mistake to buryfertility in the bottom of the furrow when a soil is thin and smallseeds are to be sown. The infertile ground lying next the subsoil isnot what is needed at the surface when preparing for a sod. 

It is a good practice to use the early summer in making conditionsbetter for an August seeding, if the land has fallen below a profitablestate of productiveness. A growth may be plowed down in time forfirming the seed-bed, or it may be cut into the surface soil with aharrow, or the time may be used in freeing inert plant-food anddestroying weed seed. On better soils, and in warm latitudes, a cropfor hay may be removed, especially in the case of the cowpea in thesouth, and the stubble prepared for seeding by use of the cutaway ordisk harrow. 

Preparation. --A seed-bed for small seeds planted in mid-summer must beable to retain moisture. Nothing robs a soil of water more surely thana breaking-plow. Its use is a necessity in farming, but this effect ofplowing must be borne in mind when a seeding is planned for the driestperiod of the year. It goes without saying that sods should not beformed on land that is too solid for admission of air. A thoroughplowing is needed by most soils prior to making a sod that will preventfurther stirring of the ground for a long period of time. It is bestwhen this plowing can be given in the preceding spring. This enablesthe ground to become firm enough to hold moisture. If there is time fora tilled crop, the cultivation is helpful. When the land must be brokenin the summer, the plowing should be done several weeks before theseeding to grass must be made. The roller should follow the plowclosely to destroy the spaces that lie open to the hot air, permittingthe land to dry out. All deep harrowings should be given soon after theplowing, stirring and mixing the ground, and then leaving it to settleso that moisture can be held. It is bad practice to continue deepharrowing until the seeding time of any small grain or grass planted ina dry part of the year. Firmness is wanted in the soil. 

The Weed Seed. --The seeds of tilled crops are planted in groundcontaining much weed seed, and no harm may result. The cultivationneeded to keep the soil loose, or to prevent evaporation, destroys theweeds. Grass, clover, alfalfa, and like seeds are put into the groundto occupy it to the exclusion of other plants for several years, as arule, and no tillage can be given. The rule is to sow such seeds aftertilled crops have been grown, and some weed seed has been destroyed, but there is evidence on every hand that the weed seed remains inabundance. Summer preparation for grass gives opportunity to destroy agreat part of the seeds in the surface of the ground, and it is onlywhen they are near the surface that the seeds of most weeds willgerminate. Deep harrowings, continued up to time of planting, not onlyrob land of water, but they bring to the surface new lots of seed thathad been safely buried, and become a part of the actual seeding whenthe grass, clover, or alfalfa is sown. The obviously right method ofpreparing for planting is to use only a surface harrow for a few weeksprevious to seeding time, stirring the ground after every rain to thedepth of three inches, or near that, and destroying the plants soonafter germination of the seed. The process which is right for holdingmoisture is right for cleansing the ground. 

Summer Grasses. --One of the worst pests is the annual grasses, springing up in June, July, and August. They are responsible for manyfailures to obtain stands of alfalfa, clover, and the valuable grasses. The delay in seeding until August is due largely to this pest. Whenseedings are made in the spring, or in June, failure is invited wherethese grasses have a fast hold. The only effective way of combatingthem is to make the ground firm enough to encourage germination, and tostir the surface whenever a growth starts. The late seeding is the onemeans of escape, and if there is fertility and moisture, the newlyseeded crop becomes well rooted by winter and takes the ground socompletely that there is little room for weeds to start the next year. 

Sowing the Seed. --Partial failure with August seeding is due to faultymethods. We are accustomed to broadcasting clover seed on top of thewheat fields and obtaining a stand of plants. A majority of the seedsdo not become buried in the soil, or only very slightly, and yetgerminate. Moisture is necessary, but in the spring, when this methodis used, there is moisture at the surface of the ground under the wheatplants much of the time. The conditions respecting moisture are notunfavorable in most springs, and we come to think that a small seedshould not be buried much if any. In the autumn, again, we sow timothywith the wheat, and while more prompt germination is secured bycovering the timothy seed with the hoes of the drill, we often haveseen a successful seeding made without any covering being given. Thework is done at a time when fall rains may continue for days and, whenthe sun's heat does not continue long, the covering given by settlingthe seed into the loose earth is sufficient. Moisture does not leaverapidly because the air is not hot. 

Deep Covering. --In August the air is hot, and the surface of the groundis dry nearly all the time. A shower may be followed by hot sunshine, and the water at the surface evaporates quickly, leaving the groundcovered with a dry crust. There are two essential things to bear inmind: the seeding should be made only when there is enough moisture inthe ground to insure quick germination, and preferably as soon asfeasible after a rain, and the seed should be put down where moisturecan be retained. It is poor practice to sow any kind of small seedsbefore a rain that seems imminent. If it forms a crust, or causesweed-seed germination along with that of the grass seeds, only harmresults. When seeds are put into a dry soil, and a light shower comes, there may be germination without sufficient moisture to continue lifein the plants. 

The seeds should be well buried: the soil and air conditions aredifferent from those of the spring. It is best to wait for moisture, and to save the seed if it does not come, but when enough water hasfallen to make the firm soil moist, the danger of failure is very smallif the seeds are buried one to two inches deep. A surface harrow willstir the surface, and then the seeds should be sifted down into thesoil by another harrowing. A light plank float, mashing the littleclods and pressing the soil slightly together, finishes the work. Theplants will appear above ground within a few days, the only dangerbeing in a beating shower that may puddle the surface before the plantsare up. 

Seed-mixtures. --When grass is wanted for hay as well as fertility, theclovers and timothy compose the greater part of a desirable mixturewherever the clovers and timothy thrive. Probably this condition alwayswill continue. The clovers are needed to supply nitrogen to the soiland to put protein into the hay for livestock. They give way, in largepart, or entirely, the second year. Alsike is more nearly perennialthan the red which practically lasts only through its second season, when its seed crop has been made, and its function performed. The sodis chiefly timothy in the second season. A little red-top is desirable, and the percentage should be heaviest for quite wet land or very dryland. When fertility is the first consideration, and the sod is leftonly two or three years, the following mixture is good, and is for oneacre:

 Red clover 10 pounds Alsike 2 pounds Timothy 8 pounds Red-top 2 pounds

When a mixed hay is wanted the first year, the following mixture may befound better for the purpose:

 Red clover 6 pounds Alsike 2 pounds Timothy 12 pounds Red-top 2 pounds

Mammoth clover seed may be substituted for the red without change innumber of pounds. 

The amount of timothy and red-top in the second mixture suggested callsfor a liberal supply of plant-food, and this is true of any heavy grassmixture. If fertility is not present, the seeding of grass should belighter, but the clover should not be less in amount for a thin soilthan for a good one. The question of fertilizers is discussed inChapter XX. 

CHAPTER IX

SODS FOR PASTURES

Permanent Pastures. --There is a large total area of land that can bebrought into profitable production of food only by means of pasturegrasses. A small part is too low and moist for tillage, but a largerpart is too rough or too infertile. It can be made to yield profit ingrasses that are harvested without expense by animals. The grassesafford feed and at the same time protect the soil from waste. Theefficiency of much pasture land is kept low by poor stands of grass, the encroachment of weeds, bushes, and briers, close grazing, and thefailure to supply fertility. When making a sod for mowing, the aim isto select varieties of plants that mature near the same time. Pasturesneed varieties maturing at different times, and this is a matter undercontrol when temporary pastures are used. Permanent pasture land soonbecomes occupied by the grasses best fitted to soil conditions or mostable to crowd other plants. 

[Illustration: Good Pasture Land in Chester County, Pa. ]

Seed-mixtures. --Several varieties of grasses should be used when makinga sod for grazing. They occupy all the surface more quickly and surelythan a single variety, and the pasturage is better. The character ofthe soil determines the character of the mixture in large measure. Whenland can be well fitted, a heavy seeding is best, but the cost isnearly prohibitive for thin, rough lands. A brief description of theleading pasture grasses east of the semi-arid region, and north of thegulf states, is given:

_Blue-grass. _--No other pasture grass equals Kentucky blue-grasswherever it thrives. It makes a close sod, preventing the growth ofweeds and withstanding tramping, and contains a high percentage ofprotein. While it is best adapted to limestone soils, it is grown withsuccess on clay land outside of limestone areas. It is slow in making aheavy sod, as a rule, and partly because the seeding is too light onaccount of low germination. The rule is to seed with timothy and othergrasses which furnish the greater part of the pasturage for two orthree years. When seeded alone, 20 to 30 pounds of seed per acre shouldbe used. It may be seeded in the spring or fall, and preferably inAugust or September. 

_Timothy. _--In a mixture of pasture grasses timothy has a placewherever it thrives. It is not naturally a pasture grass, standinggrazing rather poorly, but it makes a large amount of feed quickly. Thegrass is one of the poorest in protein, and the pasturage gains much inquality when the timothy gives way to blue-grass, as it will in two orthree years if the latter has favoring soil conditions. In mostmixtures it is given a leading place. It may be sown in the spring, butpreferably in the fall, and 15 pounds of seed will be foundsatisfactory, when seeded alone. 

_Red-top. _--If red-top were as palatable to livestock as blue-grass, itwould have one of the most prominent places among our pasture grasses. It is valuable anyway, thriving where land is too acid for blue-grassor timothy, or too thin. It is adapted to wet land, and yet is one ofour surest grasses for dry and poor land. It makes a sod that lastswell, and yields better than most other grasses. Notwithstanding itslack in palatability, it should be in all pasture mixtures for soilsnot in the best tilth. When used alone, 15 pounds of seed per acreshould be sown. The seeding may be made in spring or fall. 

_Orchard Grass. _--In most mixtures recommended for pasture orchardgrass has a place, but it should be a minor one. It makes early growthin the spring, which is a point in its favor. It stands shade and alsodrouth better than some other grasses, but is not at home in a poor orwet soil. It grows in bunches, and becomes unpalatable if not promptlygrazed. It needs crowding with other grasses when grown for pasturage. When seeded alone for hay, 30 pounds of seed per acre may be used. 

_Other Seeds. _--There are other grasses often recommended, but theyhave no wide acceptance. Meadow fescue is a palatable grass that wouldbe used more often in pasture mixtures if the seed were not high inprice. All land seeded for grazing should have some clover sown forsake of soil fertility. The alsike remains longer than the red ormammoth, and is better for undrained, thin, and acid soils. 

Yields and Composition of Grasses. --The Ohio station has compared theyields of various grasses and their composition. The following table isarranged from its data, as given in Bulletin 225:

 +-----------------+----------+---------+----------+ | Name | Average | Pounds | Pounds | | | Tons Hay | Protein | Protein | | | per Acre | per | per Acre | | | | Hundred | | +-----------------+----------+---------+----------+ | Timothy | 3. 49 | 6. 38 | 223 | | Blue-grass | 2. 18 | 10. 12 | 221 | | Red-top | 2. 81 | 8. 53 | 240 | | Orchard grass | 2. 19 | 7. 81 | 171 | | Meadow fescue | 2. 10 | 8. 97 | 188 | +-----------------+----------+---------+----------+

Suggested Mixtures for Pastures. --For ordinary conditions, Williamssuggests the following mixture for an acre of land:

 Blue-grass 10 pounds Timothy 6 pounds Red-top 6 pounds Orchard grass 4 pounds Red clover 4 pounds Alsike clover 2 pounds

For use on rather wet lands, and especially off the limestone, hesuggests:

 Red-top 12 pounds Blue-grass 8 pounds Timothy 4 pounds Alsike clover 4 pounds

Hunt recommends the following as a basis, to be modified to suitvarying conditions:

 Timothy 15 pounds Kentucky blue-grass 10 pounds Meadow fescue 2 pounds Red clover 4 pounds Alsike clover 3 pounds White clover 2 pounds

The Cornell station recommends the following for good land:

 Timothy 8 to 12 pounds Kentucky blue-grass 4 pounds Meadow fescue 1 to 4 pounds Orchard grass 1 to 4 pounds Red clover 6 pounds Alsike clover 3 pounds White clover 1 to 2 pounds

For poor lands it recommends this mixture:

 Timothy 8 to 12 pounds Red-top 4 pounds Canadian blue-grass 4 pounds Red clover 6 pounds Alsike clover 3 pounds White clover 1 pound

Zinn, of West Virginia, recommends the following mixture for permanentpasture:

 Timothy 4 pounds Red-top 4 pounds Orchard grass 4 pounds Kentucky blue-grass 7 pounds Red clover 2 pounds Alsike clover 2 pounds White clover 1 pound

Renewal of Permanent Pastures. --There is much pasture land that couldnot be broken with profit for reseeding. There is neither time, normoney, nor opportunity at the owner's hand for this purpose, and oftenthe loss of soil resulting from washing would be a bar if the laborwould cost nothing. The renewal of such grass lands can be made withprofit if pernicious weeds are not in the way. Plant-food, lime, andgrass seed are wanted. A disk or sharp spike-tooth harrow, used inearly spring or after an August rain, will give some fresh earth forcovering the seeds. A complete fertilizer always is needed. The cloversshould go into the seed-mixture used. 

[Illustration: Sheep on a New York farm. ]

Destroying Bushes. --The absence of sheep is evident in the appearanceof the greater area of permanent pasture in the mountainous regions ofthe eastern states. Bushes, briers, and other weeds must be destroyedif pasture land would be kept in a profitable state, and only the sheepor the goat is the fully efficient aid of man in caring for such land. The presence of dogs makes the tariff on wool, or lack of it, a minormatter. The cost to the country, in indirect effect upon pastures only, due to unrestrained dogs, is incalculable. The maintenance of good sodswithout sheep is a problem without solution in some regions. 

Close Grazing. --Much harm results from turning livestock on pasturestoo early in the spring. The ground is kept soft by spring rains, andthe hoofs cut the turf. The grass needs its first leaves to enable itto make rapid growth, and the first grass of spring is not nutritious. 

Close grazing is harmful, exposing the soil to the sun and robbing itof moisture. When winter comes, there should be sufficient grass toserve as a mulch to the roots. It acts like a coat of manure, givingnew life to the plants the next spring. Good sods are not easily orquickly made, and when they have been secured on land unfit for theplow, their value measures the value of the land itself. 

CHAPTER X

THE COWPEA

A Southern Legume. --The soils of the cold north are protected fromleaching during the winter by the action of frost. The plant-food islocked up safely for another year when nature ceases her work ofproduction for the year. Farther south, in the center of the corn belt, there are leaching periods in fall and spring and oftentimes during thewinter, but winter wheat thrives and, in ordinary crop-rotations, covers much of the land that might otherwise lose plant-food. As wepass from the northern to the southern states, the preservation of soilfertility grows more difficult and at the same time the restoration ofhumus becomes easier. The heat makes easy the change of organic matterto soluble forms, and the rains cause waste, but the climate favorsplants that replace rapidly what is lost. In the work of supplying landwith fertility, directly and indirectly, the southern cowpea has animportant place. It is to the south what red clover is to the north, and it overlaps part of the red-clover belt, having a rightful place asfar north as the Ohio Valley, and portions of Pennsylvania. 

Characteristics. --The cowpea is closely related to the bean, and isvery unlike the Canada pea, which is a true pea, thriving only in acool climate. The cowpea has been grown in the southern states over onehundred years, and the acreage is large, but it never has come into thefull use it deserves. Being a legume, it stores up nitrogen taken fromthe air, and unlike red clover it makes its full growth within a shortperiod of time. It can grow on land too infertile for most kinds ofvaluable plants, and on better land. The vines can crowd out nearly allvarieties of weeds. The roots go to a good depth and are thicklycovered with the nodules of nitrogen-gathering bacteria. 

Varieties. --There are many varieties of the cowpea, and confusion ofnames prevails, although some stations have done good service inidentification of individuals carrying a number of names. The veryquick-maturing varieties adapted to northern conditions do not make asmuch foliage as the rank-growing ones that require a relatively longseason, but some of them are heavy producers of seed. 

There are varieties requiring six months of southern heat to bring themto maturity, and some failures attending the introduction of the cowpeainto more northern latitudes have been due to bad selection. A fewvarieties reach maturity within two months of hot weather. 

The trailing habit is affected by the soil, the bunch varieties tendingto trail when grown on fertile land. When the crop is wanted for seed, the peas that do not trail heavily will prove more satisfactory. Theselection of variety is a matter of latitude and purpose, exactly as itis with corn. 

Fertilizing Value. --A heavy growth of the cowpea is worth as much tothe soil as a good crop of red clover. When the equivalent of two tonsof hay is produced, the roots and vines contain nearly as muchplant-food as the roots and first crop of medium red clover that makestwo tons of hay. Some analyses show a higher percentage of protein incowpea hay than in clover hay, and the experience of many stockmenindicates that such is the case. The roots and stubble have somewhatless fertilizing power than in the case of the clover, and all thinsoils should have the entire plant, or the manure from the hay, savedwithout loss. 

Comparison is made on the basis of equal adaptability of soil andclimate to clover and the cowpea. Going southward, the cowpea has theadvantage, and northward the clover gains. It is in the overlappingbelt that both should be freely used. The cowpea has distinct advantageover the clover in its ability to supply nitrogen and organic matterwithin a few months, and in its adaptation to very poor soils whereclover would not make much growth. As a catch crop it has great value. 

Affecting Physical Condition. --The cowpea has marked influence upon thephysical condition of heavy soils, even when the vines are not ploweddown. This is due in some degree to the roots, and probably more to themulching effect of the vines during their growth. Heavy soils are mademuch more mellow by the cowpea, and when the crop is removed for hay, the stubble-land is easily prepared for a seeding to grass or smallgrain. When the growth is plowed down, the soil may be made too loosefor seeding to small grain, but is put into prime condition for atilled crop. 

Planting. --The land should be fitted as it is for corn. Light, sandysoils require little preparation, and too often the seeding is made ina woefully careless manner, the chief dependence being placed uponsufficiently deep covering to insure germination. The ground should befitted as well as it is for a cash crop, being made fine and smooth. Agrain drill makes the seeding in a satisfactory manner, and the seedmay be drilled solid or in rows for cultivation. When the crop is grownas a fertilizer or for hay, solid drilling is good, and about fivepecks of seed gives a good stand of plants if peas are sound. Muchcowpea seed is low in germination power, and the buyer should exercisecaution. When a seed crop is wanted, two to three pecks of seed peracre, placed in drills 28 to 32 inches apart, make an excellentseeding, as cultivation can be given. The amount of seed varies withthe variety. In northern latitudes a warm soil is to be desired, andcultivation gives better results when a seeding to wheat will be madeon the pea-stubble. 

There is evidence that the cowpea can make a heavy growth in soils toodeficient in lime for red clover, and it gained its first prominence insouthern Ohio on land that was failing to grow clover. It is the plantof adversity as well as prosperity, adding rich organic matter to thinsoils, but making its full returns under better conditions. Limeapplications on acid soils give increase in yields. Its one absoluterequirement is heat, and in a cold summer its northern limit ismarkedly depressed. 

Inoculation. --The inoculation of the soil with cowpea bacteria isnecessary to best results in most regions new to the plant. Self-inoculation is quicker in the cowpea than in alfalfa because thevines carry some soil on them, and thus the dust in the seed crop maybe rich in bacteria. However, most new seedings of the cowpea do notshow a large number of nodules on the plant roots, and inoculationpays. In some cases it makes the difference between failure andsuccess. Two hundred pounds of soil from an old field should be wellharrowed into each acre of land when preparing for a cowpea seeding ina new region. The soils of the southern states contain the bacteriajust as the states in the clover belt are supplied with cloverbacteria. 

Fertilizers. --The light soils of Maryland, New Jersey, and the southernstates are not naturally rich in phosphoric acid or potash. The cowpeacan draw its nitrogen from the air, but on all thin land it pays to use200 to 300 pounds of acid phosphate and 50 pounds of muriate of potashper acre for this crop which should have a luxuriant growth for thesoil's benefit. Such use of fertilizers is more profitable than theiruse on the crop which follows. 

Harvesting with Livestock. --When the cowpea is made into hay, there isalways danger that the most of the plant-food contained in it neverwill get back to the soil on account of a careless handling of themanure. The practice of pasturing with cows and hogs is excellent. Thefeed is rich, and the manure is left on the ground. There is a savingof labor. 

If the full fertilizing value is wanted for the soil, the crop shouldbe plowed down. The trailing varieties form a tangled mass that cannotbe handled by an ordinary breaking-plow, but a stalk-cutter, run in thedirection the plow will follow, makes plowing possible. Pasturing withcattle and hogs sufficiently to reduce the growth so that a plow can beused is good practice. 

The Cowpea for Hay. --The hay is one of our most palatablefeeding-stuffs. Livestock may reject it the first time it is put intothe manger, but a taste for it is quickly acquired, and soon it iseaten greedily. The high content of protein makes it exceptionallyvaluable for young animals and milk cows, and the manure contains ahigh percentage of nitrogen. The difficulty in making the hay is adrawback, but this is over-rated. While rain discolors the vines andmakes them unattractive in appearance, the hay remains more palatableand nutritious than good timothy, if the leaves are not lost in curing. When the first pods turn yellow, the crop should be harvested. Thevines can be left in the swath until the top leaves begin to burn andthen be put into windrows with a sulky hay-rake. The windrows should besmall, the rake merely serving to invert half the vines upon the otherhalf, bringing new surface to the sun. After another day of curing, thewindrows should be broken up into bunches no larger than can be pitchedupon the wagon by a workman, thus saving the trouble of disentanglingthe vines. If rain comes, the bunches should be inverted the followingday. In dry, hot weather the curing proceeds rapidly, while in coolerlatitudes or cloudy weather the curing may require a week. The chiefpoint is to prevent undue exposure of the leaves to the sun, and thisis accomplished by the turning. The hay will mold in the mow if notthoroughly well cured, unless placed in a large body in a deep, closemow that excludes the air. Some farmers use the latter methodsuccessfully, but the experimenter with the cowpea usually will fail, and should prefer thorough field curing, at the risk of some damagefrom rain and sun. The leaves are the most nutritious part of theplant, excepting the seed. 

As a Catch Crop. --A leading use of the cowpea is that of a catch crop, either between other crops or in a growing crop, such as corn. Earlymaturing varieties can be brought in between main crops of the rotationin warm latitudes. The growth prevents the leaching of plant-food, shades the ground, adds nitrogen to the soil, smothers weeds, andproduces material that is valuable as feed for livestock or an additionof organic matter to the soil. When the time that can be devoted to thecrop is short, an early variety should be selected because its vinesare far more valuable to the soil than an equal volume of arank-growing variety that is not near maturity. 

[Illustration: The cowpea seeded at the last cultivation of corn in theGreat Kanawha Valley, W. Va. ]

If this legume were used whenever opportunity afforded along thesouthern border of our northern states, and throughout the south, thefaded color of soils, resulting from leaching rains, would be replacedby the darker colors that mark the presence of rich organic matter. Itis one of nature's best allies in the maintenance of soil fertility. 

CHAPTER XI

OTHER LEGUMES AND CEREAL CATCH CROPS

The Soybean. --The soybean is gaining a place among the valuable legumesof the United States, and the acreage is increasing as its meritsbecome known to all. Its northern limits of profitable production aremuch farther north than those of the cowpea, and approach those ofcorn. In the south it is gaining friends. Some of the advantages of thesoybean over the cowpea, as found by the Tennessee station, may bestated as follows:

 1. Greater seed production in case of fertile soils. 

 2. Less sensitiveness to cold in spring and fall. 

 3. Greater feeding value of the seed. 

On the other hand, a stand of cowpea plants is surer in the case ofsoils that crust, and germination runs higher. Its climbing habit makesit better suited for growing with corn for forage. A less amount ofleaves is lost in curing. 

Fertility Value. --There are so many varieties of the soybean and thecowpea, and adaptation to soil and climate varies so widely, that afair comparison is difficult to make. In cool latitudes the soybean isrecognized as distinctly more profitable, making larger yields of vinesand of seed. Where adaptation is equal, the cowpea makes a slightlylarger growth of vines for hay, but the soybean gives a much richer lotof seed for use as grain. 

When soil fertility is the chief consideration, the adaptation ofclimate and soil should decide our choice between these two legumes. There is no serious difference where conditions for each are equallygood. In cool latitudes the soybean should be chosen. In the OhioValley it is usually to be preferred. The greater part of the organicmatter and the plant-food is stored in the vines and seed. 

Feeding Value. --The soybean makes a rich hay, surpassing clover, but itis coarse, and its unattractive appearance has caused many farmers tocondemn it without trial. Livestock eat it greedily, and it is one ofour richest coarse feeds. The curing is more difficult than in the caseof the cowpea because the leaves drop early, and the plants must beharvested before they approach maturity. 

Probably the large yield of rich seed is the most important feature ofthe soybean crop. A ton of the seed contains as much protein as a tonof old-process oil meal, and three fourths as much as a ton ofcottonseed meal. A good crop of the soybean will yield 18 to 20 bushelsof seed, and as the nitrogen may be obtained chiefly from the air, theprotein from this crop will come to be a leading substitute forpurchased protein feeds. 

Varieties. --There are many varieties of the soybean, and theircharacteristics are modified by climatic conditions. Each region willfind the varieties best suited to its purposes by tests. When hay iswanted, the variety should have fine stems and a leafy habit of growth. It may not be a good producer of seed, or able to hold the seedunshattered. The harvesting should be done when some lower leaves turnbrown and before the pods are half filled. This stage of maturityshould be reached early enough in the fall to insure some hot days formaking the hay, and to permit harvesting in time for seeding to wheat. The preparation for wheat is made with the harrow and roller or plankdrag. 

When the soybean is grown for seed, the variety should hold the peaswithout undue shattering, and an erect grower is more easily handledwithout loss of the crop. Varieties for regions will vary, as dovarieties of corn, according to climate. 

The Planting. --Early varieties of the soybean in the south can beplanted as late as mid-summer, but farther north a profitable croprequires nearly all of the summer heat. The planting may be made soonafter the usual time of planting corn, or whenever the ground hasbecome warm. The preparation of the soil should be more thorough thanthat often given the cowpea. Solid drilling of five pecks of seed peracre is satisfactory when the crop is for fertilizing purposes only, and gives an excellent hay on land free of weeds. When the crop iswanted for hay, however, wheat usually will follow, and it is muchbetter to plant in rows and to give two or three cultivations so thatthe ground may be easily prepared for the wheat. 

A seed crop should be grown in rows. Three pecks of seed in rows 28inches apart is the usual amount. 

The soybean does not come up through a crusted surface as well as mostother plants, and planting should not be made immediately before arain. The plants are tender and easily injured by use of a weeder. 

The fertilizer requirement is like that of the cowpea. An applicationof 200 pounds of acid phosphate per acre should be given, and theaddition of 50 pounds of muriate of potash often pays. 

Harvesting. --The soybean is not an easy crop to handle without loss. When grown for seed, the tendency of the pods to split and to drop theseed compels early cutting, and that makes curing more difficult. Themower is the only practical harvester on most farms, and the swath mustbe turned out of the way of the horses to save tramping. Aside-delivery attachment can do the work. This is the best practicewhen cut for hay. When used for mixing with corn in a silo, theself-binder is satisfactory. The hay and seed crop must have thoroughfield-curing in windrow and bunches, and the harvest comes in a seasonwhen cold rains may prevail. This disadvantage of one of our mostvaluable crops is to be taken into account, but it will not preventrapid increase in acreage as the merit of the soybean becomes known. 

The Canada Pea. --Among field peas there are many varieties, but the onechiefly grown in the United States under the general name of the Canadapea is the Golden Vine. It makes a green forage or hay that is rich inprotein. Usually it is grown with oats, giving a hay nearly asnutritious as that of clover. The crop is adapted to cold latitudes, and the planting should be made as early in the spring as possible. Fall-plowing of the land is to be advised on this account. A goodmethod of seeding is to drill in six pecks of the pea seed to a depthof four inches, and then to drill in six pecks of oats. 

The crop should be cut for hay when the oats are in the milk stage. Atthis time the peas are forming pods. The hay is not easily made, but isspecially valuable for dairy cows. 

There is no profitable place for the Canada pea in crop-rotationsfarther south than the true oat-crop belt, except as a green-foragecrop. The soybean and red clover have greater usefulness in the centerof the corn belt. 

Vetch. --A variety of vetch known as winter, sand, or hairy vetch iscoming into great usefulness as a catch crop. It is a winter annual, and being a legume, it has special value as a fertilizing crop. It ismore hardy than crimson clover, and is grown as far north as winterwheat. The seeding is made in August in the north, and when grown forhay or seed, it needs rye or wheat to hold it up. Rye and vetch make arich and early green forage crop, and the proportion in which they areseeded varies widely in practice. Six pecks of rye and 15 pounds ofvetch make an excellent seeding per acre. 

When grown for seed, one to two pecks of rye and 20 to 30 pounds ofvetch may be used. The rye can be fairly well separated from the vetchby use of a fanning-mill or an endless belt of felt so inclined thatthe round vetch seed will roll down, while the rye sticks to the feltand is carried over. 

Vetch is excellent as a fertilizing crop, adding a great amount ofnitrogen to the soil when plowed down in May. If the seed were cheap, its use would become much more common. Thirty pounds should be usedwhen seeding alone after summer crops or in corn. Farmers shouldproduce the seed for their farms, and use it freely. When sown forseed, September first is a good date for the north. The seed matures inJune. 

As vetch matures with wheat, it may easily become a weed on farmsdevoted largely to small grain, but it is not to be feared where tilledcrops and sods are the chief consideration. Inoculation is needed forbest results, as in the case with other legumes new to a region. 

Sweet Clover. --Much interest has been aroused within recent years insweet clover, a legume that formerly was regarded as a more or lesspernicious weed. Its friends regard it as a promising forage crop, buttoo little is definitely known to permit its advocacy here except as asoil-builder in the case of poor land that is not too deficient in limeto permit good growth. Experiments have shown that a taste for thisbitter plant can be acquired by livestock, and it is nearly asnutritious as alfalfa when cut before it becomes coarse and woody. Itis a strong grower, sending its roots well down into the subsoil, andits great ability to secure nitrogen from the air enables it to make avery heavy growth of top. The yield in forage usually exceeds that ofthe clovers. 

Its most peculiar characteristic is its ability to thrive in a poor, compact soil that contains little humus. It may be seen in thriftycondition on roadsides and in waste places that seemingly would notsupport other plants. Laying aside all consideration of itspossibilities as a forage crop, it will come into greater popularity asa soil-builder on thin land. It is found usually on land of limestoneformation, and shares with other legumes a liking for lime, but it hasbeen grown successfully in regions that are known to have a limedeficiency. 

There are two biennial varieties and one annual. The biennial havingwhite blossoms is the one most commonly seen, but the smaller varietywith yellow blossoms is more leafy and palatable. The larger variety isthe better fertilizer. 

The seed does not germinate readily, and 20 to 30 pounds is used peracre. The soil should be compact, and the seeding can be made in thespring with a cover crop, or in August by itself. Inoculation isnecessary if the right bacteria are not present. Soil from an alfalfafield will serve for inoculation. 

An effort should be made to grow sweet clover on all infertilehillsides that are lying bare. It stops washing and paves the way for asod of nutritious grasses. 

Rye as a Cover Crop. --As has been stated elsewhere, the plant thatstores nitrogen in its organic matter is most desirable, but thegreater part of the soil's stock of humus did not come through legumes. Among the good cover crops is rye, both on account of its ability togrow under adverse conditions and because it produces a large amount ofmaterial for the soil. When seeded in the early fall, its roots fillthe soil the following spring, and the tops furnish all the materialthat can be plowed down with safety. In northern latitudes it is themost dependable of all winter cover crops, making some growth in poorlyprepared seed-beds and on thin land. The most value is obtained fromearly seedings, thus securing a good fall growth. Two bushels of seedare sufficient in good ground seeded ten weeks before winter begins, but two or three pecks should be added to this amount if the rye can begiven only a few weeks of growth before frost locks up the soil. Ryecan grow in warm spells of winter, and starts early in the spring. Ituses up some available fertility that might otherwise be lost, andreleases it when it rots in the ground. 

When to plow Down. --If rye has made a good growth before spring, theroots run deeper than the plow goes, and holds the soil much like agrass sod. In such a case the plowing may be made early in the springwithout regard to the rye, though organic matter increases rapidly dayby day if the rye is permitted to grow. As a rule, it is safest to plowdown before the plants are eighteen inches high. They dry land outrapidly, and any mass of matter in the bottom of the furrow interfereswith the rise of water from the subsoil. When the land is wanted foroats or corn, a jointer should be used on the plow to insure buryingall the crop. 

Buckwheat. --An excellent crop for green-manuring is buckwheat. It hassuch unusual ability to grow in a poor soil that the farmer who makesfree use of it as a grain crop never boasts of acreage planted, assuming that his land will not be highly regarded if known to bedevoted chiefly to buckwheat. It does not withstand heat well, especially from period of blossoming to maturity, and therefore isrestricted to cool latitudes. When grown for grain, it usually is notplanted until July, and matures a crop in a shorter period than anyother grain. It is sensitive to frost, but may be planted as soon asthe ground is warm, and will give a good body of matter for plowingdown within eight weeks. The root growth is not extensive, but the cropleaves naturally heavy soils more mellow, and it is an excellentcleansing crop for weed-infested fields. It makes a less heavy growththan rye, but can be used at a time of the year that rye would fail. There is time in a single season to grow two crops of buckwheat forgreen-manuring, turning the first crop down when the blossoms appear. 

Oats. --When a fall growth is wanted for the soil, and it is preferredthat the plants be dead in the spring, oats make a good catch crop. 

Thin land which is wanted for seeding to wheat and grass in the fall, or for timothy and clover seeding in August, may use oats as a springcover crop. A large amount of humus-making material may be gained bythis means. The only danger lies in the effect upon soil moisture. Theoat crop uses up the water freely in its growth, and when permitted toform heads before being plowed down, the mass of material in the bottomof the furrow does not rot quickly enough to induce the rise of waterfrom the subsoil. The land should be plowed early enough to permit asolid seed-bed to be made. 

CHAPTER XII

STABLE MANURE

Livestock Farming. --The fertility of the soil is most safely guarded inregions devoted to livestock farming. "Selling everything off the farm"is a practice associated in the public mind with soil poverty. It is arule with few exceptions that the absence of livestock on the farm isan index of gradual reduction in the productive power of the land. Generally speaking, the farmers who feed the most of their crops on thefarm are maintaining fertility, and those who do not feed their cropson the farm have been making drafts upon the soil's stores of availableplant-food that are evidenced in a reduction of yields. Thesestatements will have the assent of all careful observers. The inferencehas been that the maintenance of fertility requires the return to theland of all the manure that would result from feeding its crops on thefarm. We know that by such feeding we can return to the fields at leastfour fifths of all the plant-food taken out by the crops, and weloosely reason that such a scheme is demanded by nature. Themaintenance of fertility involves good arithmetic, and a plant musthave certain weights of mineral elements at command before it can grow, but it is not true that the productive power of land is chieflydependent upon the return to it in manure of all the fertility removedby its crops. If this were true, meat and other animal products wouldbe the sole food supply of the world's markets. 

[Illustration: Texas calves on an Ohio farm. ]

The Place for Cattle. --There are general trends in human practice thatcannot be changed by man. A change in human diet that makes thepercentage of meat lower will not come through propaganda, but thereare forces at work that will restrict the consumption of meat by theindividual. The increase in population makes heavier demand for food. Armsby has shown that the fattening steer returns to man for food only3 per cent of the energy value of the corn consumed by it, and inpork-production this percentage scarcely rises to 16. This is thereason meat-making animals give way before increase in population incongested countries. Their office becomes, more and more, theconversion of products inedible to man to edible products. In ourcountry their number will increase, doubtless, for a long period oftime, finding their places more surely on eastern farms rather than onwestern ranches. They must find the cheaper land, and that is no longerconfined to the west. They must be where coarse materials, inedible toman, are found, and that is on eastern as well as on western farms. Their office will not be the conversion of crops into manure, but theconversion of coarse materials into human food in the form of meat ormilk. This is the trend, and while the consummation may happily be farin the future, its consideration helps us to an appreciation of thefacts regarding nature's provision for maintaining the productivenessof the soil. 

Sales off the Farm. --The day is now here when the major portion ofhuman food must be provided in grain and vegetables and fruit, and thedemand for hay and grain for animals off the farm is very large. Fiberproducts likewise must be supplied. The draft upon the soil is heavy, but it must be good farm practice to supply bread and vegetables andfruit to the 70 per cent of our population that is not on farms. Thegreat majority of farmers do not feed all their crops to livestock, andthe amount of food-stuffs, for human beings and animals, that is nowgoing off the farms is none too great. 

Many farmers who incline to believe that they are safely guardingfertility by feeding the most of their crops are not returning to thefields one third of the plant-food that their crops remove. There is novirtue in feeding when the manure is permitted to waste away. Thelosses in stable and barnyard, the wastes from bad distribution byanimals, and the sales from the farm of some crops, animals, and milk, lead to the estimate that one half of the farms on which livestock iskept do not give to the fields in the form of manure over 30 per centof the fertility taken out of them by crops. This estimate, for whichno accurate data is possible, probably is too high. The sales of foodfor man and animal are a necessity, and the scheme of farming involvingsuch sales is right, provided the farmer makes use of other supplies offertility. The area devoted to such sales will grow greater becausehuman needs are imperative. Livestock will become more and more a meansof working over the material that man cannot eat--the grass, hay, stalks, by-products in manufacture, and coarse grains. The demand formeat and milk will lead to careful conversion of material into thisform of food, and the animals on eastern farms will increase in numberfor a time, while sales of grain and vegetables grow greater. The draftupon soil fertility through sales must increase because every pound ofmaterial sold from the farm carries plant-food in it. 

The Value of Manure. --It is not possible to put a commercial valuationupon farm manures that may be a sure guide to any farmer. The valuedepends upon what the individual can get out of it in crops andimproved soil conditions. It is rather idle to say that the annualproduct of a horse in the form of manure is $30, or more or less, evenwhen an analysis shows that the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potashcontained in it are worth that sum when valued at the market prices ofthose plant constituents. If the total amount of fertility found in thevoidings of all the animals of the farm were provided in a pile ofcommercial fertilizer containing the same amount of each plantconstituent, its worth to the farmer would depend upon his ability toconvert all that fertility into crops at a profit. There are farmers sosituated in respect to soils, crops, and markets that they can make agood profit from an investment of $30 in the total liquid and solidvoidings of a horse for a year. On the other hand, there are many whowould fail. The values usually given are relative and suggestive. Theyare aids in forming judgment. Actual value on the farm depends much onthe man. 

The Content of Manure. --When the crops of a farm are fed, the manurecontains nearly all the plant-food that went originally into the crops. In the case of idle work-horses on a maintenance ration, the manurecontains practically all the plant-food. Cows giving milk remove somefertility, and a growing calf or colt may take out 30 per cent. Thereis some waste beyond control, but when manure is made on tight floorswith good bedding, and is drawn to the field fast as made, on theaverage it carries back to the soil fully four fifths of the plant-foodthat existed in the feed. Disregarding all cash valuations for themoment, here is an index of value that should be sufficient in itselfto encourage the feeding of crops on the farm and the careful saving ofthe manure. When one can market his crops to animals on the farm attheir cash value, and at the same time retain for his fields fourfifths of all the fertility, he is like a manufacturer who can use muchof his raw material over and over again. The value is in the manure, and full appreciation is lacking only because a majority of farms donot provide for careful saving of its valuable constituents. 

Relative Values. --The plant-food content of manure is determinedchiefly by the feed. The animals add nothing: they subtract. The kindof animals consuming the feed does not affect materially the value ofthe manure made from it, if the animals are mature and not giving milk. The manures from the various kinds of animals differ in value per tonbecause the feeds differ in character and the manure varies inpercentage of water. On an average, however, the total annual productof manure from farm animals, per 1000 pounds of live weight, does notvary widely in value. The rich protein feeds given the cow, and theheavy feeding, more than make amends for the fertility that goes intothe milk, and her annual product, per 1000 pounds of live weight, mayexceed in value that of the horse by 25 per cent. This is likewise trueof the pig, figured on the 1000-pound basis, while in the case of thesheep the value, per 1000 pounds of live weight, is near that of thehorse. 

[Illustration: In the fertile Miami Valley, Ohio. ]

These variations are not wide enough to have great importance to thelivestock farmer. The manure represents to him four fifths of all thefertility that was contained by the feed he gave the various animals. They added no plant-food, and they took away only a fraction that wasnot large. They converted the crops into a form of plant-food thateither is available or can become so quickly enough, and in addition tothe nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash that would have a highvaluation in a commercial fertilizer, there is a body of organic matterthat affects the physical condition of the soil favorably. The manurealso promotes the multiplication of friendly soil bacteria. Itspossibilities are so great that the inference of many farmers that nosuccessful agriculture can be maintained without it is very natural. 

Amount of Manure. --Vivian states that the amount of manure that may bemade from feed can be determined by multiplying the total weight of drymatter in the feed by 3. This assumes that bedding will be used insufficient amount to absorb the urine, and that will require materialcontaining one fourth as much dry matter as there is in the feed. Whenthe amount of hay and grain is known, and the dry matter in allsucculent feed is estimated, the total product of manure in tons can bearrived at with fair accuracy. 

Analysis of Manure. --As has been stated, the content of the manure mustdepend chiefly upon the character of the feed. We are accustomed tocombine feeding stuffs in differing proportions for horses, cows, pigs, and sheep. Van Slyke names the following approximate percentages ofplant-food constituents in fresh excrements of farm animals, the solidand liquid being mixed:

 +----------+----------+------------+----------+ | Animal | Per Cent | Per Cent | Per Cent | | | Nitrogen | Phosphoric | Potash | | | | Acid | | +----------+----------+------------+----------+ | Horse | 0. 70 | 0. 25 | 0. 55 | | Cow | 0. 60 | 0. 15 | 0. 45 | | Pig | 0. 50 | 0. 35 | 0. 40 | | Sheep | 0. 95 | 0. 35 | 1. 00 | | Hen | 1. 00 | 0. 80 | 0. 40 | +----------+----------+------------+----------+

He estimates that one ton of average mixed stable manure, inclusive ofabsorbents, contains approximately 10 pounds of nitrogen, 5 pounds ofphosphoric acid, and 10 pounds of potash. 

CHAPTER XIII

CARE OF STABLE MANURE

Common Source of Losses. --When we bear in mind that four fifths of allthe fertility removed from the land in the grains and coarse stuffs fedon the farm may be recovered from the animals and returned to the soil, we can appreciate the consideration that the care of manure should haveon every farm. The careless methods that prevail in most sections ofthe country are an inheritance from the day when soils were new andfull of fertility. These methods continue partly through a lack ofconfidence in the statements that the liquid portion of animalexcrements, in average mixed stable manure, has nearly as great valueas the solid portion. If this fact were accepted, many of the losseswould be stopped. Another reason for continuance of careless methods isfailure to appreciate that the soluble portion of manure is the highlyvaluable part, and that leaching in the barnyard carries away valuemore rapidly than decrease in volume of manure indicates. The widelydemonstrated facts do not have effective acceptance, and enormous losscontinues. 

Thorne found that manure placed in flat piles in the barnyard inJanuary, and allowed to lie until April, lost one third of its value. Under the conditions prevailing on many farms the loss suffered byexposure of manure is far greater. 

[Illustration: Concrete stable floors. ]

Caring for Liquid Manure. --If all manure were in solids, one greatdifficulty in caring for it would not exist. The nitrogen is the mostvaluable element in manure, and two fifths of all of it in horse manureis found in the liquid. In the case of cow manure, over one half of thenitrogen is found in the liquid. More than this, a pound of nitrogen inthe liquid has greater value than a pound in the solid because of itsnearly immediate availability. There is only one good way of caring forthe liquids, and that is by use of absorbents on tight floors or intight gutters. American farmers find cisterns and similar devicesnuisances. The first consideration is to make the floor water-tight, and clay will not do this. The virtues of puddled clay have had manyadvocates, but examination of clay floors after use will show thatvaluable constituents of the manure have been escaping. The soils ofthe country cannot afford the loss, and careful farm managementrequires acceptance of the truth that a tight floor is as necessary tothe stable as to the granary. The difficulty in supplying a sufficientamount of absorbents on tight floors only emphasizes the loss wherefloors are not water-tight. 

Use of Preservatives. --The use of land-plaster in stables helps toprevent loss of the nitrogen-content through fermentation. Its valuedoes not lie chiefly in physical action as an absorbent, but thebeneficial results come through chemical action. The volatile part ofthe manure is changed into a more stable form. In recent years thispreservative has fallen somewhat into disuse, as acid phosphatecontains like material and also supplies phosphoric acid to the manure. The phosphoric acid content of stable manure is too low for all soils, and the reënforcement by means of acid phosphate would be good practiceeven if there were no preservative effect. The use of fifty pounds ofacid phosphate to each ton of manure will assist materially inpreserving the nitrogen, and the gain in phosphoric acid will repay allthe cost. It should be used daily on the moist manure, as made in thestable, and preferably just before bedding is added, so that thephosphate will not come into direct contact with the feet of theanimals. Some stockmen prefer the use of acid phosphate and kainitmixed half-and-half. The latter is a carrier of potash, and is apreservative of nitrogen. 

The use of ground rock-phosphate in stables is coming into use in somelocalities, chiefly through the recommendation that it be mixed withmanure to secure availability of its own plant-food. It is not apreservative except in so far as it acts physically as an absorbent. Itshould not displace acid phosphate in stables, the preservation ofnitrogen in the manure being the vital matter. 

Spreading as Made. --When farm conditions make it feasible to draw andspread manure fast as made, the danger of heavy loss in storing isescaped. There is evidence that no appreciable escape of fertilityoccurs when manure is spread on land that is not covered with ice. Thephosphoric acid and potash are minerals, and leach into the soil. Thenitrogen does not change into a gas in any appreciable amount whenspread over the surface, and it likewise leaches into the soil. Thereare soils in which the decay of the organic matter would have a morebeneficial effect than the rotting upon the surface, it may be, but themulching effect of the manure is valuable. There should be no doubtthat the loss from manure is kept to a minimum when it goes directly tothe soil. In some latitudes the snow and ice oftentimes preventspreading, or make it inadvisable, and in many farm schemes it isdesirable to hold manure for special fields and crops. Some means ofstoring manure must be provided in these instances. 

The Covered Yard. --If the possible value of manure were realized, provision for its care would be made as promptly and surely asprovision for the care of a harvested crop. There are only threeconditions that must be provided in order that manure may be preservedwithout much loss. The manure must be protected from leaching rains, itmust be kept moist, and air must be excluded. The exposure of stablemanure to the processes of fermentation and leaching, produces a wastethat is believed to amount to several hundreds of millions of dollarsin the United States annually. The day will come when no farmer will bewilling to share heavily in a loss from this source, but will eitherspread manure fast as made or provide a roof for the stored manure. Anabsolutely tight floor is not so great a necessity as it is in thestable, because the amount of moisture is under control, but manyfarmers prefer to make concrete floors for the manure-shed and thus toguard against any loss from leaching. The chief cost may be confined tothe roof. 

A better plan is to inclose three sides, making them so tight that alldrafts will be prevented, and to use the shed as a place of exercisefor cows or other livestock. We have learned within recent years thatsuch an inclosure is more healthful and comfortable for cattle thanstalls in an inclosed building, no matter how cold the weather may be. The fresh air without any drafts, and the liberty of movement, areneeded. This shed should be connected with the stable, and on its floorthe manure from the stables may be spread daily. It should be scatteredevenly over the surface, and the mass can be kept firm by the trampingof the animals. It may be necessary to add some water at intervals tokeep the mass sufficiently moist. The water excludes air and assists inholding harmful fermentation in check. 

Harmless Fermentation. --There is a kind of fermentation in manure thatgoes on in the absence of air. It is due to bacteria that break up theorganic matter, producing rotted manure. This is not attended by muchloss, and proceeds beneath the surface of the moist and packed mass. Manure properly controlled under a roof goes into prime condition forspreading later in the season. The only danger is neglect, andespecially when the livestock is removed to the pasture fields in thespring. If no water is added from time to time, hot fermentationreplaces the harmless kind because air can penetrate through the bed ofmanure. Compactness and moisture can save the plant-food with smallloss throughout the summer, and a body of good manure is available whenneeded for top-dressing land in the summer. 

Rotted Manure. --Mixed stable manure contains in a ton as many pounds ofpotash as it does of nitrogen, and yet we speak of it as a highlynitrogenous fertilizer. When fresh manure has suffered no loss of theliquid part, much of its nitrogen is almost immediately available. Thenitrogen in the urine is in soluble forms, and fermentation quicklyoccurs. When manure is used on grass, it cannot be too fresh, as theimmediate action of the nitrogen is desirable. Vegetable growers oftenprefer a slower and more continuous action, and the rotting of manureunder right conditions changes the liquid nitrogen into compounds thatact more slowly. 

The solid material in horse manure contains less water than that of thecow, and this absence of water permits quick fermentation when air ispresent. The use of large quantities of such manure per acre is notliked by vegetable-growers. Rotting under control in a covered barnyardhas a beneficial effect for this reason when a hot manure is notwanted. The covered shed costs some money, and there is a lossestimated at 10 per cent under the best conditions, but when manurecannot be drawn fast as made, there is compensation in improvedcondition for certain soils and crops. 

Composts. --The compost, involving the handling of manure and soil, hasno rightful place on the average farm. The gardener or trucker usinggreat quantities of manure per acre must let some of the fermentationoccur before he incorporates it with the soil, or harm will result. Hewants reduction in volume, and such change in character that it willadd to the retentive character of the soil respecting moisture insteadof drying the soil out. He can afford all the labor of piling themanure with layers of sods or other material, and the turning to securemixing. It is his business to watch it so that loss will not occur. 

The farmer uses manure in smaller quantities per acre. Probably all hisfields need the full action of the organic matter in its rotting. Thepercentage of humus-making material is low. The place for fresh manureis on the land, when this is feasible. The covered shed is a device forholding manure with least possible loss when spreading cannot be done, or a supply must be carried over for land in the summer. The gain incondition is only incidental, and an advantage chiefly to vegetables. The composting of manure by gardeners is not a practice to be copied onmost farms. 

Poultry Manure. --The value of poultry manure often is overestimated. Its content of plant-food is one half greater than that of horsemanure, ton for ton. The availability of the nitrogen is so great thatreturns from applications are immediate, and give the impression ofgreater strength than is possessed. Its availability makes it excellentfor plants that need forcing. For such use it needs reënforcing onlywith acid phosphate, but as a general manure it should have theaddition of potash. Acid phosphate should be used in the poultry-houseto prevent loss of nitrogen, which escapes quickly on account of rapidfermentation, and to supply phosphoric acid. Thirty pounds of acidphosphate to each 100 pounds of the manure gives a mixture containingone pound of nitrogen, three pounds of phosphoric acid, and two fifthsof a pound of potash. The addition of four pounds of muriate of potashmakes the mixture a well-balanced and effective fertilizer when used atthe rate of 500 to 1000 pounds per acre. Dry muck or loam should bemixed with it to serve as an absorbent and to give good physicalcondition. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE USE OF STABLE MANURE

Controlling Factors. --The farm supply of stable manure is a carrier ofplant-food, returning to the soil four fifths of all the fertilityremoved in the crops fed, but it is much more than this. Land whichreceives only plant-food, as may be the case when fertility is suppliedin commercial fertilizers, loses good physical condition. Organicmatter is needed for maintenance of physical condition, the retentionof soil moisture, the freeing of inert minerals in the land, and thepromotion of bacterial life in the soil. No small share of the value ofa ton of manure is due to its organic matter. This is a factor in theproblem when deciding what disposition of the manure will pay best. Onefield may be in condition to respond fully to the use of commercialfertilizers, while another is too deficient in humus for best results. Some crops are more insistent upon supplies of organic matter thanothers. 

Again, the disposition of the manure depends upon the supply. If mostcrops are fed on the farm, the manure is a leading source of fertilityfor all fields and crops, and may be used once or twice in thecrop-rotation on every field. If the manure is in small amount, due toa scheme of farming involving the growing of crops for market, thefunction of the manure may be only to encourage the starting of sods, in which legumes are a leading factor. 

Direct Use for Corn. --The practice of spreading manure on grass landfor corn is based upon much good experience. The custom is nearlyuniversal in regions where corn is an important part of a four, five, or six years' rotation, and all of the corn and hay is fed on the farm. This disposition of the manure permits the handling at times when otherwork does not rush. The supply carried over from the spring is put onin late summer, and the manure made in the early part of the winter canbe drawn to the field fast as made. Manure spread immediately beforethe sod is broken is less effective, as no leaching of soluble elementsinto the surface soil occurs before the coarse material is buried inthe bottom of the furrow. 

[Illustration: Corn in the Ohio Valley. ]

The use of fresh manures for corn is rational, because corn is a grossfeeder and requires much nitrogen. All plants having heavy foliage canuse nitrogen in large amounts. It is possible to apply manure inexcessive amount for this cereal, the growth of stalk becoming out ofproportion to the ear, but the instances are relatively few. Ordinarilycorn suffers from lack of nitrogen. When the farm manure is in largeamount, its direct use for corn is good practice. 

Effect upon Moisture. --Coarse manures should not be plowed down late inthe spring, as they increase the ill effects of drouth. Decayedvegetation, well mixed with the soil, increases the soil'swater-holding capacity, but undecayed material in the bottom of thefurrow is harmful. Fresh, strawy manure, made immediately before thetime for breaking a sod, is preferably carried over in a covered sheduntil a later season of the year. 

When manure has been spread upon a sod in the fall or early winter, itdecays quickly after the plowing, and aids in resistance to drouth. When it is plowed down, the ground is kept more porous, and thepresence of plant-food and moisture at or near the depth of plowingencourages deeper rooting of plants, and thus indirectly assists themto withstand dry weather. If the plowing is good in character, leavingthe furrow-slice partly on edge, and permitting the harrow to mix partof the turf and the manure with the remainder of the soil, the bestconditions respecting moisture are secured. 

Manure on Grass. --When the crop-rotation embraces two or more years ofgrass, or one of clover followed by only one of grass, it is betterpractice to use the manure to thicken the sod. The object in view isthe largest possible amount of crops, and the maximum amount of organicmatter for the soil. Grass is a heavy feeder, like corn, and makes gooduse of nitrogen. Its roots fill the soil so that no loss attends theuse of manure. When the supply is given the grass, after the harvest ofthe second crop of clover and during the winter, the timothy can make arank growth. The part of the plant above ground has correspondingdevelopment below ground. Not only does a large increase in the haycrop result, but the heavy mass of grass roots, the aftermath, and theremains of the manure provide a great amount of fertility for the cornwhich follows. The increase in hay permits a corresponding increase inthe manure supply the next year, if it is fed, and if it is sold onaccount of a market price greater than its value for feed and manure, it adds to income materially--and that is one reason for farming. 

Manure on Potatoes. --There are excellent cash crops that may get morethan their fair share of the farm supply of fertility, and against theinterest of fields in the farm not adapted to cash crops. Thejustification is found in the farm ledger. In some regions potatoes arethe best crop in point of net income per acre, where the acreage iskept restricted so that there may be plenty of organic matter to helpin conserving moisture. It is not good practice to use fresh manure, and especially that from horse-stables, for potatoes. A heavyapplication makes an excessive growth of vine, and the yield of tuberssuffers. A stronger deterrent is the effect that fresh manure has onthe development of the spores that produce the disease known aspotato-scab. Rotted manure is less dangerous, and few crops repay itsuse in higher degree than the potato. Some growers prefer to make heavyapplication of fresh manure to grass for corn, and follow with potatoesso that they can profit by the rotted organic matter that remains. Inthis way the physical condition is made excellent, moisture is wellheld in a dry season, and commercial fertilizers can supplement theplant-food left in the manure. 

When to plow Down. --Excellent farmers differ regarding the relativeefficiencies of manure plowed down and that mixed with the top soil. Both classes may be right for their individual instances. The plowingdown of manure helps to deepen the soil, and that always is desirable. It causes plants to root deeply, and that is a distinct benefit in adrouthy season, and always desirable. When a soil is in such tilth thatthe breaking-plow always brings fertile soil to the surface, theplowing down of manure gives excellent results, though it should bepermitted to leach at the surface for a few weeks before being turnedunder. When land is being prepared for a seeding to grass or clover, the supply of manure should not be plowed down wherever thebreaking-plow brings soil to the surface that is deficient in humus. Inthe latter case the manure always should be used as a top-dressing, andshould be evenly spread and well mixed with the surface soil. It isneeded there far more than it can be needed farther down. The surfacesoil always should have a high content of organic matter. 

Heavy Applications. --When the farm supply of manure is small, applications should be light. The manure should not be the dependencefor plant-food on a part of a field, or a single field of the farm, under such circumstances. It is more profitable to give a lightdressing to a larger area. The manure is needed to make a fertilizingcrop grow, and a very few tons per acre can assist greatly, whenrightly used. The manure is needed to furnish bacteria to the soil, anda small amount per acre is useful for this purpose. Always there istemptation to use all the manure on a field convenient to the barn, andto concentrate it on a sufficiently small area to make a good yieldsure. The loss to the farm in this method is heavy. The thin spots andthe thin fields have first right to the manure as a top-dressing, andsix tons per acre will bring larger returns per ton than twelve tonsper acre. At the Pennsylvania experiment station the land receiving tentons of manure per acre in the common four years' rotation of corn, oats, wheat, and mixed clover and grass gives added returns of $1. 63 aton, while an application of eight tons pays $1. 85 a ton, and a six-tonapplication brings the value per ton up to $2. 41. These applicationsare made twice in the four years. 

Reënforcement with Minerals. --A ton of mixed manure in the stablecontains about ten pounds of nitrogen, five pounds of phosphoric acid, and ten pounds of potash. This makes the percentage of nitrogen andpotash the same, while the percentage of phosphoric acid is only halfas high. A commercial fertilizer of such percentages would be esteemeda badly balanced one. Certainly the phosphoric acid should berelatively high, as this constituent of plant-food runs low in thesoil. If 50 pounds of 14 per cent acid phosphate were added to each tonof manure while it is being made in the stable, seven pounds ofphosphoric acid would be added, making the percentage in the manure alittle higher than that of the nitrogen and the potash. A betterbalance is given to the fertility. There cannot be any loss in thispurchased plant-food, if the stable floor is tight. Fermentation cannotdrive it off, and when applied to the soil it is tightly held. Practically no phosphoric acid is found in drainage waters. Eight tonsof manure thus reënforced would contain the same amount of plant-foodas a ton of fertilizer having 4 per cent nitrogen, 5 per centphosphoric acid, and 4 per cent potash. The addition of the 50 poundsof acid phosphate per ton does not bring the phosphoric acid content upas high relatively as in most commercial fertilizers, but it helps. Thetotal amount in the eight tons manure may be sufficient, and thegreater part of the total has sufficiently immediate availability, while the manure must undergo decomposition, and some of the nitrogenand potash does not become available within the year. 

Durability of Manure. --Tests of the durability of manure in the soilinvolve some uncertain factors, but we are interested only in theeffects of applications. These effects may continue for a long term ofyears, and an example will illustrate. Land may be too infertile tomake a good clover sod. If a good dressing of manure be given half theland, affording proper conditions for making a sod, the result will bea heavy growth of clover, while the seeding on the unmanured half willbe nearly a failure. If no manure or fertilizer be used in thecrop-rotation, the probability is the manured portion of the field willagain make a fairly good sod. How much this success may be due to theremains of the manure, and how much is attributable to the effect ofthe clover and to better bacterial life introduced and favored by themanure, no one knows. Probably the greater part of the benefit comesonly indirectly from the manure applied three or four years previously. Half of the field may thus be lifted out of a helpless state and remainout of it for a long term of years, while the other half grows onlypoorer. A probable illustration of this lasting indirect effect may beseen in one of the plats in the soil fertility experiments on thePennsylvania experiment station farm. 

Experiments at the Rothamstead station, England, show some lastingresults from applications of manure. Director Hall cites the case ofone plat of grass land which was highly manured each year from 1856 to1863, and has since been left unmanured. In 1864 this plat gave doublethe yield of an adjoining plat which had been left unmanured during theeight years. In 1865 the plat, last manured in 1863, gave over doublethe yield of the unmanured. In the following ten years its yield was ahalf more than that of the unmanured. In the next ten years the yieldwas a quarter more. In the next ten years it fell to 6 per cent morethan the plat that had received no manure in the beginning of theexperiment. In the following ten years it rose to 15 per cent. Here isa lasting effect of manure for over forty years where grass was growncontinuously. 

CHAPTER XV

CROP-ROTATIONS

The Farm Scheme. --Notwithstanding some of the theorizing that does notcommend itself to the practical man, farm management is taking on theform of a science. It involves the organization of a farm for bestresults, and in the scheme that should be worked out for any particularfarm the most important feature is the crop-rotation. The selection ofcrops is controlled by so many local considerations, including thepersonal likes and dislikes of the farmer, that very rightly the kindsof rotation are innumerable. The order in which crops may be grown withmost profit is less variable, and yet even here local conditions mayquickly derange the scheme of a theorist. There is, however, such rightrelation of facts to each other that we are getting a workingphilosophy, and the individual farmer can bend practice to his ownliking in considerable degree, and yet not compel plants to do theirpart at a disadvantage. He has much liberty in the order of theirgrowing, without endangering profits materially. Theoretically, this isnot true, and the factors of production on any farm are such that thelargest return is obtainable in only one scheme of farming. Practicallythere is rather wide liberty. 

Value of Rotation. --Experience has shown the benefit of variety incrops grown on land. Among the advantages of crop-rotation are thefollowing:

 1. It enables the farmer to maintain the supply of organic matter in his soil. The roots and stubble of a grain crop are insufficient for this purpose, and the introduction of a sod or cover crop is helpful. 

 2. It permits the use of legumes to secure cheap supplies of nitrogen. 

 3. Some plants feed near the surface of the ground, and the use of other plants which send roots deeper adds to the production. 

 4. Some crops leave the soil in bad physical condition, and the use of other crops in the rotation serves as a corrective. 

 5. The keeping of livestock is made more feasible and profitable, and this leads to increase in farm manures. 

 6. In a proper succession of crops the soil is covered with living plants nearly all the time, and thus is prevented from washing or leaching. 

 7. In addition to these influences upon soil fertility, crop-rotation assists in control of insect and fungous foes and of weeds; it permits such distribution of labor on the farm that the largest total production may be secured by its employment; and it saves the farmer from sole dependence upon a single crop. 

[Illustration: Penn's Valley, Pennsylvania. ]

Selection of Crops. --The natural inclination of the farmer is aconsideration that cannot be ignored. If a man does not like certainkinds of animals or crops, his farm or market must possess an unusualadvantage to counter-balance. Illustration of this truth may be seen inevery farming community. 

As a rule, the crops should be those that are well adapted to theparticular soils upon which they are grown. It is up-hill work tocompete with producers whose soils have far better adaptation, unlessthe local markets equalize conditions. 

The crops should follow each other in such succession that each cropnaturally paves the way for the next one in the succession, or at leastdoes not place its successor at a disadvantage. 

When it is feasible, a rather large proportion of the entire produce ofthe rotation should be feeding-stuff for livestock, as soil fertilityis most easily guarded by livestock farming. This is desirable whenconsistent with profit, but, as we have seen, it is not an absoluteessential. 

An Old Succession of Crops. --In the corn belt of the northern statessome time-honored crop-rotations have been formed by corn, oats, wheat, clover, and timothy. The number of years devoted to the grain and tothe sod has varied with the soil and the desire of its owner. A commonsuccession is corn one year, oats one year, wheat one year, clover andtimothy one year, timothy one year--a five years' rotation that hasmuch substantial success behind it. Such a rotation is whollyreasonable and in accord with the nature of things. Every yearfurnishes some organic matter for the soil in roots and stubble, andall the produce of four years out of the five may be fed on the farm. There is one cash crop, or two if the price of the clear timothy hayjustifies sale. 

The manure may be hauled upon the sod when other work does not press, and it goes where the crop is one that prefers fresh manure, be thatthe grass or the corn. There is plenty of time after the corn toprepare for oats, and after the oats to prepare for wheat. Thepreparation for the wheat is sufficient for the clover and timothy. Theseedings come only in the spring and the fall, when rainfall is moreabundant and effective than in mid-summer. The danger of failure incase of this rotation is relatively small. 

Corn Two Years. --Hunt says that the prosperity of the east, as a whole, would be greatly increased if the rotations of crops were so modifiedas to increase the corn acreage. He suggests the four rotations givenin the table below, which is taken from Bulletin 116 of thePennsylvania experiment station. The fertilizers recommended shouldmaintain fertility. 

 CORN IN CROP-ROTATIONS

+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------------------------------------+| 3 Yr. | 4 Yr. | 5 Yr. | 7 Yr. | || ------+-------+-------+-------+-------------------------------------+| | | | 1 | Corn: 6 to 10 loads of manure and 25|| | | | | pounds of phosphoric acid. || 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Corn: 6 to 10 loads of manure and 25|| | | | | pounds of phosphoric acid. || | 2 | 2 | 3 | Oats: no fertilizer. || 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Wheat: 50 pounds each of phosphoric || | | | | acid and potash. || 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Clover and timothy: no fertilizer. || | | 5 | 6 | Timothy: 25 pounds each of nitrogen, || | | | | phosphoric acid, and potash. || | | | 7 | Timothy: 25 pounds each of nitrogen, || | | | | phosphoric acid, and potash. |+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------------------------------------+

The Oat Crop. --In the northern part of the corn belt the oat crop isprofitable. In the southern half of Ohio and regions of like temperaturethe oat crop rarely pays. The heat, when the oat is in the milk stage, usually is too great. The tendency there is to eliminate this crop. Where silage is wanted, the stubble-land can be seeded directly towheat with good results. A common practice is to seed to wheat betweenthe shocked corn, and the wheat does poorly unless the soil is quitefertile. 

Two Crops of Wheat. --A common practice has been to grow two crops ofwheat, seeding first in the corn stubble-land, and plowing the groundfor the second wheat crop, making a smooth surface for mowing. Thismethod ceased to pay well when wheat became low in price. It has theadvantage of giving two cash crops to the rotation. 

Where winter wheat does not thrive in the north, it is dropped out, andthe seeding to clover and grass is with the oat crop. There is thecompensation of a large oat yield where the climate is too cold for agood crop of wheat. 

[Illustration: In the Shenandoah Valley. ]

The Clover and Timothy. --The timothy and clover sod is madeinexpensively so far as labor is concerned. The first crop of hay ischiefly clover, and the soil is enriched by the roots and stubble, while the hay is converted into manure. 

The second year the hay is nearly clear timothy. The sod should not beleft until it becomes thin, but should be turned under while heavy, nomatter if this must be after one season's harvest, or two. A sod standsthree or four years for harvest on some farms, and without heavyfertilization there is decrease in fertility. 

Two Legumes in the Rotation. --If all the crops of this five years'rotation, excepting wheat, were fed on the farm, and if all the manurewere saved and rightly applied, there would be little or no difficultyin maintaining fertility, provided the soil were friendly to clover. The fact is that much such land has grown poorer, and it is known thatanother legume is needed in the rotation. The substitution of thesoybean or cowpea for the oat crop gives excellent results. It makes alarge supply of rich hay, and it fits the soil nicely for winter grain. The use of the breaking-plow is escaped. The surface of the land is ingood tilth, especially if the legume was planted in rows so thatcultivation could be given. A cutaway harrow, run shallow, and a rollermake the seed-bed. Near the southern edge of the oat belt thissubstitution gives more value in the crop following corn, and at thesame time conserves soil fertility. 

Where land is thin, a four years' rotation of corn, soybeans orcowpeas, wheat, and clover is one of the best, because it contains twoleguminous crops, and because one of them favors the wheat whichfollows and the clover seeded in the wheat. 

Potatoes after Corn. --When potatoes are grown in the corn belt, a fiveyears' rotation of corn, potatoes, oats, wheat, and clover, or corn, potatoes, wheat, clover, and timothy, is one of the best. When a latepotato crop is grown, there is not time for seeding to wheat in coollatitudes, and the oat crop, or the soybean, fits in best. Farthersouth, where the oat crop is less profitable, there usually is time togo directly to wheat. 

The advantage in this rotation is that the fresh manure can be used onthe sod for the corn, and the potato thrives in the rotted remains ofthe sod and manure. Corn leaves the soil in good physical condition forthe potato. Commercial fertilizer is used freely for the potato, whichrepays fertilization in higher degree than most other staple crops. Theland can be prepared for seeding to wheat and grass with a minimumamount of labor. The rotation is excellent where there is enoughfertility for the potato, which usually can be by far the mostprofitable crop in the entire rotation. 

A Three Years' Rotation. --Farm conditions may require that certainfields in the farm go under a crop-rotation covering three years. Inthe winter wheat belt this may be clover, corn, and wheat, or clover, potatoes, and wheat. It is an excellent rotation when early plantedpotatoes or silage corn follows the sod, favoring the wheat in whichthe clover again is seeded. The ground is plowed only once in threeyears. The clover furnishes hay for the farm, and organic matter withnitrogen for the land. There are two cash crops in the rotation whenpotatoes are grown, and that makes a heavy draft upon fertility. Experience has demonstrated that commercial fertilizers or manurebecome necessary as a supplement to clover in a three years' rotationembracing potatoes. This rotation gives good control of most weeds andinsect enemies. 

Where wheat is unprofitable, the oat crop is used in its stead. Ifmixed hay is wanted, timothy is sown with the clover. This is poorpractice from the standpoint of soil fertility because the draft uponhumus is heavy in a close rotation embracing a tilled crop and smallgrain. The sod should be chiefly clover, or manure should be used inconnection with commercial fertilizer. 

Grain and Clover. --In the case of some soils it is possible to grow awheat or corn crop each year, clover being grown as a catch crop. Inthe long run, this practice will fail because the clover will cease tomake a thrifty growth when grown so nearly continuously. It succeedsbest on fertile land. 

Potatoes and Crimson Clover. --In some potato-producing sections in warmlatitudes it is a not uncommon practice to grow potatoes year afteryear on the same land, seeding to crimson clover after the removal ofthe crop in August, and plowing the clover down early in the spring. Rye has been similarly used farther north. In each instance availableplant-food must be freely supplied. The practice is a temporaryexpedient of value, but probably cannot be pursued indefinitely withprofit. This is likewise true of similar close rotations. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE NEED OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS

Loss of Plant-food. --The soil is composed chiefly of material thatnever will enter into the structure of plants, but that serves us byaffording a congenial place for plant-roots. It anchors the plants, holds moisture for them, and offers opportunity for all the processesnecessary to the preparation of plant-food and to its use. In thismaterial are the abundant supplies of such plant-food as silica, but, as has been previously stated, their very abundance leads us rightly todisregard them in our thinking. Our interest is only in the very smallpercentage of material that is composed of the four constituents whichmay be lacking in available form in the soil: nitrogen, phosphoricacid, potash, and lime. We believe that the only consideration that nowneed be given lime is as a soil-corrective and, when there is noacidity, we may assume that there is plenty of lime present. Whenyields of crops tend to decrease, the only plant-foods with which weare concerned are nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. 

The materials were stored in all agricultural land, and much of thesupply is in inert forms. They help to make what we call the naturalstrength of the land. The rotting of organic matter, tillage, and manyother agencies bring about some availability. The removal of crops, leaching, etc. , reduce the supply. The right use of commercialfertilizers involves the addition of some plant-food when the availablesupply in a particular soil is inadequate. 

Prejudice against Commercial Fertilizers. --The owner of land that wasmade very fertile by nature, and that has not been cropped long enoughto reduce the supply of available fertility to the danger-point, rarelyfails to entertain a prejudice against commercial fertilizers. It isthe rule that he refuses to consider their use until the decrease incrop yields becomes so serious that necessity drives. If his land isnot contributing its fair share of grain, vegetables, etc. , to themarkets, but has all its products converted into meat or milk, thesupply of available plant-food may remain sufficient for so long a timethat the matter cannot have any interest for him. If the land isproducing some crops for market, there is reduction in its mineralstore. It is the rule that the boundary of profitable use of commercialfertilizers pushes westward from the older and naturally poorerseaboard states about one generation after need shows in the cropyields. Lack of knowledge, the association of the use of commercialfertilizers with poor land, and some observation of the unwise use offertilizers, combine to create a lively prejudice. They are viewed asstimulants only, and costly ones at that. 

Are Fertilizers Stimulants?--Some words carry with them their ownpopular condemnation. We are accustomed to draw a sharp line betweenfoods and stimulants, and to condemn the latter. To stimulate is torouse to activity. Tillage does not add one pound of plant-food to thesoil, and its office is to enable plants to draw material out of thesoil. It makes activities possible that convert soil material intocrops. Fertilizers add plant-food directly to the soil, and it is alsoto their credit that their judicious use favors increased availabilityin some of the compounds already in the soil. The greater part of thelabor put on land is designed to make plant-food available, either byproviding moisture, or ease of penetration of plant-roots, or activityof bacteria, or other means that will permit plants to remove what theyneed for growth. Fertilizers supply fertility directly and indirectly, but it is their direct service in meeting a deficiency in plant-foodthat affords all needed justification for their use by practicalfarmers. 

Referring to the thirty years' soil fertility experiments of thePennsylvania station, Hunt says that they "show that there is nothinginjurious about commercial fertilizers. For thirty years certain platsin this experiment have received no stable manures. No organic matterhas been added to the soil except that which was furnished by the rootsand stubble of plants grown. These plats are not only as fertile asthey were thirty years ago, but they have yielded, and continue toyield, as good crops as adjacent plats which have received yard manureevery two years in place of commercial fertilizer. "

Soil Analysis. --There is wide misconception regarding the value ofchemical analysis of the soil as an aid in making choice of afertilizer. Analysis has shown that some soil types are relativelyricher in plant-constituents than are others, and it has shown abnormaldeficiency in some types of limited area. It has given us moreknowledge of soils, but as a guide to fertilization in particularinstances it usually has no value. The samples used by an analyst areso small that the inaccuracy in his determination may easily be greaterthan the total amount of plant-food in a very heavy application ofcommercial fertilizer. A field that has been reduced to temporarily lowproductive power by heavy cropping or bad farming methods may show agreater content of plant-food than another field that is in a highlyproductive condition. This is a fact difficult of acceptance by somewho want the aid of science, but such are the present limitations. Theweight of a fertilizer application is so small in comparison with theweight of the surface part of an acre of land that the use of a ton offertilizer may not be detected in the analyst's determinations, andmoreover his determinations of actual availability in the soil'ssupplies are not serviceable in the selection of a fertilizer for anyparticular field and crop. 

Physical Analysis. --Chemical analysis is costly and unsatisfactory as aguide to fertilization. Physical analysis by a competent man may havedistinct value, and especially to one lacking experience with his soil. The mapping of soils by national and state authorities has given prettyaccurate knowledge of hundreds of soil types, their location andcharacteristics, and when a soil expert obtains a sample of soil andthe history of its past treatment, he can assign it to its type andgive to its owner dependable advice regarding its crop-adaptation andprobable fertilizer requirements. 

The Use of Nitrogen. --There is no fully satisfactory way of determiningthe kind and amount of fertilizer that should be used at any particulartime for any one crop. Perfection in this respect is no easier inattainment than in other matters. There are, however, means of arrivingat conclusions that are a valuable guide. 

In a general way, nitrogen is in scant supply in all worn soils. Wherever the cropping has been hard, and manure has not gone back tothe land, the growth in stalk and leaves of the plant is deficient. Thecolor is light. Inability of a soil to produce a strong growth of corn, a large amount of straw, or a heavy hay crop, is indicative of lack ofnitrogen in nearly every instance. 

The legumes, such as clover, and the stable manures are rich innitrogen, and when the scheme of farming involves their use on all theland of the farm, no need of purchased nitrogen may arise in theproduction of staple crops. In the black corn soils the nitrogencontent originally was high. 

Lands that naturally are not very fertile rarely have enough availablenitrogen. Where timothy is a leading crop, the demand for nitrogen isheavy. A cold spring or summer, checking nature's processes in thesoil, may cause a temporary deficiency in available nitrogen in landthat usually has a sufficient supply. Associating a rank growth ofstalk and leaf with an abundance of nitrogen, the experienced man canform a pretty safe opinion regarding the probable profitableness of aninvestment in this element. It costs nearly four times as much perpound as either of the two other constituents of a fertilizer, and sofar as is feasible it should be obtained through the legumes and stablemanure. 

Phosphoric-acid Requirements. --Soil analyses show that the content ofphosphoric acid in most soils of this country is relatively small. Theresults of experiments with the various constituents of fertilizers arein accord with this fact. Fertilizer experiments at the variousstations and on farms are nearly a unit in showing that if any need inplant-food exists, phosphoric acid is deficient. When crop-producingpower decreases, and the farmer begins to seek a commercial fertilizerto repair the loss, he finds that bone-dust or acid phosphate isserviceable. The resulting increase in yield often leads to such soledependence upon this fertilizer that clover and manure are disregarded, the percentage of humus is allowed to drop, and finally the fertilizeris brought into disrepute. The need of phosphoric acid is so commonthat it is the sole plant-food in much fertilizer, and the dominantelement in practically all the remainder on the market. 

[Illustration: Plat experiments. ]

The Need of Potash. --Land which is deficient in organic matterordinarily is lacking in available potash, and responds with profit toapplications, provided the nitrogen and phosphoric-acid requirementshave been met. Clay soils contain far more potash than sandy soils, andin a farming scheme for them that permits the use of manure and clover, it may not become necessary to buy much potash. The liberal use ofstraw in the stables, and the saving of all the liquid manure, arehelps. Farms from which the hay and straw have been sold for a longperiod of time develop an urgent need of potash. Much muck land is verydeficient in this constituent. 

Fertilizer Tests. --Every farmer should conduct some fertilizer testsfor himself. It is only the soil itself that can make an adequate replyto a question regarding its needs. The test should be made underconditions furnishing evenness in the soil, and it should be continuedfor years. There is pleasure to an intelligent farmer in suchquestioning of his soil, and only in this way can assurance be obtainedthat the investment in fertilizers is the wisest that can be plannedfor the farm. 

There are only three plant constituents to be tested, but they must beused in combination as well as singly. A soil that is deficient in thethree may not give any return from potash alone, and usually does not, although it may give a marked increase from use of phosphoric acidalone. The plats may be eight rods long and one rod wide, containingeach one twentieth of an acre, and having strips two feet wideseparating them. The following chart suggests quantities of fertilizersto be used on the one-twentieth acre plats, 10 in number:

 +---------------------------------------+ | Nothing. | +---------------------------------------+ | 5 pounds nitrate of soda. | +---------------------------------------+ | 18 pounds 14 per cent acid phosphate. | +---------------------------------------+ | 4 pounds muriate of potash. | +---------------------------------------+ | Nothing. | +---------------------------------------+ | 5 pounds nitrate of soda. | | 18 pounds 14 per cent acid phosphate. | +---------------------------------------+ | 5 pounds nitrate of soda. | | 4 pounds muriate of potash. | +---------------------------------------+ | 18 pounds 14 per cent acid phosphate. | | 4 pounds muriate of potash. | +---------------------------------------+ | 5 pounds nitrate of soda. | | 18 pounds 14 per cent acid phosphate. | | 4 pounds muriate of potash. | +---------------------------------------+ | Nothing. | +---------------------------------------+

Variation in Soil. --The difficulty in determining the character offertilizer for a field, due to variation in the soil, is overestimated. Very often a land-owner says, "I have a dozen kinds of soil in everyfield. " This is true in a way, it may be, but if all the field has hadthe same treatment in the past, the probability is that the fertilizerwhich is best for one part of the field will be quite good for theother parts. The likeness in characteristics that permits the land tobe cropped as one field gives some assurance of likeness in plant-foodneeds, even where the proportion of clay and sand varies and the coloris not the same. 

There may be wide variation in the productive power of the fields of afarm, due to the treatments they have received. The land that growsheavy clover in a close rotation, or receives all the stable manure, may need neither nitrogen nor potash, while another field, hard-run bytimothy and corn, may need a complete fertilizer. When a carefulfertilizer test on land of only average productive power has been made, the owner has some definite knowledge of his soil that enables him togive more intelligent treatment to all his fields than was possiblebefore the test had been made. He observes the appearance and yield ofplants where the plant-food requirement was fully met, and makesallowance in other fields for gains or losses in the soil due todifferent treatment. It is out of the question to become discouragedbefore a beginning has been made. If yields are limited by absence ofplant-food, fertilizers must be used. If money must be expended forfertilizers, it is only good business to know that the money isexpended to the best advantage. 

CHAPTER XVII

COMMERCIAL SOURCES OF PLANT-FOOD

Acquaintance with Terms. --The hesitation of many users of commercialfertilizer to master the few technical terms used in analyses of thegoods, for which over one hundred million dollars annually are expendedin this country, is to be deplored. The number of the materialsavailable for any large use as sources of plant-food in a commercialfertilizer is small, and something of their characteristics should beknown. Every farmer should have a working knowledge of thesematerials--their sources, the percentage of plant-food carried by them, and their probable availability. He should know in a general way theiradvantages and disadvantages in comparison with each other. 

Nitrate of Soda. --One of the best carriers of nitrogen is nitrate ofsoda, which is imported from Chili, South America, where great bedsexist. The most of the impurities are removed, and the nitrate of sodacomes to us in bags holding 200 pounds, and looks much like discoloredsalt. It is easily soluble in water, and usually contains a little over15 per cent of nitrogen, which is in a very available form. Itsimmediate availability brings it into use by gardeners and truckers, and it is an excellent source of nitrogen for grass fertilizers to beused in the early spring. It was formerly advised that nitrate of sodashould not form part of a fertilizer for use before plant-roots hadfilled the ground, its high availability being supposed to lead toheavy loss by leaching. The Pennsylvania experiment station uses it asits sole source of nitrogen in fertilizers for staple crops on its 900acres of farm land. It is effective in fertilizers for corn, wheat, potatoes, and grass, as well as for special crops. 

The warnings regarding loss by leaching should not be disregarded, however. If the price of nitrogen in an organic form were as low as ithas been in nitrate of soda, and if the soils of the Pennsylvaniastation farms were sandy, the use of nitrate of soda as the solecarrier of nitrogen would be inadvisable. The only fact of consequenceis that the danger of loss has been over-stated, turning some farmersaway from the use of a good and relatively cheap carrier of nitrogen. 

Sulphate of Ammonia. --This is a by-product in the manufacture of cokeand also of illuminating gas. Hunt estimates that the amount ofnitrogen lost annually in Pennsylvania's coke industry would besufficient, if recovered by proper type of ovens, to furnish every acreof land under cultivation in the state with four fifths of all thenitrogen needed to keep it in a maximum state of fertility. 

Sulphate of ammonia contains about 20 per cent of nitrogen, which is ina quite available form. It has a tendency to exhaust the lime in thesoil, producing an acid condition. Some plats in the fertilizerexperiment at the Pennsylvania station have received their nitrogen inthe form of sulphate of ammonia for 30 years, and are now in such acidcondition that no crops thrive upon them. The corrective, of course, islime, and if ammonium sulphate were somewhat lower in price, its usewould be profitable, justifying cost of correction of acidity if itshould occur. It is used by manufacturers of commercial fertilizers, and is well adapted to mixtures on account of its physical condition. 

Dried Blood. --There is no more satisfactory source of organic nitrogenthan dried blood of high grade. The best blood, red in color, containsnearly as much nitrogen as nitrate of soda, running from 13 to 15 percent. The nitrogen is not as quickly available as that in the nitrate, but is more so than that in any other form of organic nitrogen. Onewould rarely go amiss in the purchase of dried blood as a carrier ofnitrogen if the price were relatively as low as in the case of nitrateof soda, but he should not let any prejudice in favor of animal originof fertilizers lead him to pay an excessive price per pound for thenitrogen contained in it. Such a prejudice has caused the nitrogen in agood red blood to sell for one half more per pound than in nitrate ofsoda, and it is not a good purchase on that basis. 

The lower grades of dried blood on the market contain as low as 6 percent of nitrogen, and the animal refuse put into it gives it a contentof a few per cent of phosphoric acid. This black blood is very variablein composition, and should always be accompanied by a guaranteedanalysis. 

Tankage. --The waste from the slaughter of animals goes into a productcalled tankage. The refuse is cooked for removal of the fat, and thenground. It may run high in nitrogen on account of the amount of meat inthe mixture, and it may be low in nitrogen and very high in phosphoricacid by reason of the large amount of bone in the mixture. Only aguarantee of analysis affords safety to the buyer. It is a relativelyslow and good fertilizer, and is used usually in connection with formsof plant-food that are more quickly available. 

Fish. --Near the Atlantic coast a large quantity of ground fish, afterthe extraction of oil, is used as a fertilizer, but the cost of thenitrogen and phosphoric acid in this carrier is relatively too high tojustify its free use. Like dried blood, its organic character gains forit a popularity that does not have full justification in fact. 

Animal Bone. --The original source of phosphoric acid as a fertilizerwas animal bone, just as hard-wood, unleached ashes were the source ofpotash. The organic character of the animal bone made it appear moretruly a manure than could any rock or other inorganic substance. Thereis no more satisfactory source of phosphoric acid than animal bone, andif it were in full supply for the needs of soils, there would be littleoccasion to discuss the merits of rock-phosphate and other similarmaterials. The supply is a small fraction of the need. If all animalbone were carefully saved and returned to the land that produced all ofour animals, it would return to the soil only what those animalscarried away in their bones, and that is indeed a small fraction of allthe draft our crops make upon the soil's supply of this one substance. Some of the best animal bone goes into the manufacture of articles thatnever contribute anything to the soil, and there are other sources ofloss. The supply of phosphoric acid from bone is too small, whencompared with the land's need, to deserve more than a small fraction ofthe consideration it receives by users of commercial fertilizers. 

The peculiar situation respecting animal bone has come about through aform of deceit. The demand for bone existed, and there was no legalrestraint in the matter of branding phosphatic rock as "bone, ""bone-phosphate, " etc. In the past, nearly all forms of rock-phosphateshave carried the word "bone" on the bag to quiet the apprehension ofthose who entertained a prejudice against anything other than animalbone. Nearly all the phosphoric acid has come from rock, and its usehas been necessary and profitable, but the misrepresentation fosteredthe old-time prejudice. Within recent years some manufacturers havetired of the seeming deceit that served no purpose with many customers, and have placed acid phosphate and mixed goods upon the market withoutthe intimation that the phosphoric acid was derived from animal bone. 

The demand for bone makes prices high for the very limited amount uponthe market, when availability is taken into account, and the advicethat such goods be used would be valueless if it had any generalacceptance. Prices would go higher, and the amount in the world wouldremain wholly inadequate. 

Raw Bone. --Stable manure lasts several years in the soil because decayis slow. Raw bone has appealed to many because its action is likewisenecessarily slow. The fat in it prevents fine grinding and protects thecoarse particles from decay. It is known as bone-meal or coarseground-bone. A good quality of raw bone may contain 4 per cent ofnitrogen, while the phosphoric-acid content is 20 to 25 per cent. Thebones of old animals is less rich in nitrogen. The age of the animals, and the sorting for manufactures of various kinds, cause variation inquality, and the purchase of raw bone should be made on guaranteedanalysis just as surely as the purchase of bone that has been treatedin any way for removal of various substances in it. 

Steamed Bone. --When animal bone is boiled or steamed under pressure forremoval of the fat and the cartilage, the content of nitrogen isreduced, and the percentage of phosphoric acid is increased by thisremoval of fat and nitrogenous substance. The nitrogen in steamed bonemay run as low as 1 per cent, and the phosphoric acid may go up to 30per cent. The composition of steamed bone is so widely variable thatthe name means little, and purchase should be made only on guaranteedanalysis. Some grades run very low both in nitrogen and phosphoricacid, due probably to adulteration. 

The boiling or steaming of bone makes fine grinding possible, and thefineness and absence of fat permit quick decay in the soil. Steamedbone is an excellent source of phosphoric acid. The availability isless immediate than that of acid phosphate, but much greater than thatof raw bone. 

Rock-phosphate. --While the greater part of our soils contain relativelyscant stores of phosphoric acid, the deposits of this plant constituentin combination with lime are immense. The rock now chiefly used in thiscountry is found in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida. It variesgreatly in content of phosphoric acid. When pulverized for direct useon land, without treatment with sulphuric acid to make the plant-foodavailable, a grade running 28 per cent phosphoric acid, or less, usually is selected, the higher grades being reserved for treatmentwith acid or for export. This untreated rock, pulverized exceedinglyfine, often is known as floats. 

The value of a pound of phosphoric acid in floats, as compared withthat of a pound in the treated rock, known as acid phosphate, is amatter upon which scientists differ widely. Only a small percentage ofthe plant-food is immediately available, and the question of wise usehinges upon the degree of availability gained later, and the timerequired. The large amount of experimental work that has been doneaffords data that causes the following opinion to be stated here:Rock-phosphate, known as floats, is not a profitable source ofplant-food for soils deficient in organic matter, when compared withacid phosphate. It is more nearly profitable in an acid soil than inone that has no lime deficiency. It gives more satisfactory resultswhen mixed intimately with stable manure than when used upon land thatremains deficient in organic matter. Applications should be in largeamount per acre--500 to 1000 pounds--in order that the amount ofreadily available phosphoric acid may meet the immediate need ofplants. Dependence should be placed upon the readily available acidphosphate in all instances until experiment on the farm shows that therock-phosphate is a cheaper source of plant-food than the acidphosphate. 

Acid Phosphate. --When animal bone is treated with sulphuric acid, theresult is an acid phosphate, but treated animal bone is so rare on themarket that it may be ignored. The acid phosphate on the market isrock-phosphate treated with sulphuric acid to render its plant-foodavailable. The content of phosphoric acid varies because the originalrock-phosphate varies, but the most common grade on the market isguaranteed to contain 14 per cent available phosphoric acid, and 1 to 2per cent insoluble. Some acid phosphate is guaranteed to contain 16 percent available phosphoric acid, and some runs down to 10 per centavailable. 

An acid phosphate contains quickly available plant-food. A prejudiceexists against it on account of its source, and it has been a commonpractice to label the bags "bone-phosphate, " or "dissolved bone, " orsuch other designation as would imply an organic source, but the acidphosphate is made out of rock-phosphate, regardless of the name given. The prejudice against the rock as a source of plant-food is giving way. It is our chief and cheapest source of supply. The combination ofsulphuric acid with rock-phosphate in the production of acid phosphateproduces sulphate of lime, known as gypsum or land-plaster. The amountof gypsum in a ton of acid phosphate varies, but may be roughlyestimated by the buyer as two thirds of the total weight of the acidphosphate. 

The tendency of gypsum is, in the long run, to make a soil acid, andits use necessarily hastens rather than retards the day when a limedeficiency will occur. The influence in this direction is not greatenough to be a very material factor in deciding upon a carrier ofphosphoric acid. If a soil has little lime in it, a state of aciditysoon will come anyway, and the increase in amount of required lime willbe small. The cheapness of acid phosphate, as compared with animalbone, is the decisive factor. 

The ill-effects usually attributed to acid phosphate are not due in anygreat degree directly to the sulphuric acid used in its making, but tothe bad farming methods that so often attend its use. When the need ofcommercial fertilizers is first recognized, acid phosphate seems tomeet the need. The soil's store of available phosphoric acid gives outfirst, and this fertilizer brings a new supply. If the available potashis in scant amount, the acid phosphate helps in this direction byfreeing some potash. The phosphoric acid has peculiar ability in givingimpetus to the growth of a young plant, and that enables it to send itsroots out and obtain more nitrogen than it otherwise would do. Thefarmer thus may come to regard it as a means of securing a crop, andthere is neglect of manure and clover. If a field is thin and fails tomake a sod, there is no immediate compulsion to use manure or to grow acatch crop to get organic matter, but the field is cropped again withgrain. Soon the supply of humus is exhausted, the soil lies lifeless, and the stores of available nitrogen and potash are in a worse depletedstate than formerly. 

The fault lies with the method. The phosphoric acid in the acidphosphate was needed. Profit from its use was legitimate, but thenecessity of supplying organic matter became even greater than it wouldhave been otherwise. Tens of thousands of our most successful farmersuse heavy applications of acid phosphate, but they keep their soils ingood physical condition by the use of manure or clover, and they applypotash and nitrogen when needed. The clover is assured by using limewherever it is in too limited supply, and that is the case in mostinstances, regardless of the use of any kind of commercial fertilizer. 

Basic Slag. --When iron ores contain much phosphorus, its extraction byuse of lime gives a by-product in the making of steel that hasagricultural value. The ores of the United States usually do not give aslag sufficiently rich in phosphorus to be valuable. Nearly all thebasic slag used as a fertilizer is imported from Germany, and usuallycontains 17 to 18 per cent of phosphoric acid. The availability of theplant-food in this fertilizer has been the subject of much discussion. The chemist's test which is fair for acid phosphate is admittedly notfair when used for basic slag. Field tests, at experiment stations andon farms, are our best sources of knowledge. When the soil is slightlyacid, each 1 per cent of phosphoric acid in the slag appears to beabout as valuable as each 1 per cent of the available phosphoric acidin an acid phosphate. Some of the effectiveness may be due to the lime, although very little of it is in forms regarded as valuable for thecorrection of soil acidity. There is evidence that basic slag favorsclover. It has not been found feasible to ship this material manyhundreds of miles inland from the seaboard to compete with acidphosphate, but it is an excellent source of phosphoric acid for soilsthat are not rich in lime. 

Muriate of Potash. --The mines of Stassfurt, Germany, contain aninexhaustible supply of potash in various compounds. Muriate of potashis prepared from the crude salts, and the commercial product on ourmarkets has the appearance of a coarse and discolored salt. It ishandled in large bags, and inclines to become moist by absorption ofwater from the air. It contains some common salt. The content of actualpotash is about 50 per cent. The potash is readily available, but theloss from leaching out of the soil is very small. Muriate of potash isour cheapest source of potash, and should be used for all staple cropsexcept tobacco, sugar beets, and, possibly, the potato. Tests even onheavy soils fail to show any injury to the quality of the potato, andon light soil the muriate may always be used. 

Sulphate of Potash. --Some sulphate of potash is imported into thiscountry. Its content of potash may vary 1 or 2 per cent below or above50. Its physical condition favors mixing more than does the muriate. Itusually costs several dollars a ton more than the muriate, and the factthat it is known to favor quality in tobacco, and is popularly supposedto do so in the potato, creates demand at the higher price. It issoluble in water, and quickly available. As a rule, it has no higheragricultural value than the muriate. 

Kainit. --Unlike muriate and sulphate of potash, kainit is a crudeproduct of the German mines, having received no treatment to removeimpurities. It contains 12 to 13 per cent of potash, and is rated as asulphate, but one third of it is common salt, and in effect uponquality it should be classed with muriate and not sulphate. Its lowcontent of plant-food should confine its use to regions relatively nearthe seaboard. When shipped far inland, the price becomes too high togive a reasonably cheap pound of potash. 

Wood-ashes. --Wood-ashes contain lime and potash, with a smallpercentage of phosphoric acid. The market price is above agriculturalvalue, and any needed potash should be obtained from the German potashsalts. 

Other Fertilizers. --Manufacturers of commercial fertilizer make use ofother materials, some of which, like manufactured nitrogen, areexcellent, and others are low in quality and slow in action. Thesources of plant-food that have been described form the great bulk ofall fertilizers on the market, and from them may be selected all thematerials a farmer needs to use on his land, either singly orhome-mixed. In most instances the selection will embrace only four orfive of these fertilizing materials. 

Salt. --Salt is not a direct fertilizer, and its use is not to beadvised unless it can be secured at a very low price per ton. Somesoils have been made more productive by the application of 200 to 300pounds per acre, and chiefly in case the salt was mixed well with thesoil when the seed-bed was made. The practice of using salt as atop-dressing on wheat in the spring gives less effectiveness it isbelieved. Salt frees potash in the soil, and may have some practicaleffect upon soil moisture. As a soil amendment, salt has had morereputation than its performance justifies. If land is infertile, it isbetter, as a rule, to apply actual plant-food. 

Coal-ashes. --There is no plant-food of value in coal-ashes. Thephysical condition of heavy soils is improved by an application, andtheir use may be quite profitable in this way if cost of application issmall. When used as a mulch, ashes conserve moisture. 

Muck. --The use of muck pays in stables, as it is a good absorbent andcontains some nitrogen which gains in availability by mixture withmanure. Its direct application to land as a fertilizer does not pay thelabor bill under ordinary circumstances. 

Sawdust. --As a fertilizer, sawdust does not have much value, but servesas an excellent absorbent in stables. Its presence in manure need notcause fear of injury to the soil. When fresh sawdust is applied inlarge quantity to a sandy soil, the effect upon physical condition isbad, increasing drouthiness. 

CHAPTER XVIII

PURCHASING PLANT-FOOD

Necessity of Purchase. --The necessity of buying plant-food in the formof commercial fertilizers is a mooted question in any naturally fertileagricultural region just so long as crop yields do not drop to aserious extent. The natural strength of the land and the skill thatenters into the farming are important factors in determining theprofitableness of recourse to purchased plant-food. The free use oforganic matter to maintain the supply of humus defers the time whencommercial fertilizers should be used. Good tillage frees the potentialplant-food of the soil, and delays the day of necessary purchase. Thefarm so situated that it can have all its products fed upon it islonger independent of outside help. The profitable use offeeding-stuffs from other farms is a safe way of escaping the directpurchase of fertilizers, although it is a transfer of fertility to thefarm as surely as the employment of fertilizers, and is not a methodthat may have general adoption. 

[Illustration: In the Lebanon Valley, Pennsylvania. ]

The organic sources of fertility, such as slaughter-house refuse, arecontainers of plant-food as surely as is stable manure. The inorganicsources, such as acid phosphate and muriate of potash, are containersof plant-food as surely as is animal bone or blood. There is no linethat may be drawn to debar any substance that supplies plant-foodprofitably and contains no compound harmful to the soil. 

The purchase of plant-food should begin whenever profit is offered byit, and in connection with its use there should be good tillage, organic matter, and healthful plant conditions in every respect. Theuse of a fertilizer pays best when the conditions are such that theplants can avail themselves of it in the fullest degree. Good farmingand the heavy use of commercial fertilizers go consistentlyhand-in-hand. 

Fertilizer Control. --The dreams of the patent-medicine vender neverpictured more favoring conditions for his activity than were found byfertilizer manufacturers and agents before state laws provided forinspection and control. Men who wanted to do a legitimate businesswelcomed protection from the unscrupulous competition that dishonestmen employed. The memory of some of the frauds perpetrated lingers, andcauses a questioning to-day that is unnecessary. All fertilizer-controllaws afford a good degree of legal protection to the buyer, although inmost states they do not demand a clearness and fullness in statementsof analyses that would be helpful to many, and they fail to requirethat sources of plant-food be given. Some fertilizers are sold for morethan they are worth, and some are bought for soils and crops that needother kinds of plant-food, but this is due to lack of knowledge on thepart of the buyer that he can acquire. The law does its part in thework of protection better than many buyers do their part. It has drivenfraudulent brands off the market, compelled carefulness infactory-mixing, and given to the intelligent buyer a knowledge of thekinds and amounts of plant-food in the bag or ton. The sampling is doneby disinterested men, and the analyses are made by competent chemists. There need be little distrust of the analysis as printed on the bag, unless a failure of the manufacturer to keep his goods up to thestandard has been made public in the state's fertilizer bulletin. 

Brand Names. --Notwithstanding all that has been done by the state toacquaint the buying public with the composition of fertilizers, manypurchasers are guided in selection by the brand name, and that usuallyis fanciful in character, no matter whether it be "Farmers' Friend" or"Jones' Potato Fertilizer. " In either case it may be far from friendlyto soil or pocket-book, and widely at variance with the needs of thesoil for which it is purchased. The pretense of making a fertilizerpeculiarly adapted to the potato, or to wheat, or to corn would notattract a single buyer if the public would compare the analyses ofthese special crop fertilizers offered by manufacturers and note theirdissimilarity of composition. Any kind of a mixture may be given anykind of a name. It is the composition that counts. The farmer is in themarket for nitrogen and phosphoric acid and potash, singly or combined, for a certain soil, and all he wants is to know the number of pounds heis getting, its availability, and its price per pound. Any added detailnot required by law is an impertinence. 

Statement of Analysis. --It would be well if the law refused to themanufacturer the privilege of printing unnecessary detail in thestatement of analysis that must be placed upon the fertilizer bag. Itis added to confuse the buyer and mislead him regarding actual value. The following statement is an example of this practice:

 ANALYSIS

 Per Cent Nitrogen 0. 82 to 1. 00 Equal to ammonia 1. 00 to 2. 00 Soluble phosphoric acid 6. 00 to 7. 00 Reverted 2. 00 to 3. 00 Available 8. 00 to 10. 00 Insoluble 1. 00 to 2. 00 Total 9. 00 to 12. 00 Potash (actual) 1. 00 to 2. 00 Equal to sulphate of potash 2. 00 to 3. 00

As the row of larger figures is not guaranteed percentages, it has novalue. 

The buyer is not concerned regarding the amount of ammonia to which thenitrogen is equal, and so the second line is a needless repetition. 

The fifth line gives the sum of the third and fourth, the availablebeing the total of the soluble and reverted. Therefore the third andfourth lines may be ignored. 

The sixth line gives the percentage of unavailable phosphoric acid inthe rock, and should be ignored by the purchaser who wants availableplant-food. 

The seventh gives the sum of the available and insoluble, and should beignored. 

The ninth is a restatement of the eighth line. 

There then remains the following guaranty:

 Per Cent Nitrogen 0. 82 Available phosphoric acid 8. 00 Potash 1. 00

This is a low-grade fertilizer whose cheap character becomes apparentwhen the unnecessary statements and restatements are erased. A ton ofit contains only 16 pounds of nitrogen, 160 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 20 pounds of potash. 

Valuation of Fertilizers. --The manufacturer of a mixed fertilizer mustmake use of the unmixed materials he finds upon the market. The pricesof the various plant constituents in the different unmixed materialscan be determined by averaging quotations in leading markets for agiven length of time. The fair retail price is obtained by adding about20 per cent to the wholesale cash price. The retail cash price perpound of the plant constituents in leading markets is thus determinedfor their various forms and carriers. A pound of nitrogen in driedblood may have its valuation fixed at a figure 50 per cent higher thanthat of a pound of nitrogen in nitrate of soda simply because the driedblood sells at a price per ton that makes that difference. It is truecommercial value that is sought, and that may be very different fromagricultural value. 

The mixed fertilizer of the manufacturer has its content of plant-foodknown by analysis. Its number of pounds of the various constituents ina ton is known, and the retail price per pound of these substances hasbeen fixed. The commercial value per ton can then be determined, provided proper allowance is made for cost of mixing and bagging. Theindividual must pay in addition the freight, and usually a considerablesum for unnecessarily costly methods of distribution and collection. 

A Bit of Arithmetic. --This paragraph is intended to serve the man whois willing to be reasonably near right if he cannot be wholly so: A tonis 2000 pounds, and one per cent is 20 pounds. In dealing withfertilizers it is the practice to call 20 pounds, or one per cent of aton, a unit, and to base the price of the nitrogen, and phosphoricacid, and potash, on the unit. This is done for convenience. If fivecents is a fair price for a pound of available phosphoric acid in one'slocality, as it would be if a ton of 14 per cent acid phosphate cost$14, a unit of 20 pounds is worth $1. Each one per cent guaranteed isthus worth a dollar, and the phosphoric acid in the fertilizer iseasily valued. If a pound of potash in a ton of muriate is worth fivecents in one's locality, as it would be if a ton of muriate cost $50, the muriate being one half actual potash, a unit of 20 pounds of potashis worth $1. Each one per cent of guaranteed potash is thus worth onedollar, and the entire content of potash is easily valued. If a poundof nitrogen in nitrate of soda is worth seventeen and one half cents apound in one's locality, as it would be if a ton of nitrate of sodacost $54, a unit, or one per cent, is worth $3. 50, and the content ofnitrogen is easily valued. 

The prices named would seem high to good cash buyers near the seaboard, and they are too low for some other regions where freights are veryhigh. They are only illustrative. The consumer can get his own basisfor an estimate by obtaining the best possible cash quotations fromcity dealers. Some interested critic may point out that nitrate of sodashould not be the sole source of nitrogen in a fertilizer on account ofits immediate availability. Manufacturers use some sulphate of ammonia, and a pound of nitrogen in it has had practically the same market priceas that in nitrate of soda. Tankage may be used in part, and in it thenitrogen costs very little more per pound. 

It may be said that the potash in the fertilizer is in form ofsulphate. Usually that profits the user nothing, and often the claim isbaseless, but if it is a sulphate, the cost of the potash should haveonly 20 per cent added to the valuation of the potash, which usuallywill not add one dollar to the total cost of the ton of mixedfertilizer. Basing the valuations of the pounds of plant-food in themixed fertilizer on the value per pound in unmixed materials deliveredto one's own locality, there must be taken into account the addedexpense of mixing. 

High-grade Fertilizers. --A high-grade fertilizer is not necessarily ahigh-priced one. What we want in a fertilizer is a high content of theplant-food needed, together with desirable availability. If onlyphosphoric acid is wanted, a 14 per cent, or 16 per cent, acidphosphate is high-grade because it contains as many pounds of availablephosphoric acid in a ton as the public can buy in a large way. A 10 percent acid phosphate is low-grade. The effort is to escape payingfreight, and other cost of handling, on waste material as far aspossible. Generally speaking, the higher the percentages of plant-foodin a fertilizer, the cheaper per pound is the plant-food. A low-gradefertilizer rarely fails to be an expensive one because the expense ofhandling adds unduly to the price per pound of the small content ofplant-food. 

CHAPTER XIX

HOME-MIXING OF FERTILIZERS

The Practice of Home-mixing. --The business of compounding fertilizershas been involved in a great deal of unnecessary mystery. Many of ourbest station scientists have labored to show that the home-mixing offertilizers is a simple and profitable piece of work, and the heaviestusers of fertilizers in the east now buy unmixed materials, but amajority of farmers use the factory-mixed. Manufacturers are right intheir contention that many people do not know what materials are bestfor their own fields, or what proportions are best, but the purchase ofmixed materials does not solve their problem and it does not help themto a solution as quickly as home-mixing. The source of the plant-foodin the factory-mixed goods is not known, while it is known in thehome-mixed. 

Effectiveness of Home-mixing. --Van Slyke says ("Fertilizers and Crops, "p. 477): "Manufacturers of fertilizers and their agents havepersistently sought to discourage the practice of home-mixing, buttheir statements cannot be accepted as the evidence of disinterestedparties. It has been represented to farmers that peculiar andmysterious virtues are imparted to the plant-food constituents byproper mixing, and that really proper mixing can be accomplished onlyby means not at the command of farmers. Such statements aremisrepresentations, based either upon the ignorance of the person whomakes them or upon his determination to sell commercial mixed goods. "

Criticisms of Home-mixing. --The manufacturer's advocate formerly laidmuch stress upon the danger attending the treatment of bones and rockwith sulphuric acid. That is a business of itself, and the home-mixerhas nothing to do with it. He buys on the market the acidulated bone orrock, just as a manufacturer makes his purchase. 

It is claimed that the manufacturer renders a great public service byusing supplies of plant-food that the home-mixer would not use, andthus conserves the world's total supply. Let us see the measure oftruth in the statement. The manufacturer gets his supply of phosphoricacid from rock, bone, or tankage exactly as does the home-mixer. Hispotash he buys from the syndicate owning the German beds, and thefarmer does the same. These sources must contribute all the phosphoricacid and potash used on land, if we except trifling supplies of ashes, marl, etc. , and the only difference in the transaction is that in onecase the manufacturer buys the materials and mixes them, and in theother case the farmer buys them direct and mixes them. The remainingconstituent is the nitrogen. If the manufacturer uses nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, bones, tankage, or manufactured nitrogen, he doeswhat the home-mixer may do. Most nitrogen must come from these sources. If all came from these sources, the increased demand would not affectthe price. The beds of nitrate of soda will last for hundreds of years, the present waste in ammonia from coal is immense, and the supply ofmanufactured nitrogen can be without limit. The saving in use of inertand low-grade forms of nitrogen is more profitable to the manufacturerthan to the farmer who buys and pays freight on low-grade materials. 

The rather remarkable argument is advanced that fertilizermanufacturers do not make a large per cent on their investment, despitethe perfection of their equipment, and therefore the farmer cannot findit profitable to mix his materials at home. By the same reasoning, assuming for the moment that the profit in manufacturing does not pay aheavy dividend on all the stock issued, if a great hotel does not findits dining-room a source of profit, as many hotels do not, no privatehome should hope to prepare meals for its own members in competitionwith hotels. 

As has been stated, every user of commercial fertilizer should learnwhat a pound of plant-food in unmixed material would cost him, selecting the common materials that are the only chief sources. If hecan buy a pound of nitrogen in nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia, a pound of phosphoric acid in acid phosphate or steamed bone, and apound of potash in muriate or sulphate of potash for less than theywould cost in the factory-mixed goods offered him, allowing to himselfa dollar or so a ton for the labor of mixing, it is only good businessto buy the unmixed materials. The saving usually is from five to tendollars a ton, excepting only interest on money, as he would pay cashfor the unmixed material. 

The cost of bags always is mentioned. That is not to be considered bythe farmer, as he uses the bags in which the unmixed materials come tohim. 

The Filler. --There has been much misleading use of the word "filler, "as applied to fertilizers. We have seen that a pure grade of driedblood contains about 13 per cent of nitrogen. The buyer of a ton ofdried blood thus gets about 260 pounds of plant-food. The remaining1740 pounds constitute what may be called nature's "filler. " The bloodis a good fertilizer. We do not buy nitrogen in a pure state. We buy aton of material to get the needed 260 pounds of nitrogen. Thus it iswith nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, acid phosphate, muriate andsulphate of potash, and all other fertilizer materials. As freight mustbe paid upon the entire ton, it usually pays best to select materialsthat run high in percentage of plant-food. It is possible to get verylow-grade fertilizers that have not had any foreign material added bythe manufacturer. An acid phosphate may be poor in phosphoric acidbecause low-grade rock was used in its manufacture. Kainit is alow-grade potash because the impurities have not been taken out. Fillermay be used, however, for two reasons, and one is legitimate. Whenlimestone or similar material is used merely to add weight, reducingthe value per ton, the practice is reprehensible. The extent of thispractice is less than many suppose, preference being given to the useof low-grade materials in making very low-priced fertilizers. 

A legitimate use of filler is to give good physical condition to afertilizer. Some materials, such as nitrate of soda and muriate ofpotash, take up moisture and then become hard. The addition of peat orlimestone or other absorbent is necessary to keep the mass in conditionfor drilling. The use of some steamed animal bone or high-grade tankagein the mixture helps to prevent caking. The home-mixer can use a drierwithout loss, as he does not pay freight upon it. Dry road dust willserve his purpose. His need of a drier may be greater than that of themanufacturer, as he probably will use only high-grade unmixedmaterials. If the use of the home-mixture is immediate, no drier toprevent caking is needed, but its presence facilitates drilling. Storage of unmixed materials in a dry place is an aid in maintaininggood condition. 

Ingredients in the Mixture. --The matters of interest to the farmer arethe determination of the amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, andpotash that he should apply to a particular field, their availability, and their cost. Let us assume that he has found 300 pounds of afertilizer containing 3 per cent nitrogen, 10 per cent phosphoric acid, and 6 per cent potash to be an excellent application for wheat on athin soil that is to be seeded to clover and timothy. This fertilizercontains 3 pounds of nitrogen to each 100 pounds. He applies 300 poundsof the fertilizer per acre, or 9 pounds of nitrogen. The fertilizercontains 10 pounds of phosphoric acid to the 100 pounds. He thusapplies 30 pounds of phosphoric acid per acre. The fertilizer contains6 pounds of potash per 100 pounds, and he therefore applies 18 poundsper acre. What he has really learned, then, is that an acre of thisland, when seeded to wheat, needs 9 pounds of nitrogen, 30 pounds ofphosphoric acid, and 18 pounds of potash. It is in these terms heshould do his thinking, and the matter of fertilization becomes simple. 

In the general farming of the Pennsylvania experiment station, it isthe practice to depend upon nitrate of soda as the source of afertilizer for wheat. Manufacturers claim that sulphate of ammonia andtankage would be better. The farmer soon will learn what he prefers forhis soil, provided he practices home-mixing. 

Let us assume that he uses nitrate of soda, which never varies muchfrom 15 per cent in its content of nitrogen. If 100 pounds of nitratecontain 15 pounds of nitrogen, the 9 pounds wanted for an acre will befound in 9/15 of 100 pounds or 60 pounds. 

Thirty pounds of phosphoric acid are wanted for an acre. If the acidphosphate contains 14 per cent of phosphoric acid, or 14 pounds to the100, the required amount will be 30/14 of 100, or 214 pounds. 

Eighteen pounds of potash are wanted for an acre. The muriate of potashon our markets never varies much from 50 per cent in its content ofpotash. If 100 pounds of muriate contain 50 pounds of potash to the100, the required amount wanted will be 18/50 of 100, or 36 pounds. 

Adding the 60, 214, and 36 pounds, we have 310 pounds for the acre ofland. If the field contains 20 acres, the order will call for 20 timesthe 60 pounds of nitrate of soda, 20 times the 214 pounds of acidphosphate, and 20 times the 36 pounds of potash. 

If the farmer prefers to use sulphate of ammonia, which varies littlefrom 20 per cent of nitrogen, or 20 pounds in the 100, he will get his9 pounds of nitrogen for an acre by buying 9/20 of 100 pounds, or 45pounds, and the substitution of the 45 pounds of sulphate of ammoniafor the 60 pounds of nitrate of soda will reduce the total applicationof fertilizer per acre from 310 pounds to 295 pounds. The importantfact is that in either case there is the required amount of nitrogen. 

Let us assume that the field contains enough nitrogen, but other needsremain the same. In such case, the nitrogen is dropped out, and theapplication becomes 250 pounds per acre. 

The home-mixer may substitute tankage of guaranteed analysis for partof the nitrogen and phosphoric acid. Let us assume that the tankageruns 9 per cent nitrogen and 20 per cent phosphoric acid. If half therequired nitrogen per acre, or 4-1/2 pounds, is wanted in tankage, 50pounds of the tankage will supply it. At the same time the 50 pounds oftankage supplies 10 pounds of phosphoric acid, replacing one third ofthe 214 pounds of acid phosphate. We thus have for the acre 30 poundsof nitrate of soda, 50 pounds of tankage, 143 pounds of acid phosphate, and 36 pounds of potash, or 259 pounds. The content of plant-foodremains the same, but one half of the nitrogen is only slowlyavailable. The farmer who buys unmixed materials will incline to useonly a few kinds, and at first he will confine himself chiefly tomaterials whose composition varies little. In this way he quickly seesin a ton of the material, not the whole bulk, but the definite numberof pounds of nitrogen and other constituents of plant-food contained init, and the calculations in home-mixing become simple. 

Materials that should not be Combined. --The advocate of factory-mixedgoods warns the farmer against the danger of making combinations ofmaterials that will cause loss by chemical action. The danger is whollyimaginary if no form of lime, wood-ashes, or basic slag is used in thehome-mixtures. As has been said, some materials will harden, ifpermitted to absorb moisture, and if the mixture must stand, a fewhundred pounds of muck or dry road dust should be added to each ton asa drier, and a correspondingly larger amount per acre should beapplied. 

Making a Good Mixture. --The process of mixing is simple, and carefulstation tests have shown that it is fully as effective asfactory-mixing. The unmixed materials should be kept in a dry placeuntil the mixing is done. If there are any coarse lumps, a woodentamper can crush them on the barn floor, and the material should bepassed through a sand-screen. The material of largest bulk should bespread on the floor, and the other materials should be put on inlayers. Three careful turnings with a shovel will secure good mixing. Scales should be used to secure accuracy in desired amounts of thematerials. 

Buying Unmixed Materials. --Acid phosphate, animal bone, and tankage canbe bought of any fertilizer agent, but when one pays cash, he does wellto get quotations from various leading manufacturers. The names ofdealers in nitrate of soda can be secured from the New York agencywhich keeps its address before the public in agricultural papers. Thisis likewise true in the case of the syndicate controlling all thepotash. When the addresses of leading distributors of all neededmaterials have been secured, quotations should be obtained on a cashbasis. The best terms are obtained by groups of men combining theirorders. 

CHAPTER XX

MIXTURES FOR CROPS

Composition of Plant not a Guide. --It has been pointed out that achemical analysis of a soil is not a dependable guide in the selectionof a fertilizer. Years ago the theory was advanced that the analysis ofthe crops desired should be a guide, but it has proved nearlyworthless. This theory does not take into account the soil's supply ofplant-food. Moreover, a certain crop may demand a large supply of anelement at a time of the year when the soil's supply is inactive. Theneed of nitrogen for grass in the early spring, before nitrification inthe soil is active, is an illustration. Let the causes be what theymay, the fertilizer formulas that call for plant-food in a fertilizerin the same proportions that it is found in plants are disappointing intheir results. The analysis of the plant is not a dependable index. 

The Multiplication of Formulas. --Fertilizer manufacturers have made allpossible combinations of fertilizer materials, using them in variousquantities. Each manufacturer has given a mixture a brand of his own, and confusion reigns. There is no formula for a soil or crop that willremain absolutely the best, even for one particular field. Itrepresents one's judgment of the present need, and is employed subjectto change, just as is the prescription of a physician. It is usuallyonly an approach toward the most profitable amount and kind ofplant-food that may be supplied. The one important consideration isthat no manufacturer can know the need nearly so well as theintelligent farmer who knows the history of his field and constantlytests its ability. 

[Illustration: On the productive farm of Dr. W. I. Chamberlain, inNorthern Ohio. ]

A Few Combinations are Safest. --It is the best judgment of scientiststo-day that greater results would be obtained from the use ofcommercial fertilizers if the number of formulas could be reduced toten, or even a less number. The satisfactory fertilizers fall intothree classes:

 1. The phosphatic fertilizer, carrying phosphoric acid to land that gets its nitrogen from clover or stable manure, and that continues to supply its own potash. Such a fertilizer should have a high content of phosphoric acid in order that the freight charge, per pound of plant-food, may be as low as possible. Acid phosphate, basic slag, and bone are chief in this group. 

 2. The combination of phosphoric acid and potash that is needed by soils obtaining all required nitrogen from clover or manure. In most instances the phosphoric acid should run higher than the potash, but the percentage of potash should never run lower than 4. A lower percentage of potash is not as profitable as a higher one, provided any potash is needed. The potash content should be greater than that of the phosphoric acid in case of some sandy soils and of some crops of heavy leaf growth, including various garden crops. 

 3. The so-called "complete" fertilizer that supplies some nitrogen with the two other plant-constituents. Such fertilizer should furnish, with few exceptions, 3 per cent of nitrogen, if no more. 

Amount of Application. --In common practice fertilizers are not appliedfreely enough when they are used at all. The exception to this rule maybe found in the case of small applications to cold and inert soils toforce growth in the first few weeks of a plant's life. It is difficultto see how 80 or 100 pounds of fertilizer can affect an acre of landone way or the other, but experience teaches that such an amount can doso in respect to young plants. Phosphoric acid has peculiar power inforcing some development of roots in a small plant, and a smallapplication in the drill or row may help the plants to gain ability toforage for themselves. 

In early spring a small application of nitrate of soda has markedeffect, tiding the plants over a period of need until the soil is readyto give up a part of its store. 

If a soil is not fertile, and fertilizers are needed as an importantsource of plant-food throughout the season, the application should beliberal. If it is necessary to plant a field that is deficient infertility, expending labor and money for tillage and seed, the onlyrational course is to furnish all needed plant-food for a good yield. There may be little net profit from the one crop, but there will bemore than could be obtained without the liberal fertilization, and thesoil will be better equipped for another crop. This applies, in anotable degree, to fertilization of a wheat crop with which timothy andclover will be seeded. The difference in cost of 350 pounds of ahigh-grade fertilizer and 150 pounds of a low-grade one, when appliedto a poor soil under these circumstances, may be recovered in the graincrop, and at the same time a good sod will be made possible for thepermanent improvement of the land. It is a safe business rule that landshould be left uncultivated unless enough plant-food can be provided insome way for a good yield. The man who cannot incur a heavy fertilizerbill, when necessary, should restrict acreage for his own sake. 

Similarity of Requirements. --Many of our staple crops are very similarin their fertilizer requirements, and this simplifies fertilization. Setting aside the impression gained from the dissimilarity in theso-called corn, potato, wheat, and grass fertilizers on the market, thefarmer knows that the soil which is in a good state of fertility isbest for any of them, and if the soil is hard-run, it should have itsplant-food supply supplemented. The hard-run soil usually is lacking inavailable supplies of all three plant-food constituents. If afertilizer containing 3 per cent of nitrogen, 10 per cent of phosphoricacid, and 6 per cent of potash serves the wheat well, it will serve thetimothy that starts in the wheat. Likewise it will serve the corn, although a heavier application will be needed because corn is a heavyfeeder. Experience has taught that it will serve the potato similarly, and that the potato will repay the cost of free use of fertilizer. Ifthe soil is sandy and deficient in potash, the percentage of phosphoricacid may be cut to 8, and the percentage of potash raised to 10, andall these crops will profit thereby. If the nitrogen content in thesoil is high, none of these crops may need nitrogen in the fertilizer. This is a general principle, and safe for guidance, though the bestprofit will demand some modification that readily occurs to the farmeras he studies his crops and their rotation. To illustrate: The corn isgiven the clover sod or the manure partly because it requires moreplant-food than the wheat. It gets the best of the nitrogen, and mayneed only a rock-and-potash fertilizer, while the wheat that followsmay need some available nitrogen to force growth in the fall. There isno fixed formula for any field or crop, and the point to be made hereonly is that the requirements of many standard crops do not have thedissimilarity usually supposed, except in respect to quantity. A markedexception is found in the oat crop, which does not bear the applicationof much nitrogen, and often fares well on the remains of the manurethat fed the corn, if some phosphoric acid is added. 

Maintaining Fertility. --A heavy clover sod gives assurance that a goodcrop of corn or potatoes can be grown. If the amount of plant-food inthe sod is not excessive, a heavy crop of wheat can be produced. Thecondition of the soil favors many crops. The clover has placed it upona productive basis for the time being. 

The object that should be kept in view, when a scheme of soilfertilization is worked out, is the maintenance of such a state offertility that the land can be depended upon for whatever crop comesround in the rotation. When a 3-10-6 fertilizer, or a 3-8-10fertilizer, is used, the effect upon a thin soil is to restore ittemporarily to this good-cropping power, the size of the applicationvarying with the crop. A richer soil may want the phosphoric acid andpotash without the nitrogen. A manured soil may need only thephosphoric acid. The purpose of the fertilizer in any case ismaintenance or increase of fertility, and when this object has beensecured, the crop may be whatever the rotation calls for. It is thisrational scheme that gives success to the Pennsylvania station'smethods on some of its test plats. A given amount of plant-food is putupon the land, which is under a four-years' rotation. One half of it isapplied every second year. The corn gets one half because it can use itto advantage. The oat crop that follows finds enough fertility becausethe soil is good. Next in the rotation is the wheat, and the wheat andtimothy and clover plants can use fertilizer with profit. There is nochange in its character because it is the soil that is getting theassistance, and not primarily just one crop in a rotation. The land inthis experiment that is well fertilized is more productive than it wasthirty years ago, although no manure has been applied, and it is thegeneral productive condition that assures good yields, and not chieflyany one application of fertilizer. 

Fertilizer for Grass. --A fertile soil will make a good sod. A thinnersoil should have a liberal dressing of complete fertilizer at seedingtime, and the formula that has been suggested is excellent for thispurpose. If a succession of timothy hay crops is desired, the problemof maintaining fertility is wholly changed. The nitrogen supplied bythe clover is soon exhausted, and the timothy sod must be kept thickand heavy until broken, or the soil will not have its supply of organicmatter maintained. Nitrogen must be supplied freely, and phosphoricacid and potash must likewise be given the soil. The draft upon thesoil is heavy, and at the same time the effort should be to have a sodto be broken for corn that will produce a big crop without the use ofany fertilizer. The grass is the natural crop to receive the plant-foodbecause its roots fill the ground, and the corn should get its foodfrom the rotting sod, when broken. Station tests have shown that a sodcan be caused to increase in productiveness for several years by meansof annual applications of the right combinations of plant-food in theearly spring. A mixture of 150 pounds of nitrate of soda, 150 pounds ofacid phosphate, and 50 pounds of muriate of potash is excellent. Thisgives nearly the same quantity each of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, andpotash, and is near a 7-7-7 fertilizer. The only material change inrelative amounts of plant-food constituents, when compared with a3-10-6 and 3-8-10 fertilizer, is in the increase of nitrogen, due tothe heavy drafts made by continuous mowings of timothy. This fertilizershould be used as soon as any green appears in the grass field in thespring after the year of clover harvest. The large amount of nitrogenmakes this an unprofitable fertilizer for clover, and its use is notadvised until the spring of the year in which timothy will beharvested. 

All the Nitrogen from Clover. --The Pennsylvania station has shown in atest of thirty years that when good clover is grown in a four-years'rotation of corn, oats, wheat, and clover, the fertility of thenaturally good clay loam soil may be maintained, and even slightlyincreased, without the use of any manure or purchased nitrogen. Phosphoric acid and potash have been applied, and the clover hay crophas been taken off the land. This result has been possible only bymeans of good clover sods. If there had been no applications ofphosphoric acid and potash, the clover would have failed to maintainfertility, as is proved by other plats in this experiment. No oneshould continue to depend upon such a scheme of keeping land fertilewhenever he finds that the clover is not thriving. 

Method of applying Fertilizers. --If a fertilizer is used in smallamount with the purpose of merely giving the plants a start, it shouldbe near the seed. If the application is heavy, and the roots of theplants spread upon all sides, the fertilizer, as a rule, should beapplied to all the ground, and should be mixed with the surface soil. This puts the plant-food where needed, and saves from danger of injuryto the seed through contact. A seeming exception may be found in thecase of the potato, but usually some close tillage confines its rootsto the row for a time. Experience indicates that when a potatofertilizer does not exceed 500 pounds per acre, it may well be put intothe row, but a heavier application should be divided, one half beingbroadcasted or drilled into the surface, and the other half of theapplication being made in the row. 

An Excess of Nitrogen. --Too much nitrogen, due to heavy manuring orother cause, produces an excessive growth of stalk or straw, at theexpense of grain production, in the case of corn, wheat, and othercereals. It produces a rank growth of potato vines and partial failureof the crop of tubers. It produces a tender growth of straw or vinethat invites injury from fungous diseases. It is the rule that soilshave a deficiency in nitrogen, but when there is an excess, the bestcure comes through use of such crops as timothy, cabbage, and ensilagecorn. Heavy applications of rock-and-potash fertilizers assist inrecovery of right conditions, but are not wholly effective untilexhaustive crops have removed some of the nitrogen. 

CHAPTER XXI

TILLAGE

Desirable Physical Condition of the Soil. --Successful cropping of landis dependent upon favoring soil conditions. The plants to be grown musthave ease in root extension, so that their food may be found. Theremust be moisture to hold the food in solution. There must be air. Theremust be destruction of plants that would be competitors of the onesdesired. A soil rarely is in prime condition for the planting andgrowth of any crop without some change in its structure by means oftillage, and it does not remain in the best condition for any longperiod of time. If the number of plants required per acre for a crop isrelatively small, tillage of the soil is continued after planting. Ifthe necessary number makes tillage impossible, there is some loss inconditions most favorable to the plant. The particles of soil settletogether, and there is loss of water at the surface. Most plants want amellow soil, and tillage is in large part an effort to make and to keepthe condition of the soil friendly to plant life in this respect. Thewide variation in methods of tillage are due to the great differencesin the texture and structure of soils, and to the habits of plants, andskill in selection of methods is a measure of the intelligence used infarming. 

The Breaking-plow. --Land containing enough clay to give it an excellentsoil inclines to become firm. During the growth of a crop, when plantroots fill the soil and prevent deep stirring, the particles packclosely together, limiting the power of the land to make fertilityavailable. The presence of organic matter counteracts, in part, thispacking tendency, but there are few soils that remain permanentlymellow. The breaking-plow is used to loosen the soil, and to undo thefirming that has been taking place while plant roots prevented deeptillage. At the same time the plow may be used to bury organic matterbelow the surface, affording a clean seed-bed. In some soils it hasvalue in bringing inert soil to the surface, and in mixing the soilconstituents. 

Types of Plows. --The kind and condition of the soil, and the characterof the crop, determine the type of plow to be used. A plow with a shortand quite straight moldboard does not bury manure and turf in thebottom of the furrow so completely as is the case with a long, curvedmoldboard. The organic matter should be distributed throughout all thesoil. On the other hand, it is essential to some plants that they havea fine seed-bed, and one whose surface is free from tufts of grass. Thelong moldboard is preferred in breaking a sod for corn. Its use inplowing for all crops is more general than it should be, the gain inpulverization of the furrow-slice, due to the curve, and the neatnessin appearance of the plowed land, inducing its use. 

The disk plow has been used chiefly in soils not requiring deepplowing. It pulverizes better than a moldboard plow, and buries trashmore easily. 

[Illustration: Deep tillage. ]

The device for using two disks to turn a single furrow-slice rests upona sound principle. This plow may be set to run deeper than moldboardplows go, and it mixes well all the soil that it turns. The disks areso hung that the mixing of all the soil to a depth of twelve or fifteeninches is admirable. The deep-tilling plow does not bury the organicmatter in the bottom of the furrow, and thereby permits the deepeningof the soil without bringing an undue amount of subsoil to the surface. 

Subsoiling. --The theory of subsoiling always has been captivating. Mostsoils are too shallow, inviting injury from drouth. Enthusiasmregarding subsoiling comes to large numbers of farmers at some time intheir experience, and a great number of subsoil plows have been bought. The check to enthusiasm is the fact that few men ever have seen such aplow worn out. Some reasons are as follow:

 (_a_) The subsoil at time of spring-plowing rarely is dry enough for good results, and there is danger of puddling; (_b_) the subsoil often is too dry and hard in late summer, when rains permit easy breaking of the top soil for fall grain; (_c_) the work doubles the labor and time of plowing, and (_d_) the subsoil soon settles together because it contains little organic matter. Subsoiling is generally approved and little practiced. Land at plow-depth becomes packed by the tramping of horses upon it and the pressure of the plow, when the plowing is done at the same depth year after year, and in some soils subsoiling has been found distinctly valuable. 

Time of Plowing. --In great measure the time of plowing is determined bythe effect upon soil moisture, and is discussed in the next chapter. 

Method of Plowing. --The depth of plowing should be fixed largely by theamount of organic matter in the soil. It is essential that a goodpercentage of this material should be mixed throughout the soil, andwhen it is in scant supply, the depth of plowing usually should not begreat. Fertile soils should be plowed deep for their own good, and thinsoils should be deepened gradually, as sods and manures afford a supplyof humus-making material. Even when manure is used liberally in asingle application on a poor soil, a large amount of inert subsoilshould not be thrown upon the surface. The manure goes out of reach ofthe greatest need, which is in the surface soil where plant-lifestarts. A gradual process of deepening the soil is to be preferred, butsuch deepening should not be neglected. The subsoil is a store of inertfertility that should not remain dormant. 

It may not do to say that the success of the best farmers is due tothoroughness in plowing, but it is true that the more successful onesare insistent that the plowing be absolutely thorough. Every inch ofthe soil should be stirred to a certain depth, and that requires a plowso set that it does not turn a furrow-slice much wider than the pointcan cut. Evenness in depth and width of furrow is seen in good plowing. 

The Disk Harrow. --The purpose of the plow is to break up the soil sothat it will be crumbly and mellow. The frequency with which landshould be thoroughly stirred to full plow-depth depends upon thecondition of the soil and the character of the crops. Oftentimes a diskor cutaway harrow may replace the plow. Its action is the same as thatof the plow, loosening and turning the soil over. When land has had agood plowing within the year, and has not become compact, stirring to adepth of four inches may give a better seed-bed for some crops thancould be made by use of a plow. This is true of land that has produceda cultivated crop and is being prepared for a fall-seeding. The gain intime of preparing ground for oats in the spring makes the use of thedisk or cutaway harrow profitable on mellow corn-stubble land. 

There is temptation to carry the substitution of the disk harrow forthe breaking-plow too far. Its use alone would have the same effect aspoor plowing, reducing the depth of the soil. The surface soil, down toplow-depth, is the chief feeding-ground for plants because it is keptin good tilth by organic matter and tillage. The depth of this soilaffects the amount of available plant-food and water. The duration oftime between deep plowings depends upon the soil and the crops. Experience shows that when land has been broken for corn or potatoes orbeans or similar crop, the one plowing may be sufficient for asucceeding crop. If grass is not seeded with the succeeding crop, it isbest to give another thorough plowing before seeding to grass in Augustif the soil is heavy, but in naturally loose soils a disk harrow makesa better seed-bed. 

Two influences favor such undue dependence upon a disk harrow that asoil may become shallow: the cost of preparing the seed-bed is reduced, and the saving in moisture may give a better stand of plants when theharrow takes the place of the plow. The immediate productiveness of acrop is not an assurance that the method is right: consideration forthe good of the land must be shown. Depth of soil is a requirement of agood agriculture, and deep plowing is a means to that end. Thelooseness of the soil and the character of the season may makesubstitution right in one instance and wrong in another. Deep soils, well filled with organic matter, will bear shallow preparation of aseed-bed more frequently than thin soils, and yet it is the latter thatmay profit most by having its best part kept near the surface at thetime a new sod must be made. The disk harrow has some place as asubstitute for a plow, but when its use results in making a soil moreshallow, the harm is a most serious one. 

Cultivation of Plants. --If a soil would remain mellow throughout theseason, there usually would be no reason to disturb the roots of plantsby any deep stirring, and all tillage would be only deep enough to makea mulch of earth for the retention of moisture and to destroy allweeds. Soils containing enough clay to make them retentive of moisturebecome too compact when rains beat upon the ground, as usually happensafter the planting of spring crops. A deep and close cultivation ofcorn and potato plants after they appear in the row helps to restorethe condition created by the plow and harrow, and often is the bestpractice. There is some sacrifice of roots, but the gain far exceedsthe loss. It may be necessary to give a second such cultivation when aclay soil is deficient in organic matter, but the root-pruning is ahandicap. 

Controlling Root-growth. --The exception to the rule that plant-rootsshould not be pruned by deep cultivation is found in the case of aclose soil in a wet season. The plants extend their roots only in thesoil at the surface because the ground is soaked with water nearly allthe time. They cannot form far enough below the surface to withstand adrouth that may follow the wet weather. Good tillage in such a casedemands the pruning of the roots and the airing of the soil when theground is dry enough to permit such stirring, and the plants thenextend their roots in the lower soil where they rightly belong. Judgment is required to decide when such tillage is desirable, butjudgment is needed all the time in farming. When a continued period ofwet weather affects the position of the plant-roots, it rarely isadvisable not to risk deeper tillage than is given in a normal season. Underdrainage helps to prevent such ill-effect of continued rains inthe early part of a plant's life-time. 

Elimination of Competition. --Weeds pump the water out of the soil, useup available plant-food, and compete for the sunlight. Tillage is givenfor several reasons, and one is the destruction of weeds. A weederwhich stirs the soil only an inch or two deep is an excellent destroyerof weeds when they are starting, but after the weeds are well-rooted, the weeder acts only as a cultivator for the plants that should bedestroyed. Modern cultivators have fine teeth that let the surfaceremain nearly level, and they do their best work when the weeds aresmall. The use of "sweeps" should be more general. The blades are soplaced that they slip under the surface, letting the soil fall back sothat a mulch is formed. 

Length of Cultivation. --Most tilled crops grow rapidly until they shadeand mulch the soil. Tillage should continue, if possible, until thisoccurs. The exception is in the case of orchard trees and other plantsthat should not have their period of growth extended late in the fall. Good tillage tends to increase the lateness of a crop by encouraginggrowth. The new wood of trees may not become hardy enough to withstandthe frost of winter if tillage is continued. Early maturity is hastenedby exhaustion of soil moisture and plant-food. 

CHAPTER XXII

CONTROL OF SOIL MOISTURE

Value of Water in the Soil. --The amount of water in the soil each dayof the growing season determines in large measure the possibility ofsecuring a profitable crop from land. Observant farmers have noticedoftentimes that the differences in yields on the farms of a region areless in a wholly favorable season than in one of deficient rainfall. The skill of the farmer in conserving the moisture supply in a wetseason is less well repaid because it is less needed. The poverty of aworn soil is less marked in a favorable season. The land is accountedpoor because the supply of plant-food is inadequate for a drouthy yearin which a considerable percentage of the time produces little growth, but most agricultural land has enough plant-food for a fairly good cropwhen water is present all the time to carry daily supplies into theroots. It is the amount of moisture in the soil that is the limitingfactor in the case of most land that is not in a high state ofproductiveness. 

The Soil a Reservoir. --The rains of the summer rarely are adequate tothe needs of growing plants. Some water runs off the surface, somepasses down through crevices beyond the effect of capillary attraction, and much quickly evaporates. The part that becomes available is only asupplement to the store of water made by the rains of the fall, winter, and early spring. 

If the soil were viewed as a medium for the holding of water to meetthe daily needs of plants, and were given rational treatment on thisbasis, a long step toward higher productiveness would have been taken. As has been stated, rotted organic matter gives a soil more capacityfor holding water. It is an absorbent in itself, and it puts clays andsands into better physical condition for the storage of moisture. Anunproductive soil may need organic matter for this one reason alonemore than it may need actual plant-food. 

Fall-plowing for a spring crop enables land to withstand summer'sdrouth if it gains in physical condition by full exposure to thewinter's frost. It is in condition to take up more water from springrains than would be the case if it lay compact, and it does not losewater by the airing in the spring that plowing gives. 

Early spring-plowing leaves land less subject to drouth than does laterplowing. As the air becomes heated, the open spaces left by the plowingserve to hasten the escape of moisture. If a cover crop is plowed downlate in the spring, the material in the bottom of the furrow makes theland less resistant to drouth because the union of the top soil withthe subsoil is less perfect, and capillary attraction is retarded. Itis usually good practice to sacrifice some of the growth of a covercrop, even when organic matter is badly needed, and to plow fairlyearly in the spring in order that the moisture supply may be conserved. 

The Land-roller. --The breaking-plow is a robber of soil water when usedin warm weather. The air carries the water away rapidly. The air-spacesare large. The corrective of this condition is the land-roller. Itpresses the soil together, driving out the excess of air. Large crumbsare pressed down into the mass, and are kept from drying into hardclods. The roller never should be used on land when fresh-plowed in amoist condition, and it is not needed after fall-plowing, or earlyspring-plowing in most instances, but land broken when the season isadvanced should be rolled before much water evaporates. 

[Illustration: Making an earth mulch in a New York orchard. ]

The Plank-drag. --An excellent implement on a farm is the plank-drag. Itis usually made of over-lapping heavy planks, and when floated over thesurface, it both pulverizes and packs the soil. The effectiveness iscontrolled by the weight placed upon it, and oftentimes the drag is tobe preferred to the roller. 

The Mulch. --In conserving the supply of water in the soil the mulchplays an important work. The dry air is constantly taking up the waterfrom the surface of land, and when the surface is drier than the soilbelow, the moisture moves upward if there is no break in the structureof the surface soil. The mulch is a covering of material that does notreadily permit the escape of water. 

The only available material for a mulch in most instances is the soilitself. Experience has taught that when the top layer of soil, to adepth of two or three inches, is made fine and loose, the water beneathit cannot escape readily. It is partly for this reason that thesmoothing-harrow should follow the roller after land has been plowed. The plow is used to break up the soil into crumbs that will permit airto enter. The loosening is excessive when the planting must followsoon, permitting rapid escape of water. The roller or plank-drag isemployed to compress the soil, and to crush crumbs of soil that are toolarge for good soil conditions. The harrow follows to make a mulch offine, loose soil at the surface to assist in prevention of evaporation. 

A sandy soil will retain its mulch in effective condition for a longertime than a fine clay, if no rain falls. When the air is laden withmoisture, clay particles absorb enough water to pack together and forman avenue for the rise of water to the surface, where the dry air hasaccess to it. 

Mulches of Foreign Material. --The truth that moisture is a leadingfactor in soil productiveness is evidenced by the value of straw andsimilar material as a mulch. A covering of straw around trees in anorchard, or bush fruits, or such plants as the potato, may give betterresults than an application of fertilizer when no effort is made toprevent the escape of water. People so situated that little attentioncan well be given to the fruit and vegetable garden obtain good resultsby replacing tillage with a substantial mulch that keeps the soilmellow, prevents weed growth, and retains an abundant supply of water. 

In grain-producing districts where all the straw is not needed as anabsorbent in the stables its use as a mulch on thin grass lands, orwheat-fields seeded to grass, is more profitable than conversion intomanure by rotting in a barnyard. The straw affords protection from thesun, and aids in the conservation of soil water, when scattered evenlyin no larger amount than two tons per acre, and a less amount per acrehas value. The sod is helped, and as the straw rots, its plant-foodgoes into the soil. 

Plowing Straw Down. --The practice of plowing straw under as a manure isunsafe, when used in any large quantity per acre. It rots slowly, andwhile lying in the bottom of the furrow it cuts off the rise of waterfrom the subsoil which is a reservoir of moisture for use duringdrouth. 

The Summer-fallow. --Bare land loses in total plant-food, but may make atemporary gain in available fertility. The practice of leaving a fielduncropped for an entire season has been abandoned in good farmingregions. Where moisture is in scant supply, and a soil is thin, therecontinue instances of the summer-fallow. In a crop-rotation containingcorn and wheat, the corn-stubble land is left unbroken until May orJune, and then plowed. In August it is plowed again, and fitted forseeding to wheat. The practice favors the killing of weeds, and thesoil at seeding time may contain more water than would have been thecase if a crop had been produced, because its mellow condition enablesthe farmer to hold within it nearly all the moisture that a shower mayfurnish after the second plowing. 

The Modern Fallow. --The modern method of making a grass seeding inAugust partakes of the nature of the old-fashioned summer-fallow. Thedesire is to eradicate weeds, secure availability in plant-food, andfit the soil to profit by even a light rainfall. Thin soils lendthemselves well to this treatment, which is described in Chapter VIII, and there is no better method for fertile land. The benefit of thefallow is obtained without serious loss of time. 

CHAPTER XXIII

DRAINAGE

Underdrainage. --There are great swamps, and small ones, whose watershould be carried off by open ditches. Our present interest is in thewet fields of the farm, --the cold, wet soil of an entire field, theswale lying between areas of well-drained land, the side of a fieldkept wet by seepage from higher land, --and here the right solution ofthe troubling problem lies in underdrainage. An excess of water in thesoil robs the land-owner of chance of profit. It excludes the air, sealing up the plant-food so that crops cannot be secured. It keeps theground cold. It destroys the good physical condition of the soil thatmay have been secured by much tillage, causing the soil particles topack together. It compels plant-roots to form at the surface of theground. It delays seeding and cultivation. An excess of water is moredisheartening than absolute soil poverty. The remedy is only in itsremoval. The level of dead water in the soil must be below thesurface--three feet, two and one half feet, four feet, --some reasonabledistance that will make possible a friable, aërated, warm, friendlyfeeding-ground for plant-roots. Only under drainage can do this. 

Counting the Cost. --Thorough underdrainage is costly, but it is less sothan the farming of fields whose productiveness is seriously limited byan excess of water. The work means an added investment. Estimates ofcost can be made with fair accuracy, and estimates of resulting profitcan be made without any assurance of accuracy. The farmer with some wetland does well to gain experimental knowledge, and base future workupon such experience. He knows that he cannot afford to cultivate wetland, and the problem before him is to leave it to produce what grassit can produce, sell it, or find profit in drainage. He has theexperience of others that investment in drainage is more satisfactorythan most other investments, if land has any natural fertility. He hasassurance that debt incurred for drainage is the safest kind of debt anowner of wet land can incur. He has a right to expect profit from theundertaking, and he can begin the work in a small way, if an outlet isat hand, and learn what return may be expected from further investment. Almost without fail will he become an earnest advocate ofunderdrainage. 

[Illustration: Drain tile. ]

Where Returns are Largest. --The total area of land needing drainage isimmense. Swamps form only a small part of this area. Yields of much oldfarm land are limited by the excess of water during portions of theyear. As land becomes older, the area needing drainage increases. 

The owner of wet land does well to gain his first experience in a fieldwhere a swale or other wet strip not only fails to produce a full crop, but limits the yield of the remainder of the field by delaying plantingand cultivation. This double profit often is sufficient to repay costin a single year. 

Material for the Drains. --Doubtless there are places and times whenstone, or boards, or brush should be used in construction ofunderdrains, but they are relatively few in number. Such underdrainslack permanency, as a rule, though some stone drains are effective fora long time. If drain tile can be obtained at a reasonable price, itshould be used even in fields that have an abundance of stone. Its userequires less labor than that of stone, and when properly laid on agood bottom, it continues effective. There is no known limit to thedurability of a drain made of good tile. 

The Outlet. --The value of any drainage system is dependent upon theoutlet. Its location is the first thing to be determined. If the landis nearly flat, a telescope level should be used to determineelevations of all low points in the land to be drained. The outletshould permit a proper fall throughout the length of the system, and itshould not require attention after the work is completed. If it is inthe bank of a stream or ditch, it should be above the normal level ofthe water in the stream. In times of heavy rainfall water may back upinto the main with no injury other than temporary failure to performits work, but continuous submersion will lead to deposits of silt thatmay close the tile. 

Locating Main and Branches. --There are various systems of drainage. Wherever a branch or lateral joins the main, the means of drainage isduplicated within the area that the main can drain, and the systemshould call for the least possible waste of this sort. It usually isbest that the main take the center line of the low land, laterals beingused to bring the water to the main from both sides, but there is lessduplication of work when the main can be at one side of the wet land. Branches of the main may be needed to reach remote parts of the area. 

The Laterals. --Small lines of tile are used to bring the water to themain when the wet land extends beyond the influence of the main. Thedistance between these laterals depends upon their depth and the natureof the land. A tight clay soil will not let water pass laterally morethan a rod or 20 feet, compelling the placing of the drains not over 40feet apart, while an open soil may permit a distance of 60 or more feetbetween laterals. 

Size of Tile. --The size of the main depends upon the area thateventually may be drained, the amount of overflow from higher land, thenature of the soil, and the grade of the drain. It is a common mistaketo make the main too small because the drainage immediatelycontemplated is less than that which will be desired when its value isknown. In the determination of the size the judgment of an expert isneeded, and if this cannot be had, the error should be on the side ofsafety. If the main will not be required to carry overflow from otherland, and has a fall of 3 inches to 100 feet, one may assume that a6-inch main will carry the surplus water from 12 to 20 acres of land, and an 8-inch main will carry the water of twice that area. Somedrainage experts figure larger areas for such mains, but there isdanger of loss of crop when the rainfall is very heavy. 

The laterals need not be larger than 3 inches in diameter when laid ona good bottom. 

Kind of Tile. --When clay tile is used, it should be well burned. Somemanufacturers offer soft tile for sale, as the loss from warping andcracking is less in case of insufficient burning. The claim may be madethat the efficiency of soft tile is greater than that of the hard tilewhose porosity has been destroyed. This is an error, as the waterenters the drain at the joints, and not through the walls of the tile. Underdrainage should be permanent in its character, and it is essentialthat every piece of tile be sound and well-burned. 

Vitrified clay tile is good for drainage, but no better than commonclay hard-burned. 

Round or octagonal tile is the most desirable because it can be turnedin laying to secure the best joints. Collars are not needed in ordinarydrainage. 

Cement tile is coming into general use in regions having no good clay. Its durability has not been tested, but there is no apparent reasonthat it should not be a good substitute for clay. 

The Grade. --The outlet may fix the grade. If it does not, the main, branches, and laterals should have a fall of 3 inches, or more, to the100 feet. This grade insures against deposits of silt and gives goodcapacity to the drains. If the outlet demands less fall in the system, the main may be laid on a grade of only a half inch to the 100 feetwith satisfactory results. Such a small fall should be accepted onlywhen a lower outlet cannot be secured, and great care should be used ingrading the trench and laying the tile. 

Establishing a Grade. --If the grades are light, they should beestablished by use of a telescope level. Most of the cheap levels are adelusion. A stake driven flush with the surface of the ground at theoutlet becomes the starting point, and by its side should be driven awitness stake. Every 100 feet along the line of the proposed drain andlaterals similar stakes should be driven. Their levels should then betaken, and when the fall from the head of the system to the outlet isknown, the required cut at each 100-feet station is easily determined. It may be necessary to reduce or increase the grade at some point toget proper depth in a depression or to save cutting when passingthrough a ridge. 

Cutting the Trenches. --There are ditching-machines that do efficientwork. The best are costly. Most of the work on farms will continue tobe done with ditching-spades. The ground should be moved when wet, sothat labor can be saved. 

A line should be used to secure a straight side to the trench. Thegrade should be obtained by means of a system of strings. If two lightpoles be pushed into the ground at each 100-feet station, one on eitherside of the proposed trench, and a string be drawn across at a point5-1/2 feet above the bottom of the proposed trench, these strings willbe in line on a grade 5-1/2 feet above the grade the drain will have. As the cut at the station is known, the height of the string above thetop of the stake is easily determined. These strings will reveal anyinaccuracy in the survey. The workman can test every part of the bottomof the trench by use of a rod 5-1/2 feet high, the top end beingexactly in line with the strings when the lower end is placed on thecorrect grade of the trench. This device is better than running waterwhere grades are slight. 

A drain scoop should be used in bottom of the trench to make a restingplace for the tile that will prevent any displacement by the soil whenthe trench is filled. 

Depth of Trenches. --Underdrains may be placed too deep in close soilsfor best results. In an early day it was advised that the drains be putdown 4 feet deep. We now know that a tight clay soil may give bestresults from a drain only 28 inches deep, or even a little less. In alooser soil 3 feet is a better depth, and in porous swamp lands thedrain may well go 4 feet deep, thus permitting increase in distancebetween drains. 

Connections. --The laterals should enter the branches and mains near thetop, so that the water will be drawn out rapidly. The tile should belaid with close joints at the top, so that the water may enter morefreely from the sides than the top. No covering other than moist soilis needed unless there is very fine sand, when paper over the jointswill serve a good purpose. After some moist soil from the sides of thetrench has been tramped upon the tile, the trench may be filled by useof a breaking-plow or winged scraper. 

Permanency Desired. --The expense of underdrainage demands care in everydetail of the work. The grade of the trenches should be carefullytested. Every piece of tile should be examined. The outlet should beguarded against displacement or entrance by animals. A good plan is tolay the last few pieces of tile in a close-fitting wooden box, and toprotect the end with iron rods placed 2 inches apart. 

If the drain is on a true grade, so that no silt will collect, thereneed be no fear concerning its continued efficiency, provided waterdoes not run in it all the time. If it carries the water from springscontinuously, plant-roots may fill it, and tree roots are quite sure todo so when opportunity offers. This is notably true in case of elms andwillows, but protection is afforded in such an instance by closing thejoints with cement. 

[Illustration: The lure of the country. ]

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