REPORT OF THE CHEMIST 



157 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



the pease. Though undoubtedly the pease would make a considerable draft on the 

 Boil moisture, this loss would be reduced as soon as the pease had made sufficient 

 growth to cover the land. The dense mat of foliage forms a very efFective shade and 

 protection from the sun and drying winds. With eight wofks' growth the writer is 

 (if the opinion that on the larger number of the soils of the Xorthwcst and nnder the 

 climatic influences that are there wont to prevail, there wonld be a very good crop to 

 turn under. At present we have no data obtained in the Northwest to record, but' an 

 oxperimont was conducted in the orchards of tke Central Farm, Ottawa, last season, 

 whicli has yielded most promising results. Advantage was taken of the fact that the 

 Horticulturist had sown pease for a ' cover ' crop, to collect, weigh and analyse the 

 foliage and roots (taken to a depth of 9 inches) on a certain area and to compute 

 therefrom the amounts of v-egetable matter and the various fertilizer constituents 

 contained in the pease per acre. 



Pease fuom C. E. F. Orchard. 



Sown, May 27. Collected, July 2G. 



Yield per acre 



Dry uiatter 



Organic and volatile matter 



Ash 



Insoluble ash 



Phos])horic acid 



Potash 



Nitrogen 



Roots 

 per Acre. 



Tons. lbs. 



1,132 



472 



412 



60 



o7 



3 



6 



10 



It will be remarked that the collection was made exactly two months from the 

 date of sowing, at which time the crop was just past the height of its flowering — 

 probably the best period at which to turn under. The crop went 12J tons to the acre, 

 showing that a good growth had been made. 



Though the root system is by no means extensive^ which it is to be admitted is a 

 feature that renders this crop less valuable for this purpose than alfalfa and some of 

 the clovers, there is a very large amount of vegetable matter and of the chief elements 

 of plant food to te returned for the improvement of the soil when the whole crop is 

 turned under. With respect to the nitrogen — approximately 130 lbs. per acre — we are 

 unable to say exactly v.-hat proportion has been obtained from the atmosphere, but as 

 pease like all the legumes draw very largely from this source through the agency 

 of bacteria upon their roots, we may conclude that as in the case of the other mem- 

 bers of that soil-enriching family, the greater part of it has been so derived. The 

 significant fact is that this amount — 130 lbs. per acre — is practically identical with 

 that which we have found contained in alfalfa, vetches and many of the clovers, so 

 that in this particuhir it should have an equal fertilizing value to those crops, and con- 

 siderably greater than that of horse beans, soja beans and some other of the legumes 

 we have examined from this point of view. 



We likewise find that the organic matter is practically equivalent to the quantity 

 in a good clover crop, though somewhat less than that in one of alfalfa. Thus in 

 humus forming material i)ease would occupy a high place among crops grown to re- 

 plenish this valuable constituent. 



The mineral elements — phosphoric acid and pota.sh — have, of course, been ob- 

 tained from the soil, but in the subsequent decay of the pcese these are set free in 

 more or less easily assimilable forms for succeeding crops, and this in a measure may 



