474 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



ing and improving character sue seldom over-estimated. A brief 

 discussion of the various plants suitable as renovating crops, to- 

 gether with their characteristics and relative advantages must 

 naturally precede specific directions as to their use. 



Catch Crops, "Nitrogen Consumers." 



The crop more generally used, primarily, to prevent losses during 

 late fall and winter, is rye. The advantages of this crop for this 

 purpose are that it may be seeded late in the year, after other erop« 

 have been harvested, grows rapidly, withstands the winter well, 

 is a good forager, makes a rapid earlj growth, which may be plowed 

 down for early crops as corn, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. Furthermore, 

 the cost of seeding is small, and farmers are familiar with the hand- 

 ling of the crop. Its chief value, however, lies in its hardiness, with- 

 standing well severe weather, and its habit of late fall and early 

 spring growth, which holds the soil and prevents washing and me- 

 chanical losses; it readily absorbs the available food present in the 

 soil, and even when plowed down early contributes in some degree 

 to the humus-forming substances in the soil, and thus improves its 

 absorptive properties. 



Wheat possesses the characteristics which have been mentioned 

 for rye, though not in the same degree. The seed usually costs 

 more, and satisfactory growth requires a better preparation and 

 fertilization of soil than for rye; besides, the plant is not so hardy 

 and starts later in the spring. It is, therefore, as a rule, less satis- 

 factory for the purpose than rye. 



Buckwheat is another plant of this order, which has been used 

 very largely as a soil improver, particularly in the breaking up of 

 new lands, and for this purpose is a useful plant. Its season of 

 growth is during the summer months of July and August, when 

 conditions are usually favorable for the progress of those activities 

 which cause changes in the soil substances, hence is able to make 

 a relatively large growth on medium poor land; when grown as a 

 renovating crop it improves the physical character of soils by keep- 

 ing the soil covered during the hot season and by adding vegetable 

 matter. 



Certain varieties of the mustard plant are extensively used as 

 a summer catch or fallow crop in other countries, particularly Ger- 

 many; the plant grows rapidly and is able to subsist on rather poor 

 soils, thus accumulating in the surface soil materials more readily 

 appropriated by other plants. It, however, does not present any 

 peculiar advantages for American conditions not possessed by the 

 more familiar crops grown here. 



