VALUE OF RED CLOVER. 127 



to that extraction. Clover is an exception to other crops in 

 that respect. It not onl^ stores np in its roots a large 

 araount of nitrogen, but if it is allowed to stand to be cut for 

 hay, and especially if it is allowed to ripen its seed, it adds 

 a vast amount of nitrogenous elements to the soil through 

 the falling and the decay of its leaves. It is a wonderful 

 exception, in that respect, to our cultivated grasses and other 

 crops. The roots of clover extend down deep, as you know, 

 and get a considerable portion of their sustenance from the 

 subsoil. Then all these broad-leaved plants derive a large 

 proportion of their nutriment from the atmosphere. These 

 elements are stored up, partly in the stalk, partly in the root, 

 and, to a much larger extent in the soil itself, while the 

 clover remains in it. A careful investigation has shown that 

 an ordinary fair average acre of clover-roots will contain 

 over fifty pounds of nitrogen or nitrogenous compounds ; and 

 the soil itself, after the clover-crop has been cut for hay, or 

 allowed to ripen its seed, is filled with nitrogen and its com- 

 pounds to a much greater extent than it would be by apply- 

 ing a full and complete dressing of nitrate of soda, or any 

 other nitrogenous manure on the surface in the spring. It is 

 a remarkable fact, that while clover takes out of the soil as 

 much, perhaps, of some of the elements of fertility as our 

 other crops (more than wheat or other cereals), it leaves in it 

 a much larger proportion of nitrogen and nitrogenous ele- 

 ments than any other crop. It is a fact which a great many 

 observing farmers in England and this country have noticed, 

 that, after a crop of clover, a grain-crop will grow better than 

 it will after any other crop. The question was asked, Why 

 is it? and how does it happen? Professor Voelcker, one 

 of the best authorities in the world on agricultural chemistry, 

 took pains to investigate very carefully and thoroughly in 

 order to be able to answer that question. He arrived at 

 these conclusions : — 



1. That a good crop of clover removes from the soil more 

 potash, more phosphoric acid, more lime, and other mineral 

 matters which enter into the composition of the ashes of our 

 cultivated crops, than any other crop usually grown in the 

 country. 



2. There is fully three times as much nitrogen in a crop 

 of clover as in the average produce of the grain and straw of 

 wheat per acre. 



