THE ALSIKE CLOVER. 129 



The amount of nitrogen left by a crop of clover in. the 

 soil was carefully investigated by Professor Voelcker, and he 

 found that it was from two and a half to three tons per acre. 

 He found, that, on soils where clover had been grown, not 

 only is all that nitrogen collected and stored up in the soil 

 by the clover, but it is left, when spring arrives, in a vastly 

 better condition to take and carry on a grain-crop than any 

 fertilizer which can be applied in the spring, — a most impor- 

 tant consideration. 



These investigations were made at different depths of soil ; 

 in the first place an upper layer of six inches, then the next 

 six inches below that, then six inches below that. Eighteen 

 inches of soil were carefully collected and analyzed by Pro- 

 fessor Voelcker with great care. 



Now, I know of no better or more economical way of 

 obtaining and supplying nitrogen to the soil than that. It 

 seems to me important that farmers should realize that clover 

 is not only a very important crop of itself to raise, but that 

 it vastly improves their land. Bear in mind that this nitro- 

 gen, when it is left by your crop one season, is changed into 

 nitrates, — nitrate of ammonia, nitrate of potash, and other 

 forms of nitrate, — which are available immediately, when 

 spring opens, for the use of your crops. You may apply a 

 fertilizer in the spring, and, if the rains come on, very well ; 

 but, supposing you have a drought, what are you going to do 

 then ? A dry spring is very hard upon special fertilizers. 

 But the nitrogen left in the soil by a clover-crop is changed, 

 during the decay of the roots of the clover and the organic 

 matter of the decaying leaves, into the form of nitrate, winch 

 is just the form available for the use of your plants. 



Allow me to say a word in regard to the alsike, or Swedish 

 clover. I had great hopes, when the alsike was introduced, 

 some ten or fifteen years ago, that it was to be a very great 

 acquisition. I took pains to experiment with it, and sowed 

 it with red clover and with mixtures of grass-seeds, on dif- 

 ferent soils, and continued to study it with considerable care. 

 The seed was higher than red clover at that time ; and it dis- 

 couraged a great many farmers from using it ; but it is lower 

 now. A pound of alsike clover contains a vastly greater 

 number of seeds than a pound of red clover ; and that ought 

 to reconcile us to paying more for the seed than we pay for 

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