igoo] Shutt — Soils. 63 



The fertilizer universally used is barnyard or stable manure. 

 Such contains, if of good average quality, about ten pounds of 

 nitrogen per ton. It is evident, therefore, that by this clover 

 method we can furnish the soil with at least as much nitrogen as 

 would be supplied by a dressing of ten tons of manure per acre. 

 And in addition to this nitrogen — the greater part of which is ob- 

 tained from an otherwise unavailable source- -there are, as we 

 have already pointed out, considerable amounts of potash, phos- 

 phoric acid and lime, liberated in the decay of the clover, in forms 

 much more valuable as plant food than they were originally, and 

 therefore in a very true sense to be considered as a distinct addi- 

 tion to the soil's store of available mineral plant food. 



It might be urged that the burying of such a large amount of 

 rich food material as is contained in a crop of clover is wasteful 

 and bad farming practice. This, in a certain measure, is true if 

 the farmer has the stock to consume it, for by feeding it there is 

 the opportunity of converting a part into high-priced animal pro- 

 ducts and returning to the soil by far the larger portion (practically 

 75 per cent.) of the fertilizing elements of the crop in the waste 

 product of the animal economy. On too many farms, however, 

 there is not sufficient stock for this purpose. We have indeed 

 in this fact the reason for many of our exhausted soils in the older 

 provinces, where farming in certain districts has consisted in grow- 

 ing grain, or oats, or hay, year after year. For such districts, 

 even where stock is now kept in greater numbers, we strongly 

 advocate the growing of clover for recovering fertility, for we 

 know of no fertilizer or manure of equal value that can be so 

 cheaply purchased. The benefits that I have enumerated are to be 

 procured from sowing eight to ten pounds of clover seed per acre, 

 costing $ I to $1.25. The lowest price for nitrogen in fertilizers 

 is ten cents per pound. Since, as we have seen, practically 100 

 pounds, can be obtained by this method of green manuring, a 

 moderate estimate of the manurial value of the clover would be 

 $10 per acre. 



But nearly one-half of the fertilizing value of clover is in the 

 roots, so that if the crop is harvested and sold oflF the farm there 

 is still a large addition to the soil's store of available plant food 

 and the land is considerably enriched. 



