FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 33 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CLOVER TREATED SOIL 



-iiud that iipou whicU uo clover was used. The difference, as indicated 

 upon this chart, of nearly forty-seven tons more of water to the acre 

 where the clover had been used is one of the most important parts of this 

 subject. I had demonstrated for at least two years in carrjdng through 

 large crops of Bartlett pears at seasons when there was not sufficient rain- 

 fall from the time the trees had bloomed until the fruit was gathered to 

 moisten the roots of these trees that they had not materially suffered 

 from want of rain; and, while I know that I was getting satisfactory 

 results from this clover treatment, accompanied by frequent tillage, I 

 was surprised when the chemist — the scientific man — took my soil and 

 found in his analysis that I was carrying this forty-seven tons more of 

 water in my soil as one of the direct results of re-incorporation of the 

 liumus material in my soil. You will note u])on this chart the significant 

 figures upon humus that in the clover treated soil it is so much greater 

 than in the other, and here is a very vital question for us to consider. 



WHAT IS THE ACTION OF HUMUS IN THE SOIL? 



It is in the addition of acid^the linnsic acid — which is created or de- 

 veloped, which is acting upon the mineral food elements of the soil, and 

 making them more largely available as plant food. It is doing this be- 

 <iause of its ability and its power to absorb and hold the moisture which is 

 constantly seeking to make its escape from the soil during the hot 

 weather, and the more we can incorporate humus in our soil the more suc- 

 cessfully we can resist droughts. It acts upon the same principle as the 

 sponge^ by the way of illustration, which you all know has great absorp- 

 tive powers. It will hold a large quantity of water, and it gives off this 

 water slowly when thoroughly saturated. The crimson clover is adding 

 to our soil millions upon millions of sponges which aid us in this matter 

 of absorption and longer and more even distribution of not only the 

 water that falls upon the surface, but that which comes from the sub- 

 soil. The figures upon phosphoric acid were as surprising to the chemist 

 himself that he should find the larger per cent of available phosporic 

 acid in the clover soil than in the other. But perhaps the most surpris- 

 ing part of all this work is the extent to which plant food in the form of 



NITROGEN HAS BEEN ACTUALLY ADDED TO THE SOIL. 



You will observe the jjercentages in the two soils, and when the figures 

 were given of the difi'erence of nine j)er cent in favor of the clover-treated 

 «oil over one acre to the depth of six inches, which was the depth to 

 which these samples were taken (as we cultivate no deeper in our or- 

 chards), the very surprising results of over thirteen hundred pounds of 

 nitrogen were found to be added by this clover treatment. Some allow- 

 ance doubtless needs to be made for the nitrogen set free by tillage, but 

 the clover plant has made, to a ver}' large extent, this great per cent of 

 nitrogen represented in these surprising figures. If I had added this 

 amount of nitrogen to my soil from the phosphate bag, purchased at the 

 lowest cost for which it can usually be obtained, at fifteen cents per 

 pound, it would cost me |202.50 pel' acre. When this result was given to 



