FERTILIZERS. 77 



wheat or rye, if a stand can be obtained. The wheat or oats, to be sure, will be some protec 

 tion in the spring from frost, but grass and weeds will soon spring up to protect the clover. 

 If this plan should be tried, as a means of furnishing nitrogen and improving poor lands, it 

 might be well to sow the clover in the fall as soon as the peas are turned under, if it is deter 

 mined to grow the clover alone. If this is done, the land should be rolled after seeding 

 clover, as the peas will leave it in a spongy state. But if the farmer cannot get the ash 

 element, let him sow oats or rye early in the fall, or oats early in the spring, turn them under 

 in June, then sow peas, and then clover, if a good growth of peas has been secured, applying 

 lime, however, if possible, after the peas are fallowed in.&quot; 



Hungarian grass possesses rich vegetable substances, has a luxuriant growth, and turns 

 under very easily, as its fine fibrous roots hold fast to the ground, while the upper portion is 

 turned into the furrow, never clogging the plow. It is a cheap crop and grows quickly, being 

 ready for plowing under usually in about sixty days, requiring only about a dollar s worth of 

 seed per acre. Its growth will be facilitated by finely pulverizing the soil before sowing; 

 and after covering it lightly with a harrow to use the roller, which promotes a quick germi 

 nation of the seed. 



After the crop has been plowed under, the decomposition of the buried vegetable matter 

 will be hastened by harrowing the ground and rolling it. It is said to leave the land in a 

 better condition for wheat than oats used for this purpose. 



Sod of any kind of grass is valuable for fertilizing purposes, and the more grass there 

 is on it, when turned down, the better. It is a noticeable fact among farmers in cultivating corn, 

 that the best crops are generally produced when the seed is planted upon the inverted grass 

 turf; the roots and stubble of the grass furnishing an immense quantity of valuable plant-food 

 for the growing crop. Besides the vegetable substances we have mentioned for fertil 

 izing purposes, various others are often used; in fact, every decomposable thing adds to the 

 productiveness of soils, when applied in the proper quantity and manner. 



Even weeds of rank growth plowed under can be utilized in furnishing enriching 

 elements to the soil, when suitably decomposed; they should, however, be plowed before any 

 of them have ripened their seed, as they would otherwise become self-sown and produce 

 another crop of weeds. It is as true in agriculture, as everywhere else, that every creation 

 has a purpose, and &quot; nothing is made in vain.&quot; 



Commercial Fertilizers. The question often asked by the farmer is, Do commer 

 cial fertilizers pay? in other words, Is the amount expended in artificial fertilizers realized in 

 benefit to the crops? In answering this question, many considerations must of necessity be 

 taken into account. 



They may be very beneficial and well repay the expenditure involved in increasing the 

 quantity and often the quality of the crops, or they may result in a serious loss to the farmer, 

 with an injury to the soil; much depending upon the kind and quantity used, and the manner 

 of using. In the use of all fertilizers, the needs of the soil and requirements of the crop to be 

 produced must be taken into account; it must also be properly applied. 



If a farmer expends large sums of money for phosphoric acid and applies it to the soil, 

 when nitrogen is what that soil needs in producing the desired crop, disappointment will be 

 the result; or, if he supplies to a soil nitrogen when phosphoric acid is the element needed, 

 the result will be no more satisfactory than the former; or, as is often the case, if too small 

 a quantity of the proper kind be applied to produce any change in the productive capacity of 

 the land, or if an unwarrantable amount of certain kinds be used and in a short time it 

 exhausts certain elements of the soil, with other undesirable results in either of these cases 

 the fault would not be with the fertilizer itself, but with the lack of skill in the one who 

 selected and applied it. Soils widely differ in their capacity for supplying crops with 

 plant -food, and correspondingly in their demands for aid from fertilizers; some soils 



