272 Practical Farming 



the home-made manure, and give us its feeding value 

 before we return it to the soil. 



But even when the crop is saved for forage there will 

 always be a very considerable amount of the humus- 

 making material left in the roots as well as a goodly part 

 of the nitrogen which the roots have assimilated. Then, 

 too, it is not good economy to plow down a green crop, 

 even if it is not wanted for food, for so long as the crop 

 grows it is doing the work of nitrogen fixing in the soil, 

 and if we cut this short by plowing under the whole crop 

 at midsummer, we lose what the plant would have done 

 for us the remainder of the season. 



In the South and in a sandy soil, there is still another 

 reason why no green crop should be plowed under in hot 

 weather. The fermentation of the green mass will often 

 so sour the soil that the growth of subsequent crops is 

 injured instead of being benefited by the turning under 

 of the green crop, and a Hming is necessary to restore the 

 alkalinity of the soil. 



The legume crop is the place where the commercial 

 fertiUzers will pay the farmer best. If the legumes are 

 liberally fed with phosphoric acid and potash, there will 

 not only be a greater growth of forage but the increased 

 activity of the plants will result in a much greater activity 

 in the nitrogen-fixing bacteria on the roots, and the fol- 

 lowing crop will be more benefited than if the fertilizer 

 had been applied directly to the grain or cotton crop. 



Whatever may be the exact way in which the legume 

 crops get the nitrogen from the air, there is evidence that 

 some of it is fixed in the soil, and is of use to crops immedi- 

 ately associated with the legume. Com, with crimson 



