F pfants ^ ee ^ s ' cow P eas > e tc. A succession of crops should be 



- grown, the earliest in most sections being crimson 



28 clover, sown the previous summer, and followed by 



red clover, corn, etc., and ending with cow peas and 



the vetches. The silo is used to store green food for 



the winter months, fodder corn being most commonly 



used in the silo. 



A rank growth of forage is required, and the 

 maturity of the crop is not a consideration. The soil 

 should be made very fertile and fertilizers used with a 

 free hand. Farmers can easily test the value of heavy 

 fertilizer applications in soiling, by comparing different 

 parts of the same field, differently fertilized. Apply 

 per acre, just before, or even with the seed, from 400 

 to 800 pounds of phosphate, and as soon as the plants 

 are well up, top-dress with Nitrate of Soda, using 300 

 pounds per acre. Top-dress in quite the same manner 

 for second crops. It is a quick, rank growth of green 

 substance that is wanted, and for this purpose no other 

 form of Nitrogen is as quick-acting as Nitrate of Soda. 



How Money Crops Feed. 



The substance of plants is largely 

 Food is 6 water and variations of woody fiber, yet 

 these comprise no part of what is com- 

 monly understood as plant food. More or less by acci- 

 dent was discovered the value of farm yard manures and 

 general farm refuse and roughage as a means of increas- 

 ing the growth of plants. In the course of time, the 

 supply of these manures failed to equal the need, and it 

 became necessary to search for other means of feeding 

 plants. The steps in the search were many, covering 

 years of careful investigation, and it is needless to go 

 into a lengthy description here; but, as a result, we 

 have the established fact that the so-called food of 

 plants consists of three different substances, Nitrogen, 

 Potash, and Phosphates. 



