GREEN CROPS AS FERTILIZERS. 109 



need no lime. For all other soils, especially clayey soils, 

 lime should be scattered profusely upon the green crop 

 at the time it is ploughed in. On very dry, sandy soils, 

 the use of green manures is very beneficial, as they 

 speedily decay in such soils and supply vegetable mould, 

 which, being retentive of water, does something to correct 

 the want of such soils and is very serviceable in time of 

 drought. 



364. Green manuring is particularly applicable to moun 

 tainous districts, and those remote from the homestead, 

 where the expense of carriage of other manures would 

 be too considerable, and also to poor soils deficient in clay, 

 and which, on that account, imperfectly retain water. 



365. For winter wheat, or winter rye, to both of which 

 green manures are well suited, the land, should be ploughed 

 deep in spring, and the seed for a green crop be sown so 

 that it shall be ripe a week or two before the winter grain 

 is to be sown. The green crop sown with lime or plaster 

 should be ploughed in to a moderate depth, say two to 

 four inches, and, just as the decomposition is beginning, 

 the wheat or rye should be sown. The grain, as it sprouts, 

 and while it is young, will thus take advantage of the 

 ammonia and other products of the vegetable decay. 



366. Where land is very much infested with weeds, two 

 green crops may be grown, the same season, and ploughed 

 in before the weeds are ripe. Most of the seeds of the 

 early and also of the late weeds will thus be made to come 

 up, and the plants be turned in, with the green crop, for 

 the benefit of the soil. 



367. The addition to the soil is not the only advantage 

 of green manures. The mechanical condition of the 

 ground is remarkably altered by the ploughing in of 

 plants and their remains. A tenacious soil thereby loses 



