114: YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



in June, and then keeping the surface of the land clean by the 

 use of the cultivator and harrow till the seed is sown, without 

 any more plowing in the fall. On light soils this may be a good 

 practice, but on heavy soils I think a real old-fashioned summer- 

 fallow would be better ; though I have seen excellent crops 

 produced on heavy land by plowing in a crop of clover the 

 clover, besides enriching the soil, serving also to render it 

 light. Still, I do not like the practice of plowing in clover for 

 wheat. I believe in many cases a good summer-fallow would 

 be much better. 



Passing food through the body of an animal does not in 

 crease its ultimate fertilizing power ; it adds nothing to it, but 

 the droppings of animals are a more appropriate food for plants 

 at least for wheat than the food which the animals con 

 sumed. It is contrary to the economy of nature to use plants 

 which are capable of sustaining animal life for the purpose 

 merely of furnishing food for other plants. For this reason, 

 while I would earnestly recommend the extensive cultivation 

 of clover on all wheat soils while I would say to every farmer, 

 " Raise your own clover seed, and sow it with an unsparing 

 hand " while I believe there is no crop which furnishes so much 

 ammonia at so cheap a rate no crop so well adapted to our cli 

 mate and circumstances no crop which has done and is now 

 doing so much to increase the fertility of our farms, still I 

 think it is contrary to sound theory and good practice to plow 

 under such a large amount of matter capable of sustaining 

 animal life, for the simple purpose of furnishing food for the fol 

 lowing wheat crop. Fertilizing matter furnished by decayed 

 clover is not as appropriate food for wheat as the droppings of 

 animals living on clover. It contains too much carbonaceous 

 matter the very matter which animals need to keep up the 

 heat of their bodies, and to form fat ; and which, when the 

 clover is fed to animals, is burnt out while the nitrogen re 

 mains in the form of ammonia or in compounds which readily 

 decompose and form ammonia. This ammonia is what we 



