THE USES AND VALUE. 331 



when plowed under, will furnish more ammonia to the soil than 

 twenty tons of straw-made manure, fresh and wet, or twelve tons- 

 of ordinary barnyard manure. 



" I prefer to make the clover into hay and feed the animals, 

 as they seldom take out more than from five to ten per cent, of 

 all the nitrogen furnished in the food, and less still of mineral 

 matter. If you plow it under you are sure of it. There is no- 

 loss. In feeding it out you may lose more or less from leaching 

 and injurious fermentation. As things are on many farms, it is. 

 perhaps best to plow under the clover for manure at once. As 

 things ought to be it is a most wasteful practice. Clover is good 

 for wheat ; plaster is good for clover. The roots run deep, draw- 

 ing large amounts of water, and can live on very weak food. The 

 clover takes up this food and concentrates it. The clover does 

 not create the plant food ; it merely saves it. To improve sandy 

 land, instead of plowing the clover under or feeding it off, mow 

 the crop just as it commences to blossom and let the clover lie. 

 There would be no loss of fertilizing by evaporation, and the 

 clover hay acts as a mulch. Mow the second crop about the first 

 week in August." 



The following computation of the relative money value of one 

 ton of various foods for producing manure is from the experi- 

 ments of Mr. Lawes: 



Cottonseed meal... $27 86 



Linseed cake 19 72 



Beans 17 73 



Wheat bran 14 5 



Clover hay 9 64 



Indian meal 6 63 



Meadow hay 6 43 



Oat straw 2 90 



Potatoes 1 5fr 



Turnips 86- 



All agricultural plants draw most of their food, directly or in- 



