146 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



phosphorus applied, made about one-third the total yield, 

 and, unless bacteria found their way in unaided by man, 

 gathered none of its nitrogen from the air. The plain 

 fact is that one can afford well to make the conditions so 

 that the bacteria will gather nitrogen. Indeed one can not 

 afford to farm in any other manner. 



Humus Aids Nitrifying Bacteria. It is noticeable that 

 where there is much vegetable matter added to the soil, 

 legumes thrive especially well, and by aid of their bacteria 

 gather especially large amounts of nitrogen. Some leg- 

 umes seem more dependent on the aid of humus than 

 other. Cowpeas, for example, will grow where there is a 

 rather small amount of vegetable matter in the soil, while 

 red clover enjoys a plentiful supply. The lesson is clear. If 

 you would build soils by aid of legumes do all that you 

 can first to help them. Make the soil alkaline rather than 

 acid by adding to it carbonate of lime, feed it with phos- 

 phorus, give it what humus you can, and see that it is sup- 

 plied with the right sort of bacteria. Nature may attend 

 to this duty, but, in case she has forgotten, do your part. 

 Of all the steps needed to make legumes grow and thrive 

 one can afford to neglect not one. 



The Purpose of Legumes. There seems in nature an 

 orderly arrangement of things dependent on one another. 

 For example, legumes store the earth with nitrogen. 

 Grasses feed freely on nitrogen and grow rank when so 

 fed. Thus, after clovers have made the land rich, grasses 

 come with riotous strength and perchance crowd out the 

 clovers. Afterward, when the grasses have depleted the 

 soil of nitrogen, the clovers find foothold again. This is 



