92 AGRICULTURE 



ground as fertilizer?" The best answer is that letting 

 these crops pass through an animal does not greatly lessen 

 their value as fertilizer. The starch, sugar, and fat that the 

 animal takes out of its food have no value as a fertilizer. 

 Enough live-stock ought to be kept on all farms to con- 

 sume the legumes that are grown. The farmer can, there- 

 fore, make a double use of the leguminous crops : he can 

 use them as stock-food, and later for fertilizer. The roots 

 and stubble of legumes enrich the land. The little fertilizer 

 factories on the roots of leguminous plants are worth more 

 to mankind than all the gold in the whole world. Nearly 

 every farm that to-day is too poor to keep the farmer's 

 family in comfort can be made fertile by the wise use of 

 cowpeas, crimson clover, and related legumes. 



EXERCISE. Make a mud ball of stiff, poor clay and put it away to 

 dry. Make another of half clay and half dark, fine woods' earth. Let 

 it dry. Try to make a firm mud ball of dark woods' earth alone. 

 After drying, which of the first two crumbles most easily ? Why ? 

 Find all the plants that you think may be legumes. Learn all you can 

 about the leaves, flowers, pods, and about the size and shape of the 

 fertilizer factories on their roots. How many stamens in a pea or 

 cowpea bloom ? Are all of them partly grown together ? 



NOTE TO THE TEACHER. Objects needed: (i) soils of different 

 colors, due to different amounts of vegetable matter ; (2) seed, flowers, 

 plants, or roots of any legume, as garden pea, cowpea (Southern field 

 pea), sweet-pea, clover, etc. 



FIG. 59. PODS OF A LEGUMINOUS PLANT 



