THE BEST LEGUMINOUS PLANTS 169 



best we are very doubtful. We long ago came to the conclusion that the 

 best average crops of wheat and corn are produced in a three year rotation 

 where the wheat follows the corn or tobacco or potatoes, and crops are pro- 

 duced in place of a long summer fallow. In such a rotation the hoed crops 

 would come on the clover sod, with all the winter accumulation of manure 

 spread broadcast. The process of nitrification of the organic matter in the 

 clover roots and the manure would go on rapidly through the summer in the 

 hoed crops, and they would get part of the benefit, while there would still 

 be enough nitrogen left to carry the wheat crop ; and there would be no need 

 on most lands for the use of any fertilizer on the wheat except a liberal dress- 

 ing of phosphoric acid in the cheap form of an acid phosphate, 

 or, on light soils, a dressing of acid phosphate and potash. In 

 each alternate round of the rotation a light dressing of lime on the young 

 clover, the next spring after the wheat is cut, will keep up the productiveness 

 of the soil for the clover crop. In this rotation one of the most important 

 matters for the improvement of the soil is for the land to go into winter with 

 a thick mat of clover, preceding the spring when it is to be plowed for corn. 

 No pasturing should be allowed on the lands under rotation, but a permanent 

 pasture should be provided and kept in a productive condition by annual 

 top dressings of fertilizers. We have noticed, recently, in one of the best 

 wheat growing sections of Maryland, that the practice is to graze the clover 

 to the bare ground during the summer. The result is that the heavy clay 

 soil gets very deficient in organic matter, and while the wheat crops are good, 

 the land runs together and bakes so badly that the corn crop is far from being 

 what it should be. A good coat of clover leaves over the soil, especially in a 

 mild winter climate, is very important to the maintenance of the nitrogen 

 in the soil, and for the keeping up of a due amount of humus, or material 

 susceptible of nitrification. If the clover is grazed to the bare ground during 

 the summer and fall, there is less humus making material returned to the 

 soil than should be, and there is not enough of green growth to prevent the 

 great loss of nitrates during the winter. In a mild climate the clover may, of 

 course, be mown twice, but all growth after the second mowing should be 

 sacredly preserved for the good of the land. 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



This annual plant has of late years attracted a groat deal of attention, 

 and there has been much diversity of opinion and experience as to its value. 

 North of Central Pennsylvania there seems to be some reason to doubt its 

 hardiness in certain soils, and in cold winters. But from Pennsylvania 



