WHAT FORAGE CROPS ARE BEST 59 



THE WORK THE LEGUMES DO 



Farming in a broad way, to be successful, must 

 be built upon the legumes. The tiller of the soil 

 must become a legume farmer. It matters not 

 what line of farming you pursue, whether you grow 

 crops as cash crops or live stock for the money 

 income, the farming lands must be productive and 

 more than average yields obtained if you are to go 

 far in your enterprise. With poor crops there will 

 be poor stock ; or if the crops are sold and they be 

 poor, the money income will be small. 



From what has been said, it is evident that to 

 grow crops successfully the lands must be fertile; 

 they must contain much humus; they must be in 

 proper physical condition to rid themselves of ex- 

 cessive water or to hold enough for seasons of 

 drouth and there must be the elements of plant 

 food in abundance. Of the elements of plant food 

 those most frequently lacking are nitrogen, phos- 

 phorus and potassium. The phosphorus and potas- 

 sium being minerals they must come from the soil 

 or from fertilizers artificially applied. The same 

 is true of nitrogen, but in this case the farmer has 

 an advantage because he can grow his nitrogen ; 

 the legumes will store it in the soil. The free nitro- 

 gen of the air, you know, is not available plant food, 

 yet the greater part of the air is nitrogen. No 

 agricultural plant of itself can secure this air ele- 

 ment not a wee bit of it. 



The secret about the legumes was revealed about 

 1886 when Hellriegel and Wilfarth showed the con- 

 nection that bacteria have to nitrogen addition to 

 the soil. This secret is concerned with the root 

 tubercles that are to be found on the roots of the 



