JOHN P. NORTON'S ADDRESS. 391 



from one to two feet in height, and on many farms is cut for 

 green fodder during summer and antumn. Successive crops of 

 spurry, plonghed under, are said to produce remarkable effects, 

 and to have brought up very poor soils to a state of fair fertil- 

 ity. Unless our summers are too dry, it would for aught that 

 I can see, be well adapted to our climate, and some enterpris- 

 ing farmers might well afford to give it a trial, as there is now 

 little difficulty in procuring seed. 



Lucerne is largely grown in England and on the continent ; 

 its bulk is very great when flourishing, but it requires a tolera- 

 ble soil, or at least subsoil, and is not so easy of cultivation as 

 some other green crops. Rye is largely ploughed under in 

 Holland and Germany, but I am sure that other green crops 

 would yield a larger burden on the same soil and with less ex- 

 pense. Buckwheat is valuable in some situations, as it will 

 often grow where clover does not succeed well. 



Sainfoin is a favorite green crop in England, and there wild 

 mustard is also sometimes sown. I have even known turnips 

 to be sown broadcast and very thick, for this purpose. The 

 thick sowing prevented much growth of bulbs, and caused the 

 tops to shoot up quite tall ; when they were a foot to eighteen 

 inches high, the mass of vegetable matter to be turned in was 

 very large. 



But probably none of all these would produce in the same 

 time, so much bulk as Indian corn. It would require a soil al- 

 ready partially improved. On such a soil, if sown thickly, 

 either broadcast or in drills of five or six inches apart, the 

 weight per acre when the plant had attained a height of three 

 or four feet, would be enormous. It might be got under by 

 first passing over with a heavy roller, laying it all flat, as in 

 the case of heavy clover. 



Thus much for the various plants employed ; we must now 

 speak as to the nature of the effect which they produce in al- 

 tering and ameliorating the soil. 



I have already mentioned that soils contain certain mineral 

 substances, and that these are all necessary to fertility. They 

 also contain, or should contain, a considerable proportion of 

 vegetable, or as it is called by chemists, organic matter. This 



