No. 4.] CATCH-CROPS. 319 



its growth in spite of frosts will prove of much value. Fur- 

 ther, it is in late fall that the soluble nitrogen compounds are 

 liable to be washed out of the soil by heavy rains unless the 

 soil is tilled with the feeding rootlets of growing plants. 

 Only crops which resist frost can prevent this loss. 



The catch-crop is grown sometimes chiefly because of its 

 value as a money crop. This, however, in ordinary farming 

 will seldom be the case. It is much more often grown as a 

 means of augmenting the supply of food for the stock of the 

 farm. In other cases, though less frequently, soil improve- 

 ment by green-manuring is the principal object in view in its 

 culture. 



It is possible by judicious selection of crops to realize both 

 of the last-named objects at the same time to a very con- 

 siderable extent. Sound New England dogma has it, " You 

 can't eat your cake and have it too." In the matter of 

 nitrogen this old saying is disproved. You may grow a crop 

 of clover or clover-like plants ; you (or your cow if you 

 prefer) may eat this crop, and by so doing consume an 

 enormous quantity of nitrogen ; and yet in the soil upon 

 which the crop was grown, will be found more nitrogen than 

 was contained in that soil at the outset. Is not this " eating 

 one's cake and having it too"? It is those crops which 

 enable us to do this which are among the most valuable as 

 catch-crops. 



Of the importance and value of money or of fodder crops 

 it is unnecessary to write ; but concerning the possible bene- 

 fits of green-manuring a few words may be useful. 



Possible Benefits of Green-manuring. 

 Among the possible and probable effects of green-manuring 

 its relation to the supply of plant food in the soil is one of 

 the most important. Of the important elements derived from 

 the soil which contribute to the nourishment of plants nitro- 

 gen is the only one the amount of which can be increased by 

 green-manuring. This may be increased by the cultivation 

 under suitable conditions of legumes (plants belonging to the 

 clover, pea and bean family). These plants, as has been so 

 many times pointed out in recent years, have the capacity to 

 take nitrogen from the atmosphere ; and if these plants be 



