420 USE OF THE VETCH, BUCKWHEAT, ETC. 



2°. White Lupins. — In Italy, and in the south of France, the white 

 lupin is extensively cultivated as a green manure. In Germany, also, 

 it has been found to be one of those plants by which unfruitful sandy 

 soils may be most speedily brought into a productive state. The supe- 

 riority of this plant for the purpose of enriching the soil depends upon 

 its deep roots, which descend more than two feet beneath the surface 

 — upon its being little injured by drought, and Uttle liable to be at- 

 tacked by insects — on its rapid growth — and upon its large produce 

 in leaves and stems. Even in the North of Germany it is said to 

 yield, in three and a half to four months, 10 to 12 tons of green herb- 

 age. It grows in all soils except such as are marly and calcareous, 

 is especially partial to such as have a ferruginous subsoil, and besides 

 enriching, also opev^ stiff clays by its strong stems and roots. 



3^. T^Ae Vetck is inferior in many of its qualities to the white lu- 

 pin — yet in Southern Germany it is often sown on the stubble, and 

 ploughed in after it has been touched with the frost, and has begun 

 to decay. In England also the winter tare ploughed in early in spring 

 has been found highly advantageous (British Husbandry, I., p. 407.) It 

 is a more precarious, however, and a more expensive crop than either 

 of the former, and requires a better soil for its successful growth. 



4°. Buck- Wheat is also too uncertain a crop, and the high price of 

 its seed renders it inferior in value to spurry on sandy soils. It is su- 

 perior to this latter plant, however, on poor heaths. In Southern 

 Germany it is sown on the stubble, and ploughed in when it is 18 or 

 20 inches high. 



5°. Rape can only be sown upon a soil which is already in some 

 measure rich, but it has the advantage of continuing to grow very late 

 in the autumn, and of beginning again very early in spring. It sends 

 down deep roots also, and loosens clayey soils by its thick stems. In 

 the light soils of Alsace it is sown after early peas and potatoes, and 

 manures the land for the succeeding crop of wheat or rye. 



5°. Bye is pronounced by Von Voght to be the best of all green 

 manures for sandy soils, but it is also the most expensive. It is a 

 very sure crop and begins to grow very early in the spring, but it is 

 not deep rooted. It has been used with advantage in Northern Italy 

 and in Germany. 



6°. Tinmips have been sown in Sussex with good effect as a stub- 

 ble crop for ploughing in in spring, and in Norfolk and elsewhere the 

 portions of the turnip bulbs which are left when they are eaten off 

 by sheep contribute, when ploughed in, to enrich the land for the 

 barley that is to follow. Turnip tops are in many places ploughed 

 in with much benefit to the land.* Potatoe tops also might be dug 

 or ploughed in with equal advantage. 



7^. Borate has been strongly recommended in Germany, and es- 

 pecially by Lampadius. It is stated by this experimenter that borage 

 draws from the air ten times as much of the elements of its organic 

 matter as it does from the soil, and that therefore it is admirably fitted 

 for enriching the land on which it grows. 



8°. Red Clover is often ploughed in as a manure. On the Rhine it 



• " I find no better way of manuring for wheat after turnips, than ploughing in the tops 

 while etill green, as soon as the turnips arc taken off the land."— iWr. Campbell, of Craigie. 



